Add Mepkin Abbey to Your Christmas To-Do List

I don’t know if you have Mepkin Abbey, or any Abbey really, on your list of things to do at Christmas time, but I will from now on.  The Creche Festival at Mepkin Abbey would make a great tradition for anyone, regardless of if they practice a faith.  

According to the Oxford Dictionary a creche is a “place where babies and young children are taken care of “ or a “model of the scene of Jesus Christ’s birth”. Mepkin Abbey has been hosting a Creche Festival for 19 years now.  They display a random amount of  scenes every year, this year there were around 40 but there have been close to 100 other years. They actually have about 2000 total!  One of the volunteers told us that we could potentially come five years in a row and never see the same one twice!   As I said, whether you are a person of faith or not, the display as a whole and each individual creche alone is a work of art and can be appreciated as such.  Just take a look at this one titled “Nature’s Sacred Child”.

The festival usually runs for about a week before Thanksgiving and a week after, with a few days off in between for the holiday. You have to reserve a spot on their website at https://mepkinabbey.org/.  There is no charge but they do request donations.  This festival is run almost completely by volunteers as is most of the grounds work at the abbey.  

If you choose not to go to the festival, the monastery does allow visitors and the grounds are worth a trip.  The monastery is set along the Cooper River and includes approximately 3000 acres of woodland and farmland.  The gardens are simple, well maintained and extraordinarily peaceful.  Well manicured areas along the river provide the perfect place for a picnic or to prop an easel, because you couldn’t ask for a more perfect painting.   On top of the beautiful property and amazing river views, there are two sculptures by David Drake carved from oaks felled by Hurricane Hugo - do not miss these, they are incredible!

If you’d like to go to the Creche Festival, you will need to remember to sign up early because the available spots fill up pretty quickly.  I suggest you check their website at the beginning of October to see if they have posted the sign up yet.  If you have decided to skip the festival but would like to go just to see the gardens, visit the website here before you go and give me a call because I’d love to go back.  We can make a stop to see what Eastwood Homes has to offer at The Enclave at French Quarter Creek in Huger.  Homeowners there will be able to keep the flow of nature going from the Abbey to their home and the peace that comes with it.