McKissick Museum

Hello, I’m Amanda McNutly with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. As a young child, I began using U S C’s McKissick Museum - at that time it was a library. Today its mission statement includes these words “The University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum fosters awareness and appreciation for the diversity of the region’s culture, history, and natural environment.” When the state of Pearl Fryar’s topiary garden and Mr. Fryar’s health was brought to director Jane Przybysz attention, she began work on a way to preserve this regional and national treasure. Eventually, with cooperation with the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the museum got funding for a topiary artist in residence – I’m sure that’s a first, and Mike Gibson, a self-taught and self-described property artist, is working with Fryar in his Bishopville garden. McKissick is to me an overlooked treasure for our state, please visit it on the old horseshoe.