Brookgreen Gardens is an absolutely gorgeous landmark and a 'must see' located in Murrels Inlet in south Myrtle Beach.
http://www.sciway.net/sc-photos/georgetown-county/brookgreen-gardens.html
The link above is not their official website but contains some nice information in addition to some beautiful pictures taken by tourists that have visited the gardens over the years. You can see more about the gardens at their official website.
Sister J and I made a visit there early one morning and tickets purchased are good for the day you visit and the next six consecutive days following. That's because there is so much to see. We spent well over 4 hours on our first visit and took a short break to eat at one of the three eateries offering a bite to eat before setting out again to take in more of the scenery. The sculptures varied from people, animals, birds, etc and were small to life-size to really, really large. One thing they have in common, as explained to us by our tour guide, Warren, was that all the sculptures are readily identified as to what they are. In other words, there are no modern art sculptures where you are trying to figure out what you're looking at and the other thing they all have in common is they are all sculpted by US citizens. We were told there were 105 sculptures on display made by Anne Hyatt Huntingdon who, along with her husband, owned the plantations where the sculptures are on display and the total number of sculptures in the park are around 2,000. The allee, the live oaks draped in Spanish moss, the beautiful vistas all evoked a sense of another time in history long gone.
We made a second visit several days later and spent well over 4 hours walking the different "garden rooms" of the plantation as well as a children's zoo. There was a labyrinth that we both walked that was quite intriguing. I will try to remember to post a picture of it later since I forgot to include one above. The afternoon of our second visit we made a stop at Pawley's Island where the famous Pawley's Island hand tied hammocks are made. In addition to the hammock shop there are a number of quaint little shops selling everything from kitchen supplies to bird watching/feeding supplies as well as several places to sit and have a bite to eat.
I would love to visit the gardens again when all the trees and flowers are in bloom; I think it would be a sight to behold. Any annual plants are grown at the gardens themselves and planted and cared for on the grounds by volunteers. Our tour guide told us that there are less than 100 paid employees but over 400 volunteers that help out there. We saw lots of those volunteers cleaning up beds and planting plants each time we visited. The weather didn't cooperate so we weren't able to make third visit and one of the things we wanted to do (a boat ride to see wildlife and a rice plantation) was not available until March 1st when the season opens. We left to come home on February 29th, just missing it.
Again, I will try to include a photo of the labyrinth and maybe the zoo. The final things we enjoyed during our month long stay were a college baseball game and a ride on the Sky Wheel and I'll be putting a few pictures on the blog from that ride.
Until next time...
