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All the United States California Indio Shields Date Garden
Gastro Obscura

Shields Date Garden

A giant knight, sex education, date shakes, and Jesus coexist happily in this Coachella Valley desert oasis.

Indio, California

Added By
Rohini Chaki
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CAPTION
Knight of Shields, guiding seekers of dates.   Delanea Cronin/Used with permission
  Csilla Em/Used with permission
A little pond amid the date palms.   Csilla Em/Used with permission
Biblical sculptures depicting the life of Christ.   Csilla Em/Used with permission
  J.V/Used with permission
  Susan Robbins/Used with permission
Garden shop.   Susan Robbins/Used with permission
Date shake counter.   Susan Robbins/Used with permission
  Aimee Elisabeth Jones/Used with permission
  Tim Johnston/Used with permission
  Findingbalance18 / Atlas Obscura User
  Findingbalance18 / Atlas Obscura User
  Findingbalance18 / Atlas Obscura User
  mlashmore / Atlas Obscura User
  mlashmore / Atlas Obscura User
  MtnLady / Atlas Obscura User
Jesus   dmarie1975 / Atlas Obscura User
  mlashmore / Atlas Obscura User
Cafe   dmarie1975 / Atlas Obscura User
Road sign   dmarie1975 / Atlas Obscura User
  mlashmore / Atlas Obscura User
The baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River   Avoiding Regret
Jesus statues   Avoiding Regret
Romance Theatre   Avoiding Regret
  Csilla Em/Used with permission
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About

A mammoth knight in armor points the way to Shields, just off U.S. Highway 111 in Riverside County, California. From the dusty heat of the Colorado Desert, follow the knight’s guidance into the calm and splendor of Shields Date Garden, overlooking the majestic Santa Rosa Mountains.

When Floyd and Bess Shields opened the Shields Date Garden on Christmas Day in 1924, they knew competition would be strong in the rapidly-growing Coachella Valley date industry. To distinguish his date farm from all others in the valley, Floyd began offering lectures to visitors on the lawns of the garden. In the 1950s, he did one better: a slide show with a recorded soundtrack, cheekily named “The Romance and Sex Life of the Date.” Today, garden visitors can enjoy the slideshow, which has since been turned into a film that plays on a loop in the garden’s own "Romance Theatre."

But the main attraction of Shields is, without question, not the suggestively titled cinematic experience, but the actual grounds: 17 acres of date groves, with a little pond at its center and Jesus in its heart. For here, amidst the beauty of winding pathways and date palms lush with fruit, are 23 biblical sculptures depicting Christ’s life, from birth to resurrection. They were donated in 2011 by a Canadian couple who were regular Shields Garden visitors, and are dispersed amid the date palms, olive trees, aloe plants, and citrus trees that populate the garden.

Visitors can also sample Floyd Shields’s two hybrid date varieties—called blonde and brunette dates—the only place in the world where they are grown. Today, nearly 95 percent of all dates grown in the United States are from the Coachella Valley.

In 1936, Shields also developed and patented a date sugar that he called date crystals, which are the key ingredient in Shields Date Garden’s most popular beverage: their signature date shake. Visitors can enjoy a date shake at the original counter, set up in the 1960s. The café at Shields of course celebrates dates on its menu. While they have your garden-variety omelets, sandwiches, and steak, consider trying the date burger, date pancakes, or just plain ol’ dates stuffed with cheese, jalapenos, and prosciutto, and wrapped in bacon.

There’s also the garden shop, which sells all the date varieties grown on the grounds, in addition to the famous Shields date crystals, along with a variety of sauces and vinegars, including the very intriguing figs and date vinegar.

Related Tags

Dates Gardens Dessert Deserts Sculpture Gardens Biblical Plants Sculptures

Know Before You Go

The garden is open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day, except when it’s very windy. There’s a $5 entry fee per person. The café is open from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00p.m. every day.

Community Contributors

Added By

Rohini Chaki

Edited By

Avoiding Regret, Findingbalance18, MtnLady, daleboyum...

  • Avoiding Regret
  • Findingbalance18
  • MtnLady
  • daleboyum
  • dmarie1975
  • mlashmore

Published

May 29, 2019

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  • https://www.shieldsdategarden.com/t-the_grounds_at_shields.aspx
Shields Date Garden
80225 CA-111
Indio, California, 92201
United States
33.706565, -116.266318
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