Pawleys-Island Travel Guide
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COMPARE PRICES on all Flights to Pawleys Island
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25 miles S of Myrtle Beach; 12 miles N of Georgetown
One of the oldest resorts in the South, Pawleys Island has been a popular hideaway for vacationers for more than 3 centuries. Over the years, everyone from George Washington to Franklin Roosevelt to Winston Churchill has arrived. During the 18th century, rice planters made the island their summer home so that they could escape the heat and humidity of the Low Country and enjoy ocean breezes. Storms have battered the island, but many of the weather-beaten old properties remain, earning for the island the appellation of "arrogantly shabby."
This area of South Carolina is sometimes called Waccamaw Neck, a reference to a strip of land 30 miles long and 3 miles wide that extends from the Waccamaw River to the Atlantic Ocean. Both North Litchfield and Litchfield Beach lie between Murrells Inlet and Pawleys Island. (To get here from Myrtle Beach, take Hwy. 17 S.)
The beaches here are among the best-maintained, least-polluted, and widest along coastal South Carolina. Because so much of the land is private, however, access to public beach areas is severely limited.
Many visitors from Myrtle Beach come to Pawleys Island to shop for handcrafts, such as the famous Pawleys Island rope hammock. The best place to purchase one is the Original Pawleys Island Rope Hammock (tel. 800/332-3490 or 843/237-9122), on Highway 17 at Pawleys Island. It's open year-round Monday to Saturday from 9:30am to 6pm and on Sunday from noon to 5pm. At various plantation stores (known as the hammock shops), you'll find pewter, miniature doll furniture, clothing, candles, Christmas items, brass, and china.
The Pawleys Island Visitors Center, Highway 17 at the Planter's Exchange (tel. 843/237-1921), provides complete information about the area. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm, and Sunday 10am to 2pm.
