Brookgreen Gardens

I mentioned in my last post that I like to go to different places on vacation so that we can see new things. One of the new places that we visited on our recent trip to Surfside Beach was Brookgreen Gardens. This place is a terrific field trip!

Brookgreen Gardens is located on the acreage that was once 4 separate rice plantations. The property was purchased by Archer and Anna Huntington in 1929. She was a sculptor, and there is a large formal garden area with many sculptures they collected. They had a vision to share the beauty of art, along with creating a wildlife preserve to maintain the natural beauty of the South Carolina Lowlands.

This picture shows just one of the many sculptures in the formal garden area.

To be honest, I am much more interested in the natural beauty, wildlife, and history of the area, than I am in sculpture. If it hadn’t been 98 degrees with 98% humidity (ok, I confess I don’t know what the actual humidity was.) I might have been more interested in the sculpture gardens.

What I did enjoy was the zoo area. All the animals were native to the area.

We also took a boat cruise through the rivers and canals around the abandoned rice fields. This was an opportunity to see more wildlife. However, it turns out that even the alligators think 98 degrees is too hot and spend most of the time hiding. But, in addition to wildlife, the tour guide shared the history of the area.

The land was deeded by the King of England to the various land owners before the Revolutionary War. It took many slaves, many years to clean out all the trees and clear the land. The soil is very swampy, making it nearly impossible to use animals to help with the labor. The men were often knee deep in muck as the worked.

The fields were flooded several times during the growing season by taking advantage of the tidal river. The river is fresh water, but the level is greatly influenced by the tides downstream.

These trunks were used both to flood and drain the fields.

After the Civil War, raising rice in South Carolina was less profitable. The landowners tried using hired workers and sharecroppers. The soil was too swampy for machinery to be used. It was a hurricane that brought the ultimate demise to the rice fields. The hurricane brought salt water up into the fields and destroyed many of the canals used for flooding and draining the fields.

Brookgreen Gardens is absolutely beautiful and is definitely at A+ fieldtrip destination for homeschoolers! (Though spring or fall would be a better time to visit.) I unfortunately have to take vacation in the summer, for the same reason we take our summers off.