Take a Ride On This Black Inky Water
Written: Jun 17 '01 (Updated Jun 18 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great attraction for the least amount of money.
Cons: Mosquitoes.
The Bottom Line: Pack a lunch and spend the day. This place does not have the big crowds yet, the secret is not out. Plenty of parking and free boat rides.
|
|
|
| disartain's Full Review: South Carolina |
I have the distinction of living in a small town called Moncks Corner, so named for the nearby Mepkin Abbey, where the Monks still live their quite life. This town is located about 30 miles from Charleston. As small as the town was when I moved here it is the county seat of Berkeley county one of the largest counties and together with Dorchester, and Charleston counties make up what is locally called the Tri-County Area. If you take old highway 52 and follow the signs you will soon arrive at a swamp. This swamp is called Cypress Gardens.
History
A rich planter from Dean, Scotland originally owned Cypress Gardens. Nesbitt bought the estate in the 1700’s. 3000 acres with 163 acre swamp the agricultural center. This swamp was used to flood the nearby rice paddies. He named it the Dean Hall Plantation. Hunting and horseracing was the entertainment of that period and important visitors stayed at the plantation and enjoyed these activities on the plantation. I guess the civil war saw the demise of this plantation and many others. The plantation was bought in 1909 by Benjamin Kitteredge from New York. He’s the person responsible for planting the swamp with all the beautiful flora and fauna along the nature trails that border the swamp. Kitteredge eventually gave the swamp and the surrounding land to Charleston.
When Hurricane Hugo came through South Carolina in 1989 the area was devastated and the area known as Cypress Gardens was left to nature. Eventually Charleston gave the gardens to Berkeley County who took over and has made the swamp what it is today.
Attractions
Every year we go to the gardens for my husbands company picnic. The first year the only thing I noticed was the beautiful plants and trees. Wisteria, Magnolia trees, dogwoods, and of course, Japonicas, Camellias, and Azaleas galore. All of this beautiful natural setting surrounds the swamp. The swamp itself is sitting there silent with just the croak of an alligator, and the bird calls and bees buzzing around the flowers. The water is black and silent with Cypress trees and Cypress knees creeping out of the water and towering above the murky swamp.
Any of you that saw the movie the Patriot saw this swamp; they drained the swamp for the movie. They also left the scenery that was put into the swamp for the movie as a tourist attraction.
Garden Paths and Nature Trails
The garden paths are actually dikes that were made when the waters from the swamp were used to flood the rice fields. Now they meander around with the swamp as the backdrop for the beautifully blooming flowers in the spring. There are four gardens within this area. Woodland Gardens, Camellia Garden, Garden of memories, and the Wedding garden which has a gazebo for anyone wanting to get married there.
Butterfly House
The Butterfly house was built about three or four years ago. It is home to a beehive, ducks, birds, butterflies, and many housed insects I can do without, like giant cockroaches. I did not look at these particular insects as the garden variety of cockroaches gives me the hebbie geebies. There are benches inside the house where you can sit and watch the ducks in the pond. There are turtles and water lilies and the whole atmosphere is one of a tropical area almost. Make sure you see this. The Butterflies are some of the most beautiful I have every had the pleasure of seeing. The trees and bushes that are in the Butterfly house are the butterflies natural habitat, so at different times of the year they can be seen in their natural forms.
Aquarium
The aquarium is home to local fish, like the huge catfish that swirls back and forth on the bottom of one of the tanks. Fresh water fish make up the bulk of this aquarium with tanks holding around 24,000 gallons of water. They also display local snakes, poisonous and non-poisonous varieties. There are many turtles and this weekend they are having a Turtle Fest that includes Frankenturtle a 150 lb snapping alligator turtle. For Turtle Fest you are welcome to bring your own turtle to be seen and identified.
Alligator Pond
They have just finished the alligator enclosure where you guessed it they have some big bruisers out there. A place I will look but not touch or feed.
Bat House
They have just finished building a bat hotel where they hope to house thousand of bats. Something has to eat the mosquitoes and other insects that are prevalent in a swamp.
The Swamp
This is by far the best attraction in the gardens. The price of admission also gets you as many rides in the flat-bottomed boats as you want,there is no time limit. You can have a guide row you around the swamp, or commandeer a boat for yourself which is what most people do and follow the signs. Since I am afraid of boats, my husband told me that the water wasn’t over 4 feet deep. Well he didn't tell the truth. It is shallow in most places but when I put a paddle down to try and touch bottom I couldn’t and the paddle was a five foot paddle. Paddling the boat was a trip in itself. With my help we managed to hit quite a few of the cypress trees and knees. I even saw a baby alligator about 3 foot long swimming along beside us, so keep your hands in the boat. They have life jackets and cushions that are free for your use. If you have a little one I would bring their life saving device along with you. They have life jackets to fit the babies, but they are always in short supply as the boats are very busy and lots of families with children use them.
Gift Shop
There is a gift shop and a few interesting gifts in it. They sell Trolls and Giant alligator stuffed animals, along with cookbooks indigenous to South Carolina and the usual souvenir's.
Berkeley County added a large building with a stage and many tables which can be rented for wedding receptions and reunions and the like.
Cost
Cypress Gardens is very inexpensive as far as attractions go. Our county government wanted to make it available and affordable for all of our community. The price list I copied from their site.
General Admission for Cypress Gardens
All exhibits and activities are included in the general admission tickets - boat rides, Butterfly House, Aquarium, International Reptile Center, and hiking trails.
Adults $7
Seniors $6
Children $2 (6-12)
Five and under free
They are open from 9am to 5 PM daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the month of January.
If you want more information and to see some beautiful pictures visit this address.
http://www.cypressgardens.org
Motels are as close as Moncks Corner where we lay claim to four and Charleston has anything you want or need in the way of accommodations.
Conclusion
This is one of the cheapest attractions in the Tri-County Area. Pack a picnic lunch they have 4 different covered sections with picnic tables available. Take mosquito repellent with you. Because of all the wild life and insects they do not spray for mosquitoes. There is plenty of parking that is free. This is like spending a beautiful day in the country.
Please take a moment to visit the reviews of these other participants in the Home Town Write Off sponsored
by Phineaskc:
fallyn96 | mom2tyzick | imames | debbie26 | tazzyfoxy | jro26 |
tchoate | disartain | marytara | kuuleimomi | mom2girlz | jo.com | ggrimes1221
phineaskc | mshooterville | ainsleyjo | elzora | bmcnichol | whitty | fostrmom2mny
Please visit their reviews.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
disartain
|
 in Pets, Home and Garden |
 - Top 100 |
|
Member: Diane Sartain
Location: Somewhere in SC
Reviews written: 374
Trusted by: 549 members
About Me:
Every day my children play is a good day. :)
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.