The gardens were originally part of a large country estate and farm (1067 acres) created by tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds and his wife Katharine Smith Reynolds between 1906 and 1923.

In 1913 the Lord & Burnham greenhouse was built to serve the family and farm, and to produce flowers commercially.

Landscape architect Thomas W. Sears (1880–1966) designed the 4-acre (16,000 m2) formal garden for Mrs. Reynolds, starting in 1915.

After the death of Mrs. Reynolds (then remarried as Mrs. Johnston) in 1924, most of the property was gradually sold or given away, including a gift of 300 acres (1.2 km2) to Wake Forest College in the late 1940s for its Winston-Salem campus.

In a series of gifts from 1958 to 1962, their daughter Mary Reynolds Babcock established Reynolda Gardens by donating its property to the college.