Bessie Morse Bellingrath

Bessie Morse Bellingrath (1878 – 1943) was an Alabama philanthropist known for developing the Bellingrath Gardens and Home, the historic home of Bessie Morse Bellingrath and her husband, Mobile Coca-Cola Company president Walter Bellingrath. Bellingrath is remembered for her work creating the Bellingrath Gardens, as well as her private philanthropy during the depression. She would pay people hundreds of dollars in exchange for a plant in their gardens, an afghan blanket she saw in a shop, or an overpriced antique. She was an honorary member-at-large of the Garden Clubs of America, and has been inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. Bessie was known for buying plants from struggling locals during the Great Depression, overpaying them because of the economic hardship of the era. She would tell people that she had been looking for that exact flower and that it had been hard to obtain, even when it was a very common plant.

Death and legacy Bellingrath died in 1943, at the age of 64. In 1950, her husband, Walter, created the Bellingrath-Morse Foundation to maintain the home and gardens and keep them open to the public.