Jungle Gardens

Today thousands of egrets inhabit the island from early spring to late summer.

[2] The gardens are planted with azaleas, Japanese camellias, hydrangeas, Louisiana irises, palms, papyrus sedges, bamboo, and wisteria.

Four miles of gravel roads are lined with live oak trees and Spanish moss.

According to the story, in the 1920s a Chinese warlord from a feuding territory sent the Buddha statue to New York City and it sat in a warehouse storage until its shipment to Louisiana.

[3] McIlhenny built an Asian-influenced garden setting for the statue on one of the seven "Hills of Knowledge" including a pond, arched bridge and glass-enclosed shrine.