• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Directions
1-800-247-5459
Oceanfront Vacation Rentals, Inc
  • Vacation Rentals
    • Property Specials
    • Property Reviews
    • Annual Rentals
    • Specials & Deals
    • Pet-Friendly Rentals
    • Search by Feature
    • Rental Information
      • Privacy Policy
      • SC Vacation Rental Act
      • Travel Protection Insurance
  • Real Estate
    • Meet our Broker In Charge
  • Myrtle Beach
    • Why Visit Myrtle Beach
    • Areas
    • Entertainment
    • Attractions
      • Alligator Adventure
      • Barefoot Landing
      • Broadway at the Beach
      • Brookgreen Gardens
        • Brookgreens Garden Area
        • Brookgreen Gardens History
        • Touring Brookgreen Gardens
          • Additional Gardens
          • Arboretum
          • Carolina Terrace
          • Dogwood Garden
          • Garden Room For Children
      • Children’s Museum of South Carolina
      • Dining
        • Fine Dining
        • Italian
        • Mexican Latin Cuisine
        • Myrtle Beach Dining
        • Myrtle Beach Steakhouses
        • North Myrtle Beach Dining
        • Quick Bite Delis
        • Restaurant Row
        • South Myrtle Beach Dining
      • Family Kingdom Amusement Park
      • Georgetown Historical Markers
      • Horry County’s Historical Markers
      • MagiQuest
      • Myrtle Beach Boardwalk
      • Myrtle Beach Myths
      • Myrtle Beach Skywheel
      • Myrtle Beach Wildlife
      • Myrtle Waves Water Park
      • Pirate Adventures
      • Ripley’s Aquarium
      • Myrtle Beach Vineyards & Wineries
      • Wonderworks
    • Activities
      • Coastal Shopping
      • Fishing Charters
      • Miniature Golf
      • Myrtle Beach Festivals
        • Fall Festivals
        • Winter Festivals
        • Spring Festivals
        • Summer Festivals
      • Myrtle Beach Golf
      • Myrtle Beach Shipwrecks
        • Fishing Charters
        • Myrtle Beach Scuba Diving
        • Reefs & Wrecks
      • Pier Fishing
      • Shagging
      • Water Sports
    • Events
    • Blog
    • Hurricanes
      • Myrtle Beach Hurricane History
  • About Us
    • Directions
    • Contact Us
    • Property Management
  • Menu
You are here: Home / Myrtle Beach / Attractions / Brookgreen Gardens / Brookgreens Garden Area

Brookgreen Gardens Area

Make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Archer Milton Huntington and Anna Hyatt Huntington and visit the crowning achievement of their distinctive and privileged lives. The shrine is Atalaya, their Moorish castle on the beach, and the crowning achievement is Brookgreen Gardens, America’s first and largest outdoor sculpture collection, right across the highway. Both are near Murrells Inlet south of Myrtle Beach.

You can’t miss the turn from US Highway 17. Anna Hyatt Huntington’s larger-than-life Fighting Stallions stands high above the entrance to Brookgreen Gardens, elevated to a height that emphasizes their majesty. The horses are cast in aluminum because Anna felt that a dull finish best revealed every leg, mane, tail, and head, as well as the raw and furious nature of the conflict. Bronze is typically the sculptor’s metal of choice but she felt a shiny surface tends to obscure the shape and form of the work, that a glossy sheen reflects a distraction of light. Unlike bronze, aluminum does not oxidize over time and does not require annual or more frequent waxings.

So that’s the teaser to start your visit at Brookgreen Gardens, and beyond these horses lies a paradise of youths and maidens, gods, and goddesses, mythological creatures of fur and feather. Since opening in 1931 the garden has grown to a 350-acre public sculpture display set within a 9,000-acre nature preserve. The collection has grown to more than 1,400 sculptures, representing the works of more than 350 artists, and the garden is sectioned off into distinctive “chambers,” each one of them a slice of Mount Olympus or a peek into the Garden of Eden.

Huntington Beach State Park

Go through the gate across the street from the horses to see at another portion of the Huntington legacy. The couple leased Huntington Beach State Park to South Carolina, a 2,500-acre preserve that the state has developed with campsites at the southern end (water, electrical hookups, tables, grills, and restrooms), an ocean beach with a swimming area, a playground with carpet golf, a trading post, a picnic area with shelters, a nature trail and daily nature programs such as birdwatching outings.

This is a prime spot for tents, pop-ups, and RVs but it fills up fast during the summer beach season. Check on availability by calling (803) 237-4440.

The shady drive into the park is a leafy tunnel through a dense grove of gnarled oak trees that drip with gray moss. The road leads to a marshland area where you will likely see alligators, deer and shorebirds. Just around the next bend is a massive stone castle, the Huntingtons’ grand oceanfront residence.

Atalaya

The name is Spanish for watchtower, and its soaring height is suitable for a medieval fiefdom defending its walls against marauding tribes. Archer Huntington designed it in the Moorish style. The living quarters consist of 30 rooms, with areas for servants, cooks, laundresses, housekeepers, and secretaries. One whole room is dedicated to oyster shucking, and of course, Anna’s sculpture studio is stunning, its 25-foot skylight in the south wing providing a heavenly stream of natural light.

The mansion has a grand total of 25 fireplaces, quite a lot of heating power in a region that rarely sees low temperatures, and the exquisite black wrought-iron grillwork on every window was made by Tito and Rogers of Miami. Two stairways lead from the courtyard to the roof with a view of the sea, which might shed some perspective on the “watchtower” reference.

Stables, dog kennels, and bear cages are on the grounds, and a courtyard has 50 palm trees. The Huntingtons imported deerhounds from Scotland and provided them with their own elaborate five-room house that accommodated about two dozen of them. The couple raced these dogs on the beach, and Anna used them as models for her sculpture Deerhounds Playing on exhibit in the sculpture garden.

All the maids were also from Scotland, and they wore black uniforms with white caps and aprons. They changed all linens on all beds every day, regardless of whether or not the beds had been slept in.

The attractions surrounding Brookgreen Gardens are as popular as the gardens themselves, and visitors can expect to spend a full day exploring the acres of attractions, wandering through the adjacent state park, and taking in the spectacular mansion that the Huntingtons considered their home away from home.

  • Areas
    • Calabash
    • Conway
    • Garden City
    • Georgetown
    • Litchfield
    • Little River
    • Murrells Inlet
    • Myrtle Beach
    • North Myrtle Beach
    • Pawley’s Island
    • Socastee
    • Surfside Beach
  • Events
  • Why Visit Myrtle Beach
  • Entertainment
    • Casino Cruises
    • Live Entertainment Venues
    • Medieval Times
    • Palace Theatre
    • Barefoot Landing
  • Attractions
    • Alligator Adventure
    • Broadway at the Beach
    • Brookgreen Gardens
      • Brookgreens Garden Area
      • Brookgreen Gardens History
      • Touring Brookgreen Gardens
        • Additional Gardens
        • Arboretum
        • Carolina Terrace
        • Dogwood Garden
        • Garden Room For Children
    • Children’s Museum of South Carolina
    • Dining
      • Fine Dining
      • Italian
      • Mexican Latin Cuisine
      • Myrtle Beach Dining
      • Myrtle Beach Steakhouses
      • North Myrtle Beach Dining
      • Quick Bite Delis
      • Restaurant Row
      • South Myrtle Beach Dining
    • Family Kingdom Amusement Park
    • Georgetown Historical Markers
    • Horry County’s Historical Markers
    • MagiQuest
    • Myrtle Beach Boardwalk
    • Myrtle Beach Myths
      • Civil War Stories and Myths
      • Drunken Jack Island
      • Georgetown County Myths
      • Myths of Myrtle Beach
      • North Myrtle Beach Myths
      • Shipwreck Stories and Myths
    • Myrtle Beach Skywheel
    • Myrtle Beach Wildlife
    • Myrtle Waves Water Park
    • Pirate Adventures
    • Ripley’s Aquarium
    • Myrtle Beach Vineyards & Wineries
    • Wonderworks
  • Activities
    • Coastal Shopping
      • Central Myrtle Beach Shopping
      • Myrtle Beach Shops
      • North Grand Strand Shopping
      • South Grand Strand Shopping
    • Fishing Charters
    • Miniature Golf
    • Myrtle Beach Festivals
      • Fall Festivals
      • Spring Festivals
      • Summer Festivals
      • Winter Festivals
    • Myrtle Beach Golf
    • Myrtle Beach Shipwrecks
      • Fishing Charters
      • Myrtle Beach Scuba Diving
      • Reefs & Wrecks
    • Pier Fishing
    • Shagging
    • Water Sports
  • Hurricanes
    • Myrtle Beach Hurricane History

Contact

Phone (Local): 1-843-448-1700
Phone (Toll Free): 1-800-247-5459
E-Mail: [email protected]

Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm

Address

Oceanfront Vacation Rentals, Inc. 1551 21st Avenue North Suite 12 Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

Contact Us For Our Upcoming Deals!

© 2020 Website Design by  MB Buzz .
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map
Scroll to top