Revisiting Myrtle Beach, Part I: Sculpture museum at Brookgreen Gardens

Each of the first two times I was in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina, I wanted to drive the 13+ miles (a half-hour or so) south to Murrells Inlet to visit Brookgreen Gardens, a rare combination of wildlife preserve -- and a sculpture garden.

I've walked many areas that were described as wildlife preserves, but I could not remember ever visiting an attraction that devoted lots of space to the display of outdoor sculptures. On top of that, the sculptures were exhibited among a variety of landscapes -- open meadows, heavily wooded areas, as the centerpiece to sundry fountain creations and even sections under cover.

The 9,100-acre Brookgreen Gardens, the consolidation of four former rice plantations, is the product of a concept developed by wealthy industrialist and poet Archer Huntington and his wife, sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington. The Huntingtons bought the property as a place for Anna to practice her craft while recovering and healing from tuberculosis.

Archer also envisioned it as a place to display collections of flora and fauna native to the area, and indeed, you'll find flowers in a botanical garden (during spring and summer flower seasons) and a modest low-country zoo on the grounds; given the timing of my stop there, I see either of those on my visits.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it there on my first or second visits to the Myrtle Beach area. On my third visit in late October and early November, Lee Ann and I set aside the time to go there. I never knew Murrells Inlet was a thing (OK, a place, to be exact) until going to Brookgreen, but Murrells Inlet is heavily identified as a place once you reach it on U.S. 17 south of Myrtle Beach.

Brookgreen Gardens charges a $20 admission for adults and $12 for children. But the ticket you receives gets you inside the attraction for up to seven consecutive days because, they say, you just cannot see everything in one day. And they were right. I figure if it had been spring and the botanical gardens and zoo were thriving, I'd have gone back a third day.

Even if you start your tour in the early morning, the attraction is so expansive and sprawling -- then compound it with the time you devote to study the sculptures and read about them (each exhibit has a info/background placard) -- that exhaustion might sideline you by noon.

I went to Brookgreen around noon on both days (Oct. 29 and Nov. 1), and I was exhausted by closing at 5 p.m. each day. But I lucked out with some absolutely gorgeous weather on the first visit; the weather was almost as good on the return tour.

I used almost all of my first visit to explore the sculptures ... and to document the striking landscape, which is why I chose to lead off with a "pretty" shot rather than a sculpture. The sculpture of the dog below is something visitors see early after entering the sculptures area, but it's a secondary element to a monument to Archer and Anna Huntington. Photographically, I found myself focusing on closeup sections (or portions?) of the various sculptures in addition to capturing them in their entirety. During post-processing, I found myself more intrigued with those "section" images ... and appreciating the work those closeups showed.

Lee Ann and I took a boat cruise on the second visit, which enabled us to see the four former rice plantations (albeit from afar; we could see only as far as the eyes could allow from the vessel we were riding on the Wacamaw River). The river, which intersects the grounds at several junctures, also serves as a partial border for the plantations. We got to see a few alligators basking in the sun along the shoreline during the ride; one of them is pictured below.

As usual, to view a larger, sharper version of an image, just click on it. To see full galleries of my shoots at Brookgreen Gardens, follow this link to see images from the Oct. 29 visit and this link to see images from the return trip on Nov. 1. The sculptures in this post barely scratch the surface of the volumes of pieces Brookgreen Gardens has on display. Many more can be seen in my photo galleries.

Brookgreen Gardens points to this sculpture, "Fighting Stallions" by Anna Hyatt Huntington, as its iconic work. I use it as an example of how I focused my photography here on closeup sections of many works; I was moved more by the closeup detail shots of mine (see next three images) than the full work itself. The "Fighting Stallions" aluminum sculpture rises 15 feet into the air and was completed in 1950. Huntington had a replica made and donated it to Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

For years after she finished her impression of Cervantes' fictional idealistic "Don Quixote" (above) in 1947, Huntington received inquiries about whether a sculpture of Quixote's traveling squire, Sancho Panza, was in the works. In 1968, finally, she asked Paul Jennewein to create the aluminum representation of Panza (below), which was finished in 1971, two years before Huntington's death. 

A closeup (above) of the figures in Albert Walter Wein's 1948 limestone "Phryne Before the Judges" (below).

A closeup (above) of "Raphell," a 1982 bronze sculpture (full view below) by Bruno Lucchesi that memorializes the bridge-building work in helping mental health patients by psychiatrist Raphell Sims Laskowitz. Laskowitz died in 1978 at the young age of 29, after which her parents commissioned the work and were touched by plans to install the sculpture in a reflecting pool at Creedmore Psychiatric Center in Queens Village, N.Y., where Laskowitz did volunteer work. Appropriately, the version at Brookgreen Gardens is installed in a fountain. 

Above, a section detail of the bronze "The Saint James Triad" by Richard McDermott Miller. The detail shot above gives you a look at the face of the person whose backside appears at the left in the full view photo below. The sculpture was the subject of a book, Voices in Bronze, which describes the sculpture's inspiration, creation and challenges. Miller placed three figures in a box to contrast soft curves with hard geometric lines, a technique he also used in other works.    

Above: The biggest disappointment of the day for me was "The Fountain of Muses" by Carl Milles. The bronze installation was built inside a rectangular fountain, but the fountain wasn't working the day I was there.

The granite "Pegasus" by Lauren Gardin Fraser (above and below) is not only the largest sculpture in Brookgreen's collection but it also took the longest to create. It was developed from 1946-54.

Above, the gilt bronze Dionysus (1936) by Edward Francis McCartan is in a fountain adorned by flora and colorful foliage (first below). In the narrow concrete gutter at the fountain's base, I came across a baby alligator (second below). 

I conclude this post with a couple of landscape shots to underscore that the grounds entail more than sculptures, even though its outdoor sculpture museum clearly makes Brookgreen Gardens stand out. You get some pretty awesome scenery, such as one of the neatly manicured low country rice plantations (above), or the alley of oaks (first below), or the sidewalk lined with oaks (second below) or the pond and meadow combinations (third and fourth below). 

Next up: Myrtle Beach sunrises ... and a sundown