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Garden cottages and Hartwell apartments
One- and two-bedroom homes, each with a full kitchen and a porch or a garden window.
Monthly fee
Senior living · Palestine, Texas
Come for the dogwoods. Stay for afternoon tea.
Garden cottages and apartments around a restored 1912 house on the north side of Palestine, where the porch swings are always occupied and tea is poured at three.
Since 1998
A grand old house, full of company.
The Hartwell House went up in 1912 for a railroad doctor and his eight children. By the time we bought it in 1997 it had been a boarding house, a funeral parlor and, for one memorable year, a dance studio. We restored the front parlors, the staircase and the stained glass, then built forty garden cottages and sixty apartments on the land behind it.
Today the house is the heart of Dogwood Lane: dining room, library, chapel and the long front porch. Residents live in their own homes out back and walk up the brick path for supper, Sunday hymns and a cup of tea at three. Every spring the dogwoods along the lane bloom white and pink, and every spring somebody's grandchild asks if we planted them for the photos. We did not. They were here first.
— Celia Marchbanks, executive director
Little luxuries
What residents write home about
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Afternoon tea at three in the front parlor
Real china, real cream, lemon bars on Tuesdays and something with peaches in summer.
Included
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Sixty-three dogwoods, a camellia walk and a rose arbor
Two full-time gardeners and a garden club that tells them what to do.
IncludedPhoto tour
Around the lane
Sample family reviews
Kind words from our families
Mother said she would only leave her house on Crawford Street if she could still have a garden and a proper tea. She has both, and she's president of the garden club.
We were married in 1961 under a dogwood tree in Fairfield. When we saw the lane in bloom, we signed the papers that afternoon.
Tea at three sounds fussy until you do it. Now it's the best hour of my day. I've met everybody here over a cup of Earl Grey.
Dad had a fall in his cottage and was back home within the week, doing therapy across the courtyard instead of driving to Tyler. Janelle called me every single day.
I brought my piano. Everyone told me I couldn't. Walter and three movers got it into the parlor, and now I play for the Friday music nights.
The staff knew my mother's name, her hymn and her tea order before she'd unpacked. We live in Atlanta, and that is the only reason we can sleep at night.
After my husband died I thought I'd sit in the house and wait. Here I have a chair on the porch, a bridge partner and a reason to get dressed every morning.
It's the prettiest place in Palestine in April and the friendliest the rest of the year.
Pastor Sam sat with my father every evening his last week in the hospital. He wasn't asked to. That tells you everything about this place.
Marisol told us the truth about what it would cost and what wasn't included. No pressure, no surprises. We moved in three months later.
Rooms & suites
Cottages and apartments
Every home has a kitchen, a washer and dryer and a porch or garden window. Bring your own furniture, your piano and your cat.
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The Garden cottage
A one-bedroom cottage with a front porch, a window seat and French doors onto a small walled garden.
- Walled garden
- Front porch
- Window seat
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The Hartwell one-bedroom
A second-floor apartment with tall windows over the dogwood lane and an elevator a few steps away.
- Tall windows
- Walk-in shower
- Elevator access
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The Camellia two-bedroom cottage
Two bedrooms and two baths with a screened back porch facing the camellia walk.
- Screened porch
- Two baths
- Attached carport
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The Parlor studio
A sunny studio apartment on the garden level, for one person who would rather be out on the porch anyway.
- Garden level
- Kitchenette
- Bay window
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The Bay Window two-bedroom apartment
A corner apartment with a bay window, a dining nook and room for a piano.
- Bay window
- Dining nook
- Two baths
- 1912the year the Hartwell House was built
- 100cottages and apartments
- 63dogwoods along the lane
- 3:00afternoon tea, every single day
Getting older should still come with flowers on the table, a porch swing that creaks and somebody across the room who remembers how you take your tea.
Our team
The people who keep the kettle on
Celia Marchbanks
Executive Director
Janelle Okafor, RN
Director of Wellness
Rosa Villanueva
Executive Chef
Rev. Samuel Achebe
Chaplain
Ratings & recognition · sample
- East Texas readers' poll · Best senior living
- Regional senior living survey · Top dining program
- County historical society · Preservation award
- Area garden club federation · Garden of the year
- Chamber of commerce · Business of the year finalist
- Hospitality association · Service award
- Area employers survey · Top workplace
- Community volunteers council · Partner of the year
Now hiring
Want to work somewhere with tea at three and a porch swing on your break? We're hiring in the kitchen, the gardens and the front desk.
Visit
Find us on the north side
- 604 Dogwood Lane
Palestine, TX
Park along the brick drive under the pecans. The front steps have a ramp on the garden side, and somebody will meet you on the porch. - (903) 555-0186
- Text us
- welcome@dogwoodlane.example
- DogwoodLanePalestine
Tour & office hours
- Tours, Mon – Sat9a – 5p
- Sunday tours1p – 4p
- Afternoon tea, daily3p
- Families visitAny time
The dogwoods peak in late March and early April. Tours fill quickly that month; call a week ahead.
Come sit on the porch a while.
Call or text Celia, or book a tour online. In spring, ask for the dogwood walk.