Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, SC

While away in the south the last two weeks, I was able to visit Brookgreen Gardens, just south of Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet, SC. Founded in 1931 by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington on what was a slave-worked rice plantation in the 1800s, it’s primarily a sculpture garden, in fact the first public sculpture garden in America, with a collection of “more than 1,400 works by over 350 sculptors,” Anna Huntington’s work being prominent. But it’s not only a sculpture garden: it also offers two walk-through aviaries, several ponds, pools, and lakes, a small zoo of native animals (many wounded rescues, as are the raptors in one aviary), a lowlands rice plantation audio history trail, and it’s sited alongside the Waccamaw River, on which the garden’s excursion boats travel. There are miles of walking trails, well defined on the trail map.

I liked it so much the first time I visited that I came back again the next day (all tickets are good for 7 consecutive days).

Hope you enjoy it, too. Click all photos to enlarge.