Luce Gardens

The Nancy Bryan Luce Gardens are considered the heart of Mepkin.

Clare Boothe Luce was a journalist, playwright, politician and the first female Ambassador to Italy.. In 1936, her husband Henry Luce, founder and publisher of Time, Life, Fortune and Sports Illustrated Magazines, purchased Mepkin Plantation, along with neighboring Clermont and Washington plantations, to serve as their winter retreat.

In 1937, Clare Boothe Luce commissioned noted garden landscape architect Loutrell Briggs to design the garden. His work is featured in gardens throughout Charleston and the Lowcountry. Briggs called this the "Camellia Garden." An extensive tree canopy shades azaleas and camellias in a series of terraces.

In 1948, Luce sold parts of their plantation and, according to Clare's wishes, donated 3,200 acres to the Trappist monks of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, who would found Mepkin Abbey the following year in 1949. Beneath a tall white cross in the gardens is a white tombstone that marks the double grave of Henry and Clare Boothe Luce, surrounded by other members of the Luce family.

In 1984, the Camellia Garden was rehabilitated by Morgan Wheelock of Boston and named it the Nancy Bryan Luce Gardens in honor of Henry's daughter-in-law.

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