Brookgreen Gardens in Myrtle Beach

Brookgreen Gardens is a great way to spend the day in Myrtle Beach. It offers a look at Myrtle Beach’s beautiful landscaping, exotic wildlife and rich history. Brookgreen Gardens contains a Wildlife Preserve, the Huntington Sculpture Garden and is nationally recognized as a historic landmark.

Brookgreen Gardens was first bought by Myrtle Beach residents Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington in 1929. It was originally an old rice plantation, but Anna Huntington had a desire to use it to house her sculpture garden. It gradually transformed into the outdoor Huntington Sculpture Garden and Center for American Sculpture as well as the Lowcountry Wildlife Preserve.

Brookgreen’s dynamic collection is recognized as the finest outdoor presentation of American figurative sculpture anywhere in the world. The Sculpture Garden features over 900 works of American figurative sculpture. These sculptures range from the early 1800’s to the present, and were created by some of the greatest names in American sculpture. The sculpture is distributed over 50 acres of landscaped settings. There are also two indoor sculpture exhibition galleries to enjoy.

The preserve is resplendent with indigenous plants and animals of the South Carolina Lowcountry as well as the great rice plantations of the 1800’s. These locations can be looked at by walking the lowcountry trail or by taking an overland vehicle or boat or deep into the preserve.

During the summer you can ride on a pontoon boat that takes passengers through natural creeks filled with alligators, snakes and other native animals. Or you can take a trek through along the water and through the forests and hear about the people who worked and shaped the land along the way.

The wildlife habitats on the preserve feature non-releasable animals as well as a waterfowl aviary that is built over a tidal swamp. River otter and alligator habitats line the creek and upland locations for birds of prey such as eagles, hawks and owls can be seen in the distance. Foxes and deer are part of the landscape too but it takes a good eye to spot them as they naturally camouflage themselves in their habitats.

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