Out And About - Brookgreen Gardens

Recently, we had the opportunity to visit Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina.  They have been named by Coastal Living Magazine as one of the country's top 10 public gardens and after visiting them, I can wholeheartedly agree with this.

The gardens were founded in 1931 by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington.  It is a garden museum to preserve the native plants and wildlife and display objects of art within that natural setting.  Today, it is a National Historic Landmark with the most significant collection of figurative sculpture in the country.  It also is home to the only accredited zoo on the coast of the Carolinas.

The garden is home to over 1400 sculptures, the largest collection in the country.  The founders built the collection around Anna's own works and those of her contemporaries. Over the years the collection was extended back to artists of the early nineteenth century and forward into the twenty-first century.

The property encompasses 9100 acres, so when we purchased our tickets to enter, I was pleased to learn that gave us access to the gardens for 7 consecutive days.  I wanted to be able to take my time and enjoy the beauty within and there is no way we could cover that much area in one days time.  We visited two days and there are still things that we missed.

The Mister and I both carried a camera and together we took nearly 900 photographs.  It was an amazing place, one that I will not easily forget.  If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend visiting.  It is well worth the $14 admission price.

Here is a sampling of the photos we took that day.  If you would like to see more, I will be adding lots of them to my facebook page.  Come "Like" my page and check them out.