When Will Cypress Gardens Reopen

MONCKS CORNER — A global pandemic and an historic flood haven't been able to dampen support for Cypress Gardens.

The popular Berkeley County tourist attraction has flourished since reopening in the spring of 2019.

In a normal year, more than 50,000 visitors would walk through the grounds of the park to see its trademark cypress trees that had been featured in films like "The Patriot" and "The Notebook." It had also been a popular site for weddings.

Attendance at the Moncks Corner attraction nearly doubled from 50,000 to 93,000 over an 11-month span from April 2019 to March 2020, but admission was free for three of those months. The park saw more than 85,000 guests pass through its gates during this fiscal year, which ended on June 30.

"When the pandemic hit, we were a little concerned that people would stop coming," said Cypress Gardens director Heather McDowell. "But then we began to realize that one of the safest places for people to be was outside and this was the perfect spot for them."

In October 2015, historic flooding closed Cypress Gardens for nearly five years. The park was submerged with 1 to 4 feet of standing water throughout the 170-acre site. The park struggled to reopen. There were funding issues, federal codes that had to be met and setbacks from additional weather events that conspired to push the park's reopening efforts well into 2019.

The county poured $2.1 million into Cypress Gardens and the park finally reopened in April 2020.

"We've had some really big numbers over the past year," said Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb, who spearheaded the effort to get the park back open. "Cypress Gardens is such a great attraction. We wanted to do a better job of promoting and marketing the park and it has really paid off. This was a great investment for our community. I feel like every guest that comes through the gates is telling five-to-10 people about the park when they leave, and word of mouth is the best advertisement."

Dean Hall had been a popular choice for wedding receptions before the flood. As many as 100 weddings per year were held in the space that underwent more than $500,000 in renovations and was opened to the public in November.

McDowell said the park is having one of its best wedding seasons on record with some nuptials already booked for 2023.

"This has been a very strong year for weddings," McDowell said. "Things have slowed down in July because of the hot weather, but they will start picking back up August and September."

The county is spending $250,000 to renovate the Heritage Room.

The Heritage Room, which was also damaged in the flood, is an interactive hall where visitors learn about the history of Berkeley County, the state of South Carolina, the cultivation of rice during the colonial period and the creation of the cypress swamp through photos, videos and artifacts.

"It's going to tell the history of Berkeley County," Cribb said.

McDowell is hopeful The Heritage Room, which will be used as a rental facility for gatherings like weddings and birthday parties, will be open by October.

The park was originally part of Dean Hall, one of the Cooper River's largest rice plantations. Cypress Gardens was created in the late 1920s and was opened to the public in 1932. Once owned by the family of Benjamin Kittredge, it was sold for $1 to the city of Charleston in 1964.

Hurricane Hugo in 1989 nearly destroyed Cypress Gardens, but the city rebuilt it and eventually turned it over to Berkeley County in 1996.

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When Will Cypress Gardens Reopen

Source: https://www.postandcourier.com/business/berkeley-countys-cypress-gardens-is-flourishing-since-reopening-in-2019/article_66a8e320-da98-11eb-aa36-530c28784827.html

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