The BitterEnd A Hidden Gem By Captain J. Gary "Gator" Hill
G
ood day, one and all! This month I’m going to take you up the coast a bit further than our magazine reaches. As you drive up Coastal 17 there are a multitude of spots just off the highway. Many of you have likely driven past them, perhaps on trips to Myrtle Beach or Charleston. As the summer grind was coming to an end, I decided to take a few days off for a road trip back to a couple of my favorites along that route. My first task was a quick internet search to determine what would be open and the hours and such. With COVID-19 still an issue, one never knows. My destination: Pawleys Island, South Carolina, the home of Brookgreen Gardens. I know you are thinking, “Why is a Gator heading for a garden?” Though this place does contain a few gardens, its main crop is not artichokes, but rather art itself. Brookgreen is home to the largest outdoor sculpture garden in America and quite likely the world. Comprised of four old rice plantations and taking its name from one of those, the property is over 9000 acres total with the sculpture garden covering up to 80 acres. This vast treasure trove has been the epicenter of many adventures for me over the last twenty years. Brookgreen Gardens was a gift from Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington, and founded in 1931. To give you a brief history of this generous and affluent couple, Anna was mostly a selftaught sculptor, though she did some formal studies. Her father was a professor of paleontology and was the source for her keen understanding and observation of animals and their forms. Miss Hyatt made a move from Massachusetts to New York, and in 1915 became the first woman to create a public monument of a woman, featuring none other than the historical figure Joan of Arc. It was around this time she caught the eye of Archer Huntington. Archer’s family was part of the early development of the Transcontinental Railroad, which, of course, meant that he was quite wealthy. His inheritance amounted to about one billion dollars at todays rate. However, it wasn’t money that brought them together, rather a love for art and nature. Love blossomed and the two were wed, Anna in her 40s and Archer in his early 50s. Sadly not long afterward, in 1927, Anna contracted tuberculous, though she did finally recover from it by 1937. It was during her illness that they moved from New York to Pawleys Island, finding the southern winters and climate to be much better for Anna and allowing her to continue her work. With their intense love of the arts as motivation, Archer and Anna set about creating Brookgreen gardens, initially intended as a site for Anna to display her own sculptures. Laid out in the form of a giant butterfly, the walkways and sculpture gardens are simply astounding, and frankly, can be a bit overwhelming in the depth and variety of pieces found there. As I mentioned early on, I have been visiting this art oasis for over 20 years now.
Above: Don Quixote, by Anna Hyatt Huntington, 1947 Below: Alligator Bender, by Nathan Choate, 1937 Photos by J. Gary Hill
Ever changing, yet still the same, some pieces are static due to their size, some have moved about, and of course new pieces have been added through the years. If you’re in the holiday spirit come December and you want a quick getaway, consider a short drive up the coast for The Night of A Thousand Candles at Brookgreen Gardens. For info check out Brookegreen.Org, then calendar of events. There is so much more to this place than I have space for here today, plus I don’t want to spoil it for you, merely wet your curiosity. Go see for yourself and enjoy! In the meantime, peace and love, shrimp and grits … I'll see you on the water!
Email: TheOriginalCaptainGator@gmail.com
22
Southern Tides Magazine
November 2020
