|
Huntington Sculpture Garden
Brookgreen Gardens, founded in 1931, was America's first public sculpture garden. In 2003, the sculpture garden was named the Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington Sculpture Garden in honor of the founders. The collection currently contains over 900 works spanning the entire period of American sculpture -- from the early 1800s to the present. Its placement in more than 50 acres of beautifully landscaped settings creates an extraordinary blending of art and nature. In addition to the sculpture collection in the gardens there are two indoor sculpture exhibition galleries.
Brookgreen Gardens is the floral jewel of South Carolina’s coastal community. Situated south of Myrtle Beach and north of Georgetown, the land that comprises Brookgreen Gardens is a diverse mix of forested swamps, salt marsh, sandy ridges and fresh tidal swamps. The 9,200-acre property is a testament to the natural landscapes that surrounded this site in 1931, when Archer Milton Huntington and Anna Hyatt Huntington founded Brookgreen Gardens. Today Brookgreen Gardens continues to preserve its natural heritage and at the same time has developed spectacular display gardens continuing the Huntington’s vision to the present.
Known as the Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington Sculpture Garden, this garden was designed in 1931 by Anna Hyatt Huntington in the shape of a spread wing butterfly.
On entering the Diana Garden, the breadth of this magnificent place stands before you.The Live Oak Allee garden is comprised of 250 year old live oaks trees that were planted in the early 1700s when Brookgreen
Gardens was a thriving rice plantation. These inspiring matriarchs frame this garden space like a living cathedral.
The four wings of the butterfly offer many horticultural surprises and delights as you move deeper into the Sculpture Garden.The most notable are the Children’s Garden located in the lower right wing and the Kitchen Garden found in the lower left wing.
The Carolina Terrace, newly renovated in 2004 is a spectacular array of perennials, roses, shrubs and mature trees.
Three additional major gardens departed from the butterfly design, with the focus on a formality not seen up to this point in the Garden.
The Dogwood Garden, originally laid out prior to WWII, was not completed until the war’s conclusion in 1945.
The Palmetto Garden, named for the use of Sabal palmetto, South Carolina’s state tree, was completed in 1950.
The most recent garden, built in 1984, is also the most whimsical. The Fountain of the Muses Garden, designed to display the sculpture of the same name, takes bold garden design to new heights.
The Arboretum serves as the transition between the original sculpture gardens and the Lowcountry Center in the distance. Through the years, sculpture has been added to the Arboretum among gigantic specimen trees. Many of the sculptures are interpreted horticulturally with a unique pallet of plants used in the proximity of the sculpture. For those interested in the rich landscape of native plants available in the southeastern region, the Lowcountry Center Garden offers a view into our natural flora. The Lowcountry Center is also home to the Cultural Garden, a display of vegetable and herbs grown during the plantation period here at Brookgreen Gardens.
Brookgreen Gardens continues to be a leader in horticulture. The Gardens give new meaning to the phrase “year round garden”. Check out the fantastic array of plants to see at Brookgreen Gardens in our Seasonal Bloom section. Plan your next visit around hundreds of thousands of daffodils in the spring, summer hydrangeas dotting the landscape, the crescendo of fall with thousands of perennials and annuals blooming all at once or the winter’s camellia flowering, a southern tradition living on in this magical landscape.
Check Out the map below..
|
