When we were driving into Holden Beach for our family vacation back in September, we noticed this place on the side of the road. It was actually kind of hard to miss. The best way I know for you to be able to see it is to check out 2431 Holden Beach Road, Holden Beach, NC in Google Maps and take a gander at the street view. Basically it was all this….. just, STUFF… on the side of the road. Stuff everywhere and lights in the trees and on all the buildings. But remember, this was back in September, so they weren’t Christmas lights. Just lights in general. Year round lights.
Once we got settled in at our beach house, I asked my uncle about it. Turns out, I should have known exactly what it was. A few years ago, my mom’s cousin’s daughter… so my third cousin or something?… made a short documentary film about the woman who lives there. Blaire stumbled upon this place one day when she was in school and in need of a subject for a documentary she had to make.
I suppose the place is known as Mary’s Garden, and the film my cousin made is called Mary’s Gone Wild. Anyway, Mary is an artist. She mainly paints on the reverse side of glass. But, she also paints on pieces of plywood and any other thing she can find. She recycles old windows and boards and paints on them. She has also recycled old glass bottles into actual “houses” and other pieces of art on her lot, including a wishing well and a sailboat. Not only does she sell her art, she also has tons of old stuff in some of her buildings (buildings which she builds all by herself!) that you can buy if it strikes your fancy. She even paints the floors and walls and ceilings of these buildings.
My mom and I went back and stopped by later in the week and met Mary, and we each bought one of her paintings, mine a dragonfly and my mom’s a sun. She donates the proceeds from all of her paintings to Feed the Children. While we were visiting, I took a few photos of my own, which hardly do the place justice.
Mary also mentioned while we were there that the TV show American Pickers had called and was supposed to be coming by in October to see if she had anything they’d be interested in, so I keep checking to see if she will be on one of their episodes one of these days.
Anyway, this place was unreal. You can check out the website for both Mary’s Garden and read more about my cousin’s documentary (and even watch it!) by clicking here. And if you’re ever in the Holden Beach area, you should definitely stop by! It’s worth checking out.
Anyone out there ever been there?
I enjoyed our chat with Mary! Her building is better than I could do!!