Anna Hyatt Huntington
South Carolina

Anna Hyatt Huntington Photo taken Peter A. Juley & Son Repository: Smithsonian Institution

For Women’s History Month, the National Register is showcasing two historic sites associated with the world famous woman sculptress Anna Hyatt Huntington (March 10, 1876 – October 4, 1973). Anna Hyatt Huntington, a premier American sculptress, was born Anna Vaughn Hyatt in 1876. Her first one-person show was held when she was 24 years old. A prolific artist, she was especially noted for her powerfully classic animal and equestrian sculpture. Approximately 200 American museums contain her work, including the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Examples of her work are also found in France, Spain and South America. The daughter of Alpheus Hyatt, Jr. (1838-1902), a pioneer marine biologist and a scientist who specialized in paleontology connected with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Anna grew up in a rich cultural environment and found herself pursuing an interest in sculpture in her adolescence. Largely self-taught, Ann did study briefly in Boston and at the Arts Students League. Recognized as one of the finest American animal sculptors of the 20th century, she created work that was placed in public locations throughout the country and around the world, as well as in numerous museum and private collections. Anna married Archer Huntington on March 10, 1923. Her best known works are Joan of Arc, The Cid and Don Quixote. The two sites associated with her that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places are Atalaya, designed by her husband, Archer Milton Huntington, and the Brookgreen Gardens, known today as a botanical and sculpture garden.  Both sites are located in Georgetown County, South Carolina.

Some of the details on Anna Hyatt Huntington are taken from The Huntington’s, found at the Brookgreen Gardens website at http://www.brookgreen.org/huntington.cfm.  The rest is from the National Register of Historic Places documentation on  Atalaya prepared by Daniel Ray Sigmon, Historic Researcher for the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism on March 20, 1984, and the National Register of Historic Places documentation on Brookgreen Gardens by Kathy Kelly  (Waccamaw Regional Planning and Development Council) John Califf and Julie Burr for the South Carolina. Department of Archives and History, February 4, 1978