Kalmia Gardens
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Kalmia Gardens (30 acres) are botanical gardens owned by Coker College, and located at 1624 West Carolina Avenue, Hartsville, South Carolina. The gardens are open daily without admission fee.
The gardens were established in the early 1930s by Mrs. David Robert Coker on neglected land containing a blackwater swamp and uplands of pine, oak, and holly that had become overrun with kalmia. She made trails, dug a pond, and planted ornamental species including azaleas, camellias, tea olives (Osmanthus fragrans), and wisteria, and in 1935 opened the gardens to the public. In 1965 she gave the gardens to Coker College. They are now on the National Register of Historic Places.
