Anna Hyatt Huntington is considered one of the finest American sculptors. Her bronze statues are on display in major cities and museums around the world. Shortly after she married Archer Huntington, a wealthy heir to a railroad fortune, she developed tuberculosis. Because of Anna’s condition the couple bought 9,000 acres of old rice plantation land in South Carolina to use as a winter retreat and studio. Most of the property was developed as a public garden to showcase the work of Anna Huntington and other American sculptors.
A small zoo is also located on the property but we visited during the "Nights of a Thousand Candles" festival when the zoo is closed to the public. The festival is fantastic with more than 5,500 real candles along the paths and floating in the ponds plus 500,000 little lights on the trees and plants. Visit before sunset to see all of the sculptures in the daylight and then stay for the festival lights.
All of the paths are paved and smooth. The buildings are accessible. A dining tent is set up during the festival. The path to it is over uneven, grassy ground, slightly uphill.
We arrived fairly early and were directed to a parking space along with other short RVs that was very close to the entrance. Large RVs may be parked farther away with the buses. Garden
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We had planned to visit the gardens , but we didn't do it. That was in the summer, so we would have missed the light show. We will put this on our list of places to visit.
ReplyDeleteI think that it would be a good place to visit in the spring when the flowers are blooming but before it gets too hot. Very few flowers now but the gardens are still pretty nice. The state park and campground on the opposite side of US 17 is very nice too.
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