Myrtle Beach History

By Teri Champigny

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is actually an elevated sand bar or sorts. To the east of Myrtle Beach is the Atlantic Ocean and to the west of Myrtle Beach is the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Myrtle Beach was not inhabited until 1908 when railroad was built between Myrtle Beach and Conway. The railroad had been constructed in 1899 but it didn’t extend as far as Myrtle Beach. The city got its name from the Wax Myrtle, a shrub that grows profusely throughout the entire area. As cities go, Myrtle Beach is not an old one. There are cities that are much, much older but none that are any more interesting than Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach was incorporated as a town in 1938 and became a city in 1957. The city continued to grow rapidly throughout the 1960’s, 1970’s and on to the present time. Because of its relatively mild temperatures and low cost of living, Myrtle Beach was and is very attractive to retirees. Some of these retirees vacationed in Myrtle Beach (it is a tourist town), fell in love with the area and chose to buy homes and retire there.

There are many factors that have contributed to the rapid growth of Myrtle Beach, of course. One of those factors is the excellent shopping facilities that seem to abound in the area. The Coastal Grand Mall is one of the more recent additions to the shopping district of Myrtle Beach. The mall boasts one and one-half million square feet of space and is the largest mall in all of South Carolina.

Another attraction is...well...all of the tourist attractions in Myrtle Beach and there are a great many of them. Just a few of the more popular ones are:

Ø      The Family Kingdom Amusement Park

Ø      Myrtle Waves (a water park)

Ø      The Carolina Opry

Ø      The House of Blues

Ø      Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede (a mix of civil war play acting and wild lighting effects.

Ø      Ripley’s Aquarium

Ø      Ripley’s Believe it or Not (there are some things that are really hard to believe)

Ø      Hard Rock Park

The variety of restaurants and cuisines makes people want to visit and live in Myrtle Beach, too. You can find restaurants that specialize in almost every kind of food you can imagine and maybe a few that you have never even thought of.

There is music for every taste available in Myrtle Beach. You can find live concerts for just about every music genre every night of the week on Ocean Boulevard.

If sports are what turn you on, Myrtle Beach has plenty of sports. Of course there is golf. Myrtle Beach is famous for golf but there is also baseball, hockey and tennis.

Myrtle Beach cannot boast of a long history as some cities can. As a city it is a relative new comer to the world but it is growing and it is thriving. With its near perfect weather, its beautiful beaches and its friendly hospitality, Myrtle Beach will grow and thrive well into the future.