Between 1932 and 1955, Coe Hall experienced many changes as the Coes' needs and tastes changed. During World War II, when coal was rationed, the Coes stayed at the White Cottage because it was smaller and easier to heat. After a robbery in 1935 when a cat burglar entered Mrs. Coe's bedroom through the West Portico and stole some jewelry that was lying out, the Coes moved into the children's wing of the house because they felt it was safer. In 1931, W.R. Coe purchased an old rice plantation in Yemassee, South Carolina for Caroline and the focus W.R. Coe with grandsons Michael, William, & and baby Ernesto c. 1937. shifted away from Planting Fields to make improvements at the estate they named Cherokee Plantation after a local variety of rose. The main house and outbuildings on the property were rebuilt and redecorated in the Georgian style to suit Caroline's tastes. From 1937 to 1955, the superintendent of the grounds, Everitt Miller, completed some of the other notable attractions at Planting Fields, including the Taxus Field and North Rhododendron Park. After W.R. Coe's death in 1955, his widow commissioned architect Eric Gugler to design a small house for her on five acres at Planting Fields. The house, completed in 1958, was designed with low windows and wide doorways to accommodate the wheelchair she was confined to in her later years. Gugler had been responsible for the modifications to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's White House to accommodate a wheelchair. In the back of the Greek Revival house, Gugler designed a rose garden for Mrs. Coe with a small gazebo at the far end. The inscription on the gazebo reads, "With fond memories of Planting Fields.

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