History of 1888 Carraige House

Outside the main Marlsgate house, on the east side, is the old carriage house where the Dortch family kept a carriage, surrey, and cotton wagon, and stabled their horses. It has already been retrofitted as a gift shop with a Southern country lifestyle theme in every piece of merchandise: postcards, photographs, paintings, handmade dolls, and virgin sunflower seed oil produced at the nearby Wayne Plantation.

This location also serves as a Bride or Groom area for weddings. Next to the carriage house are a series of five “hidden gardens” surrounded by large holly hedges. They were designed by renowned Arkansas gardening and lifestyle expert P. Allen Smith, who also filmed some of his early television shows at the plantation. Ideal for peaceful walks or seated contemplation, the gardens have become central to the wedding experience at Marlsgate. A bride or groom who has dressed in the carriage house then passes through gardens with names like “Garden of First Reveal” and “Bride’s Garden” as she/he makes their way to the path that leads to the front porch of Marlsgate.