A Brookgreen household membership costs $125 a year and covers unlimited admission during regular Gardens hours. It does not cover Nights of a Thousand Candles, which has its own ticket at $35 per member adult and $40 per nonmember adult. On several Wednesday and Saturday evenings this fall, the membership gets you into one restaurant while the rest of the Gardens is closed.
From now through the first days of January, Brookgreen effectively runs three operations. There are the daytime gardens, the members-only evenings and the ticketed candlelit nights. Each has its own rules, and each one has more going on this year than last, because 2026 is the first fall and holiday season that runs through the new Purdy Center.
The daytime gardens now start indoors
The Purdy Center opened with a ribbon-cutting on January 12, 2026, as Brookgreen's new front door. Visits now begin in the Brittian Welcome Atrium, which has a Brookgreen Coffee Bar pouring the Gardens' Signature Roast. Past the atrium is the Conservatory Great Hall, a climate-controlled indoor garden with a floor-to-ceiling tropical green wall, rotating botanical displays that include orchids, and skylights and clerestory windows.
The Conservatory also holds sculpture that is new to visitors:
- Gaia by Dora Natella, CEO by Glenna Goodacre and Heron by Babette Bloch
- 12 sculptures from Paul Howard Manship's 1932 Bird Series. Brookgreen has owned them since 1935, and this is the first time the series has been shown together
- A landscaped courtyard, veranda, wetlands garden and the Gaia Walk just outside
All of this comes with regular admission, along with the earlier pieces of the same campaign. WMBF reported in July 2025 that the Red Wolf Ridge habitat in the Lowcountry Zoo and the Simpson Art Center were both complete and open.
Regular hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and gates close at 4:30 p.m. for daytime admission. Pets are not allowed and cannot be left in vehicles on the property. Trained service animals are welcome. General admission is $25 for adults 13 to 64, $23 for seniors 65 and over, $14 for children 4 to 12, and free for children 3 and under. The ticket isn't tied to a date. When you arrive, guest services exchanges it for a nontransferable Gardens ticket that is good for seven consecutive days. If friends are visiting, one purchase can cover a Tuesday visit to the Conservatory and a Saturday return for the zoo.
The daytime calendar for the rest of October fits within that ticket:
- Harvest Home Weekend started Saturday, October 3, according to WMBF's preview, with pumpkin decorating, scarecrow building and seasonal items. Brookgreen's own page lists it as included with garden admission for nonmembers and free for members.
- In the Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, the 20th annual, takes place Saturday, October 10. Gardens entry opens at 7:15 a.m. and the walk starts at 8:30 a.m.
- What Remains: Quilts of Use, Care and Time opens October 17 in the Lowcountry Gallery and runs through February 28, 2027, daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It is free for members and included with general admission.
- Children's Imagination Walk is Saturday, October 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a costume parade at 2 p.m. It is free with garden admission.
Two history exhibits continue through the holidays. South Carolina and the American Revolution, at the Lowcountry Center, focuses on the state's role in the Southern Campaign and runs through January 1, 2027. Brookgreen Patriots and Their Descendants, about Revolutionary-era people connected to the property, runs through January 31, 2027. The National Sculpture Society's 93rd Annual Awards Exhibition closes October 25.
Some evenings, only the restaurant is open
Brookgreen lists extended hours until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This fall, many of those evenings are set aside for Members Exclusive Evening Dining at Austin's Harvest Restaurant, from 5 to 8 p.m. The remaining dates are October 10, 14, 17, 21, 28 and 31, and November 4, 7, 11, 14 and 18. Reservations are required. Brookgreen says all other areas of the Gardens are closed on those nights, and gates close at 7:45 p.m. Harvest will also be closed the evening of Saturday, October 24, for a private event, the same day as the Imagination Walk.
A Wednesday or Saturday evening in October or early November is therefore a dinner reservation and not a late walk through the sculpture gardens. If you plan to bring guests after work, check the date first.
November adds more member events and ticketed programs to the calendar:
| Date | Event | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Wed., Nov. 11 | Wish List Wednesday | 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. |
| Thu., Nov. 12 | Holiday Wreaths workshop | 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| Nov. 12 to 14 | Keepsakes Members Holiday Shopping | 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Wed., Nov. 18 | Open Studio, included with garden admission | 10 a.m. to noon |
| Wed., Nov. 18 | Sip and Sculpt | 4 to 6 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 20 | Gala for the Gardens | 6 to 9 p.m. |
| Tue., Nov. 24 | Photography After Dark | 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. |
On November 18, Open Studio in the morning and Sip and Sculpt in the late afternoon fall on the same day as the last member dinner night on the fall schedule.
The candles have their own ticket
Nights of a Thousand Candles runs from 4 to 9 p.m. on these 2026 dates: November 27, 28 and 29; December 3 to 6, 10 to 13 and 17 to 20; and December 29, 30 and 31. Brookgreen's event page also lists January 1, 2 and 3, 2027. Tickets go through Brookgreen's own ticketing link. Groups of 20 or more adults can email [email protected] for special pricing.
| Nights ticket | Member | Nonmember |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | $35 | $40 |
| Child, ages 4 to 12 | $15 | $20 |
Membership takes $5 off each Nights ticket, and that is the full benefit at the two basic levels. At current posted prices, two adults pay $70 as members or $80 as nonmembers. Two adults and two children ages 4 to 12 pay $100 as members or $120 as nonmembers. The $75 Individual and $125 Household levels include no complimentary Nights tickets.
Complimentary candle tickets start at the President's Council level, $375, which includes the option to reserve eight. Chairman's Council, at $1,000, includes 20, and Huntington Society, at $2,500, includes 30. Brookgreen says those included tickets are subject to availability and have to be reserved in advance.
The holiday trains also run on two schedules. Treasured Holiday Memories, in the Rosen Galleries, runs November 27, 2026, through January 3, 2027. It has trains and holiday vignettes, including a vintage American Flyer layout that is new this year, and the trains run during Nights of a Thousand Candles.
What the household card covers this season
Two adults paying general admission spend $50 for one seven-day window. The $125 Household Membership covers everyone who permanently shares the home, for a full year counted from the month of purchase. Brookgreen spells out that limit. College students who live away part of the year can be included, but adult children or other relatives with a permanent residence elsewhere cannot.
Visiting family who don't qualify can still save. Members can buy discounted seven-day guest tickets at $19 per adult and $14 per child 4 to 12. The Individual and Household levels also each include two one-day guest passes. A new membership number has to be activated in Brookgreen's ticketing system before discounted tickets can be bought online, and that can take up to two business days. If you plan to join for the member price on candle tickets, keep that delay in mind before the November 27 opening.
For the season as a whole, the household card covers every daytime item above: the Conservatory, the quilts, the Revolution exhibits, Harvest Home, the Imagination Walk and Red Wolf Ridge. It gives access to the members-only Harvest dinners, though the meal itself is a separate restaurant reservation, and it takes $5 off each Nights of a Thousand Candles ticket. That leaves one candlelit evening as the main extra cost for a household between now and New Year's.
If this season has you wondering how far your street is from Brookgreen's gates, or which parts of Murrells Inlet put a Conservatory coffee and a Huntington Beach State Park walk on the same morning, I'm happy to help you map that out. Alexandria Bevier works across the Grand Strand, and Brookgreen is part of the local knowledge I bring to every conversation about where to live. Let's Connect.
