Every Picture Tells a Story ... Don't It:" Brookgreen Gardens, Part I | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The other side of the coin of Myrtle Beach, Brookgreen Gardens, is a great diversion from the sand and the sea, the shopping, the nightlife, and often in season - too many people. Of everything that has become the Myrtle Beach experience, Brookgreen Gardens is the antithesis. Personally, I always gravitate toward the path less traveled, so my time wandering the gardens, the nature trails, the quaint zoo of indigenous animals and the sculptures in galleries, was my time well spent.

    Remarkably, at the heart of Brookgreen Gardens is the element of time. Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington, the visionary creators of Brookgreen Gardens, intuitively employed the factor of time in almost every facet of their concept in this creation. The sculptures are mostly of marble and bronze, materials which will immortalize the communicable efforts of the sculptors, including Archer’s wife, Anna, for centuries. The aforementioned sculptures are placed amongst the flowering plants that change with the seasons and the ancient live oaks that sink their taproots deep into this former plantation’s soil.

     The plantations that collectively comprised the current Brookgreen Gardens were four: The Oaks, Brookgreen, Springfield, and Laurel Hill, which were collected during the day of South Carolina Planter Joshua John Ward, who, at one point before the War for Southern Independence, was the largest slave owner in the United States with over 2,000 poor forcibly transplanted souls from The Dark Continent.
    The sculpture that greets the visitors of Brookgreen Gardens at the entrance on U.S. Hwy 17 north of Pawleys Island, and in equal distance, south of Murrells Inlet, is this huge piece named Fighting Stallions by Anna Hyatt Huntington: Above. The botany, and, or sculpture enthusiasts make their way to the Tarbox Welcome Center where a 10 minute film, Gray Oaks of Mystery, helps to orientate the visitors: Below.      images by Stan Deatherage

    Please forgive the fact that I do not have the titles of all the works, or the name of the artist for some of the sculptures in the subsequent pictures. I will return to Brookgreen Gardens in late Spring, so I will update each image after that next visit. This image of the bronze group sculpture of children saluting "Old Glory" is Pledge of Allegiance, by Sculptor Glenna Goodacre, and is located adjacent to the Tarbox Welcome Center: Above. The bronze sculpture, Diana of the Chase, by Anna Hyatt Huntington, is elegantly framed in what is known as the Diana pool, and is a testament to the use of line, water, and the natural beauty of the tremendous live oaks in the background: Below.      images by Stan Deatherage

    Click here for an enlarged view of northeast South Carolina.
    Brookgreen Gardens possesses the largest collection of sculptures by American artists in the world. That alone is enough of a draw for many art lovers. I, however, cannot imagine how one could blend two more suited mediums of beauty in the same space at the same time - the natural beauty of nature with the man-made artistry of design in form: Above and below. The upper image is Diana of the Chase, by Anna Hyatt Huntington. The lower image has the Gilt Bronze rendition of Dionysus, by Edward Francis McCartan.      images by Stan Deatherage

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Happy Mother's Day Lynn Deatherage. You're the best. Body & Soul, "Every Picture Tells a Story ... Don't It:" On the Road, Travel Every Picture Tells a Story ... Don't It:" Brookgreen Gardens, Part II

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