Editor's note: We Are Aiken County is a series of articles that will run through March 16. It celebrates people, places and events that shaped Aiken County.
One of Aiken’s most popular spring events will celebrate a milestone birthday this year.
The City of Aiken will present the 50th anniversary of the Hopelands Concert Series from April to June. The annual outdoor concerts feature local artists performing music, song and dance on the Roland H. Windham Performing Arts Stage in one of the city’s most iconic settings, Hopelands Gardens.
The stage is nestled between two ponds, and concertgoers can set up chairs and spread out blankets on the terraced bank, shaded by oaks and pines, across the water.
Picnics always are welcome for alfresco dining during the concerts. The concerts are family and pet friendly, and adding to their appeal, they’re free. Parking is available across Whiskey Road at the Green Boundary Club.
Last year’s lineup of talent included Preston and Weston, the Southern Elite Cloggers, the Aiken Brass and the Aiken Civic Ballet.
For more than 30 years, the Parris Island Marine Band from Beaufort has closed out the season in late June just in time for the Fourth of July holiday.
Look for this year’s line-up online at hopelandsgardens.com.
Hopelands Gardens, surrounded by its famous serpentine wall, is a peaceful respite that provides local residents and visitors an oasis from the busy traffic on Whiskey Road.
Bequeathed to the city of Aiken by Hope Goddard Iselin, the 14-acre former Winter Colony estate opened in 1970 as a public garden. Iselin is believed to have planted the many live oaks and deodar cedars, many more than 100 years old, that shade the grounds and the winding paths through the property, according to the City of Aiken’s website.
Although Iselin’s home was demolished after her death, the former playhouse and schoolhouse for the Iselin children, known as the Doll House, remains. Today, the Doll House is the home of the Aiken Garden Club Council and its reference library.
During Christmas in Hopelands in December, the garden’s paths are illuminated by thousands of holiday lights, and the Doll House is decorated with fresh, native greenery.
The estate’s original carriage house, built in 1902, also remains on the grounds and now is home to the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum. The Hall of Fame “celebrates the great tradition of racing and Aiken’s vital role in it. Forty Champion Thoroughbreds have trained at the famed Aiken Training Track, and each have been immortalized in the Hall of Fame,” according to its website.
The Hall of Fame sponsors traveling and permanent exhibits, including photos, trophies and memorabilia of Aiken’s famous thoroughbred racehorses.
