Dolly Parton donated $100,000 for a healing garden at a hospital tied to her family roots

A new $55 million medical facility in South Carolina includes a special outdoor retreat built with a $100,000 donation from country music star Dolly Parton. The gift also honours her family's roots in the local area. The new Union Medical Center, part of the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, marked its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The hospital was built on a 48-acre site along Furman L. Fendley Highway. One of its main features is an outdoor healing garden. It offers a peaceful, open-air space for patients recovering from illness, visiting families and hospital staff. Parton's donation went directly to the facility's Patient Enhancement Project, which paid for the garden's construction and landscaping. The space gives people a quiet place to rest away from hospital wards and treatment rooms.Deep family roots in Union CountyAlthough Parton is widely linked to the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, her family history is closely tied to Union County, South Carolina. Her mother, Avie Lee Owens Parton, was born in the nearby town of Lockhart on 5 October 1923. Local history records show that Avie Lee was the daughter of a local preacher. Parton has often described...