How Ed Alexander Saved Alexander Lake

A revered landscape architect who designed the children’s garden in the White House, Alexander was also a passionate preservationist who convinced others to protect local green spaces
Anyone who’s visited the Alexander Lake section of Panola Mountain State Park (PMSP) will no doubt enjoy time down by the water fishing or paddling, or be impressed by the local history at the Parker House—the oldest house in Rockdale County—or simply feel calmed by the easygoing country nature of this special place. And it was one man, Ed Alexander, who made it possible for the public to enjoy what used to be his family land.
“Edward played a role in not just seeing to it that his property went to the state but he also played a role in convincing other adjacent property owners to sell their parcels to Panola Mountain as well,” recalled Arabia Alliance Board Member Kelly Jordan. Jordan knew Ed and helped the local builder with his last wishes: the sale of his land to the State.

Anderson in December 2000.
An Early Environmentalist
Born on June 12, 1936 in New York, Edward Toner Alexander moved to the rural Rockdale County plot in the mid-1970s after a severe leg break in New York that affected his mobility. Before that accident, he’d received a landscape architecture degree from the University of Georgia and became partners with Edward Durell Stone, Jr., son of the visionary architect Edward Durell Stone, famed designer of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and D.C.’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Alexander did well with Stone, running the Fort Lauderdale office, and later moving to the New York office. Ed went on to design the Children’s Garden at the White House, sparking a lifelong friendship with former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, who called Ed “a “thoughtful and creative friend.” The two even exchanged letters, Ed framing and displaying some at his home.
His other design accolades include the Timex Headquarters in Taiwan, Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and the master plan of the Big Canoe private community in North Georgia. Ed Alexander was also long active in community affairs, serving as Chairman of the Metro Association of Conservation Districts for Atlanta and as Chairman of the Rockdale Soil and Water Conservation District.

Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce, one of Alexander’s signature design accomplishments.
A Little History
Before its transfer to Panola Mountain in 2002, before there was even a lake, the acreage that is now Alexander Lake had been in the hands of the Parker family since the 1800s. Built around 1822, the Parker House next to Alexander Lake’s entrance is a relic of White settlement along what was at that time the Georgia frontier. This home stood at the center of the Parker family’s plantation, where as many as 24 enslaved people farmed cotton and wheat.
In the 1950s, Freeman and Marion Alexander bought this 350 acres as a place where Freeman could hunt and fish. Freeman, who worked in construction, actually built Alexander Lake—which is two bodies of water separated by a causeway into Upper and Lower Alexander—before their house was even built! Freeman charged $1 to fish in his lakes, and there were never more than a few fishermen there at at time.
“Ed was like my big brother while my husband Don (his brother) was in Vietnam,” said Betsy Alexander, sister-in-law to the late Ed Alexander. What’s now used as the ranger house at Panola Mountain was originally designed by Ed for his parents. In 1970, Betsy and Don were married there, on the front lawn of what she calls “the farm.” “We’d go out there every Sunday and have dinner with them,” she recalled. “That was always fun, to cook with him and drink cocktails out on the lawn under the oak tree in front of the house.”
Apparently, Ed was a bit of a wild man, too, and preferred taking risks, like driving cars too fast. Also, according to Betsy, he was quite accident prone, missing all the fingers on his left hand from a buzzsaw accident while building the barn at Alexander Lake. Perhaps most daring, after surviving a plane crash in 1969 that claimed the lives of 60 passengers, Ed took the insurance settlement money from that tragic event and got back onto more flights, traveling the world for a year.
From Family Farm To Public Land
In 1998, around the time the nonprofit, Friends of Arabia Mountain was started (the grassroots organization that grew into the Arabia Alliance), Ed became more motivated to do something with his family property that, like most of the metro area at the time, was under serious threat of development. “Edward was a part of the Arabia Alliance project from the start,” said Kelly Jordan. Alexander later became a founding member and vice president of the Arabia Alliance. “He used to come to all of our early meetings and participate,” said Kelly. “He’d talk about how he generally wanted his place to become part of Panola Mountain State Park.”
But it wasn’t just his own parcel. Ed convinced many others to get passionate about environmentalism, including one of his neighbors, a retired Marine General named Ray Davis whose military career spanned five decades, three wars, six wounds, and many military medals. (People claimed Davis to be the most decorated Marine in US history, but that distinction actually belongs to General Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, with whom Davis served in Guadalcanal during World War II and in the Korean War.) About Ed and Ray’s work together, the September 19, 2002 edition of the Rockdale Citizen stated:
When Edward Alexander died last September, friends and neighbors marveled at the world-renowned projects the south Rockdale landscape architect had designed.But no one knew for sure whether Alexander’s 280 acres at the southwestern tip of the county would be preserved.
In his will, Alexander gave The Conversation Fund a year to buy his property.
And, with only a few days left to exercise that option, the organization agreed to buy it last week. A share of interest in a portion of the property belongs to Gen. Ray Davis (ret.), but he agreed to sell his share to The Conservation Fund, too.
Alexander’s family estate was successfully sold, at a discounted rate, to The Conservation Fund for the ultimate conveyance to Panola Mountain, thus saving the lake and surrounding area from development. Just two years later, around 100 more acres, developed in the 1990s into the now defunct Southerness Golf Club, was also sold to the state park.

A view of Alexander lake with the iconic, curved wooden walkway in the background.
A Legacy Of Environmentalism
It didn’t stop there, however. Ed also joined forces in the late ‘90s with another big local name, Ramon DeCastro, to fight the potential development of a nearby quarry from a company called Florida Rock. On the board of that business was one of Ed’s closest friends, Ray Davis, who clearly played a big role in persuading Florida Rock not to open the quarry there. That land that would’ve been quarried and industrialized is now South Rockdale Community Park!
This successful fight against the quarry likely played a role in DeCastro also selling his real estate at a heavily discounted rate to Rockdale County. This land now forms the DeCastro Trailhead and newly built DeCastro Nature Pavilion that incorporates the original granite fireplace from the DeCastro home, both part of South Rockdale Community Park.
In addition to this, Ed designed biophilic and conservation-focused residential communities in Rockdale’s New Lake Estates and Merry-Go-Round Farm outside of Washington, DC. “He was a visionary who really looked ahead when it came to preservation,” said Kelly. “And he had a gift for getting others to see that vision as well.”
Ed passed in September 2001 at the age of 65. He’s buried at a family cemetery near Alexander Lake. Betsy visits the park regularly and still has fond memories of Ed. “He was an important person in my life,” she said. “I love having Alexander Lakes to take my sons and my grandson out there, and they can see what their grandfather and great-grandfather built.”