Brookgreen Gardens

Brookgreen Gardens

Since we had only the cereal that we brought from home, our breakfast at the Kingfisher Inn was cold cereal again. Rex brought oat milk with him which he says tastes better to him. We all got into Dillinger’s Toyota Highlander at 9:30 and drove 30 minutes south to Brookgreen Gardens. This 9100 acre garden is part of the estate of Archer Milton Huntington and his wife Anna Hyatt Huntington. Archer Huntington was the stepson of railroad magnate, Collis P. Huntington and Anna was an accomplished sculptor. Prior to the Huntington family purchasing the property it was used as four rice plantations prior to the Civil War. Anna wanted a place to showcase her sculptures as well as works from other sculptors that she admired. The property includes numerous flower gardens and a zoo featuring animals that are native to the Carolina low country. We saw river otters, foxes, owls and many other native animals. It is believed that Brookgreen Gardens is the first North American sculpture garden. Our admission included a seven day pass so we could return to the park whenever we liked during our stay.

Russell's Seafood Grill

We spent all morning walking through the beautiful gardens including indoor areas with orchids and others with artwork collected by Ann Huntington. The temperatures were in the 90s but there was a nice breeze and a good bit of shade.

Lunch at Russell's Seafood Grill

Around noon, we drove a short distance to Russell’s Seafood Grill where we had excellent seafood meals and ate too much so we didn’t have a lot of energy in the afternoon. We returned to Brookgreen Gardens to revisit some areas that we didn’t have time to see in the morning. Most of our time was spent at the small zoo on the property with many examples of South Carolina wildlife.

Once the afternoon heat got to us, we left for Harrelson’s Seafood Market where Rex remembered that his parents got excellent shrimp. He bought a bunch of fresh local shrimp to have with our salad for dinner. We made a stop at Kroger where we got salad makings and a few breakfast items. After our large lunch, we weren’t very hungry for dinner and made salads with the boiled shrimp.

View from our room at Kingfisher Inn

After dinner, we took a long walk on the beach and enjoyed the cooler evening air. Back at the Kingfisher Inn, we showered and turned in. We were impressed that the shower had plenty of pressure and provided enough hot water for the four of us to shower.