Kalmia Gardens

Hartsville, South Carolina, United States

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Kalmia Gardens in Hartsville, South Carolina, is a 38-acre public botanical garden located on land that was once a 19th-century plantation owned by the Hart family.

The property fell into disrepair but was transformed in the early 1930s by May Roper Coker, known as Miss May, who created walking trails, a pond fed by an artesian well, and planted many exotic ornamentals such as azaleas, camellias, wisteria, and tea-olives. The gardens are named after the abundant mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) that blooms across the bluff each May.

Miss May opened the gardens to the public in 1935 and later donated them to Coker College in 1965 as a memorial to her late husband. The Thomas E. Hart House, built in 1820 on the property, and the surrounding gardens are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, Kalmia Gardens continues to serve as a place for education, nature enjoyment, and preservation of the Black Creek ecosystem, welcoming visitors daily from dawn until dusk without charge.