Calendar Meeting List

Solar Panel Installation Ceremony at Mimosa Hall & Gardens

• Date: 06/20/2019 5:00 PM 06/20/2019 5:00 PM 06/20/2019  
• Location: Mimosa Hall & Gardens
  127 Bulloch Avenue
  Roswell, Georgia 30075

Free for all ages

The City of Roswell and The Friends of Mimosa Hall & Gardens are set to install a solar panel at historic Mimosa Hall originally used on the White House during Jimmy Carter's presidency. On loan from Unity College, the installation will take place on Thursday, June 20 at 5:00 p.m. The event will mark the 40 year commemoration of the original installation on the White House in 1979 and will serve as a symbolic marker of the progress, community and continued efforts in alternative energy.

Please join the City of Roswell and Friends of Mimosa Hall to honor this landmark event.

President Carter's legacy has a special connection to Mimosa Hall, as Carter's aunt, Emily Dolvin, lived across the street in what is known as the "Roswell White House." In 2019, Friends of Mimosa Hall & Gardens entered into a long term loan agreement with Unity College so this original, still functional White House solar panel can be displayed at Mimosa Hall & Gardens as a beacon of inspiration.

As part of the sustainability efforts for Mimosa Hall & Gardens, Roswell Architect Simone du Boise, Principal of Cadmus Construction, will be implementing restoration designs to integrate solar power into Mimosa Hall's roofline. The new roof will feature thin solar panels (about the thickness of a credit card) that will provide 100% of the building's energy. Once the new roof is installed, Mimosa will be "The Oldest Net Zero Building in the United States," enabling the property to generate as much energy as it consumes—saving the City of Roswell approximately $5,000 per year.

About the Historic Solar Panel

	Photo above: Solar panels on the White House, 1979. Image Credit: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/NARA

40 years ago on June 20, 1979, President Jimmy Carter installed 32 solar panels on the White House roof, designed to use the sun as an energy source to heat hot water. In 1986 during a renovation, the panels were dismantled and placed in storage until 1991, when Unity College, America's Environmental College in Unity, Maine, gave them a second life by refurbishing them and placing them atop the college's cafeteria roof, where they heated water for many years until their own renovations.

Unity College now shares the Jimmy Carter Solar panels across the world, providing widespread awareness and promotion of alternative energy. The panels have been featured in various museums, including The Smithsonian and The Carter Library here in Georgia. Their story is also highlighted in A Road Not Taken (2010), a documentary by Swiss filmmakers Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller.

About Mimosa Hall & Gardens

Mimosa Hall was built in 1841 as one of the first permanent homes in Roswell. In 1918, Atlanta architect J. Neel Reid purchased the property and installed 5 acres of formal gardens. Mimosa remained in private hands until 2017, when it was purchased by the City of Roswell. Friends of Mimosa Hall is fundraising to help the City with the restoration of both the house and the Reid gardens. In August 2018, Friends of Mimosa Hall was awarded the Historic Landscape Preservation grant from the Gardens Club of Georgia to restore Reid's reflecting pool. For more information, visit www.FriendsOfMimosa.org.