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| Thomasville earned the nickname "Georgia's Rose City" long before the state made it official, and the Thomasville Rose Garden at Cherokee Lake Park is where that reputation blooms every spring. The garden holds more than 1,500 rose bushes across four sections laid out around a central pavilion, one of 85 rose beds the city maintains, and it is the largest and best known of them. In January 2016, the Georgia General Assembly officially designated Thomasville as the state's Rose City, a title the community had already been living up to for nearly a century. The town's love of roses traces back to the 1920s, when local garden clubs began planting and showing roses in earnest, and that tradition still drives the city's rose program today. |
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| Rose Show and Festival |
| Every April, Thomasville celebrates its blooms with the Rose Show and Festival, a South Georgia tradition dating back to the 1920s. The festival brings rose growers, garden clubs, and visitors from across the region into downtown Thomasville for competitive rose shows, a parade, and a full weekend of events built around the flower that gave the city its name. |
| Best Time to Visit |
| The rose bushes are in full bloom from April through July, with the peak show typically hitting in late April and May around festival time. Cherokee Lake Park itself, with its namesake lake, walking paths, and shaded picnic spots, is worth a stroll any time of year, even outside rose season. |
| Garden Etiquette |
| Enjoy yourself. Wear comfortable shoes for the garden paths, and bring sunscreen and water on warm South Georgia afternoons.
Be respectful. Stay on the paved paths and stay out of the rose beds. Please do not cut or pick blooms, so the next visitor gets to enjoy them too. |
| Hours and Admission |
| The garden and park are open daily from dawn to dusk. Admission and parking are free. |
| Contact and Address |
| Phone: 229-227-7089 - Address: Cherokee Lake Park, 330 Covington Ave, Thomasville, GA 31792. |