#1 Must See in Myrtle Beach/Murells Inlet/Surfside Beach/Pawleys Island, South Carolina (in my humble, and very opinionated opinion)

Have you ever had too much of a good thing? When I was little my brother consumed so many fresh cherries in one day he was physically ill. Still to this day he does not like cherries. My daughter is that way with Brookgreen Gardens, I have taken her so many times over the past 5 years, that she feels like she has experienced every inch.

I can now recite the history of Brookgreen from heart and it goes something like this:

Wealthy (uber, uber, uber wealthy from railroad money) man meets artist woman(Archer & Anna Hyatt Huntington), they want to escape the cold New York winters. They buy 9,000+ acres in Coastal South Carolina, 4 former rice plantations (slavery had ended and boggy fields could not handle large machinery and compete with big Texas). Archer loves poetry, especially Spanish literature, and wrote a translation of El Cid. He designs a Moorish vacation retreat for them to live, resembling more of a fort than a home, known as Atalaya Castle. There Anna could house bears and other animals to help her create sculpture, which she usually cast in aluminum. She was very talented but women were expected to have babies and cook (neither of which she did), early in her career she was not allowed to enter international sculpture exhibitions (where was Sheryl Sandberg and Lean In when she needed her).

The garden is now the world’s largest outdoor collection of sculpture. They had so much land, that Brookgreen Gardens could not manage the entire property, so leased out the ocean front side to the state to create Huntington Beach State Park. The entrance of the garden, on Highway 17 between Murells Inlet and Pawley’s Island, is marked by dancing horses that glimmer in the sunlight. This is Anna Hyatt Huntington’s work, cast in aluminum. She preferred animals to humans for sculpture, believing they were more challenging. Although, she also created many human subjects in her career…a famous Joan of Arc in New York City at Riverside Drive and 93rd (the first public monument by a woman in NYC, go girl power).

The must see part of Brookgreen is Live Oak Alleé, this alley with 300+ year old live oaks (means they are green year round), is the road that led to the plantation home years ago. I mentioned before that Mr. Huntington loved poetry and around the walls of the oaks are poems he selected and dedicated to Anna…cue the tears. I guess having lots of money doesn’t hurt on the romance front. I have a few favorite sculptures, but most fav is the woman with her hair and dress blowing as she appears to begin entering the water.

This goes to show you what talented, artistic people with vision and loads of money can create. Brookgreen has everything from children sculpture gardens to boat rides, to education centers, a low country zoo and storybook houses for the kids. There are constant festivals, evening concerts, even summer camps. The holidays bring lots of festivities from the amazing and spectacular nights of 10,000 candles during December, to scarecrow making fall festival to Easter egg hunts (yes, we have done it all).

Brookgreen Gardens is a must visit and tickets are good for a week, so you can return and enjoy sections on different days. Season passes are also available (great if you want to push your child to the limits).

Across Highway 17 is Huntington Beach State Park, prices are reasonable, around $5 per adult for the park and $1 per person to enter Atalaya. At Halloween it is transformed into a haunted house, which takes very little work. The “home” also hosts a craft fair in the spring with live music. Drive slowly across the water at the entrance of the park to spot alligators. There is a small nature museum on the left after crossing the water and the beach area is beautiful, with plenty of restrooms and free parking.

giant grasshopper at Brookgreen Gardens

Brookgreen Gardens was established in 1932; Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington created 14 museums in all and 4 wildlife preserves. They also donated their New York City homes, leaving a truly amazing legacy in their wake. They were like a Bill and Melinda Gates of their time, but for the arts and nature. They also are responsible for the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News Virgina, and to think, they did all this before computers and cell phones!

note: the gardens are open late a few days per week in the summer, helpful as hot days are best spent on the beach with a sea breeze, be sure to check out www.brookgreen.org for hours and events before visiting.