Garden of Eden is the biblical paradise described in the Book of Genesis chapters 2 and 3. The "garden of God", not called Eden, is mentioned in Genesis 13, and the "trees of the garden" are mentioned in Ezekiel 31.

Traditionally, the favored derivation of the name "Eden" was from the Akkadian edinnu, derived from a Sumerian word meaning "plain" or "steppe" which does not make much sense. A number of experts believe it to be derived from the same source as the word Adam (thus, of adam).

The story of Eden echoes the Mesopotamian myth of a king, as a primordial man, who is placed in a divine garden to guard the tree of life. In the Hebrew Bible, Adam and Eve are depicted as pubescent beings walking around the Garden of Eden naked due to their innocence.  Eden and its rivers may signify the real Jerusalem, the Temple of Solomon, or the Promised Land. It may also represent the divine garden on Zion, and the mountain of God, which was also Jerusalem. The imagery of the Garden, with its serpent and cherubs, has been compared to the images of the Solomonic Temple with its copper serpent (the nehushtan) and guardian cherubs.

Most see the story of  the Garden of Eden as just an allegory, not to be taken literally.  But could it be a true account, only it is not about what most people think it is talking about.   The first chapters of Genesis are not speaking of the creation of the Earth nor a single man and  woman. 

Adam was a spiritual being.  The half-part which God took from Adam was astral in nature, able to experience color, shape and form.   Compared with spirit, astral (soul) is almost physical.  It does have color, shape and form.  It was through Eve that Adam was able to experience the lower realms of existence.

And Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the source of all life. (Genesis 3:20)

Eve is Mother Nature, the soul of all physical and astral creation 

Now Eve is the astral, more physical, part of Adam/Christ who is the source of everything.  God determined that alone, Adam was of little value, so he cut him in half and made the new half open to color, shape and form.   Eve was thus able to see and experience the astral world on a sensual level that Adam could not.  Thus when she saw the fruits of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil she saw that it was good for experience, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to make one understand desire. (Genesis 3:6)

She partook of it and, of course, Adam partook of it through her.  Many elements in the narration were added to complete the  fable.   Thus we have Adam and Eve hiding from God and God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day.

What did occur was that upon partaking of the fruit, Adam and Even began to experience desire and aversions (the knowledge of good and evil), this quickly led to a state of shame and guilt.  Thus they separated themselves from God.  According to the Christians, the "Sin of Adam" (shame) has come down through the millenia to make us "sinners".  Actualy this is the result of our conditioning from birth to see and experience things as being good or evil.