Brookgreen Gardens

Brookgreen began with Anna Hyatt Huntington, one of the most accomplished American sculptors of her era, and her husband Archer Huntington, a scholar and philanthropist. In the early 1930s they bought several old rice plantations along the coast as a winter home, and Anna conceived the idea of a garden to display her own work and that of her contemporaries.

What grew from that idea is now the largest collection of American figurative sculpture in a single setting, hundreds of works by many of the country's leading sculptors, placed among clipped hedges, allees of live oaks, and pools. The effect is unlike an indoor museum. Here the art lives outdoors in changing light, and the garden itself, designed in part by Anna, is a work of composition as deliberate as any statue in it.

The land Brookgreen occupies was once four working rice plantations, and the tidal creeks and old embankments that shaped that industry are still visible across the grounds. Lowcountry rice made enormous fortunes in the 1700s and 1800s, and it did so through the forced labor of thousands of enslaved Africans, many brought specifically for their expertise in rice cultivation.

The Gullah Geechee culture of this coast grew directly from those communities, and Brookgreen has increasingly worked to tell their story alongside the art. Programs, exhibits, and boat tours through the former rice fields explain how the enslaved built and worked these plantations and how their descendants preserved a distinct language and heritage. It is essential context, and it keeps the beauty of the gardens honest about the ground they stand on.

Brookgreen is also a nature destination. Part of the property is a native wildlife preserve and zoo, home to alligators, otters, foxes, birds of prey, and other creatures of the Lowcountry, set in enclosures that reflect their natural habitats. It is one of the best places in the region to see the local wildlife up close.

Beyond the zoo, the grounds hold marsh, forest, and the tidal creeks of the Waccamaw Neck, and seasonal boat and open-air trekker tours carry visitors out among them. Herons and egrets stalk the shallows, and the whole preserve gives the gardens a wilder edge just beyond the manicured plantings.

The gardens are large, so a visit rewards time. Many tickets are good for more than one day, letting visitors split the sculpture, the zoo, the history, and the boat tours across an unhurried trip. Spring and fall are the most comfortable seasons, with the summer bringing heat and humidity to this coast.

Brookgreen sits on the quieter southern end of the Grand Strand, near the fishing village of Murrells Inlet and the laid-back beaches of Pawleys Island, a world away from the neon of Myrtle Beach up the coast. That setting makes it easy to pair a day of art and nature with fresh Lowcountry seafood and a slower kind of beach town.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.