Overview

In the Carolina Beach Music classic "Myrtle Beach Days," the Fantastic Shakers pay homage to their deep love affair with the vacation area by singing about its laid back vibe, sun-kissed afternoons spent in folding chairs, and summer evenings occupied by "riding on the coaster and fishing off the pier." Fortunately, those lazy days filled with simple pleasures aren't some wishful memory.

You can still "pack the cooler and suntan lotion" and spend a whole week at Myrtle Beach without dealing with crowds or even venturing much past the parking lot of your hotel. Granted, if the need arises to spice up things, you've got tons of choices at arm's reach. Family fun, shopping, outdoor excursions, country clubbing, nightclubbing � it's all here, lots of it. After all, Myrtle Beach is a primary reason that South Carolina is the country's second most-visited state behind only Florida.

How many people, you ask, could possibly crowd into the state's northeast corner? Try this on for size: on any given summer's day, the population swells to over half a million, and some 13.8 million visit annually. But numbers like that weren't always the case.

As late as 1900, most of Horry County's beaches were virtually inaccessible due to the tidal marshes. Pawleys Island, developed as a resort area prior to the Civil War, was the lone exception. Then, in 1901 the Burroughs & Collins timber company decided to start developing its oceanside holdings and opened the Seaside Inn.

Needless to say, the "roller coaster ride" had begun. The resort area, which was first called "New Town," changed its name to Myrtle Beach in honor of the many wild wax myrtles growing there. By the end of the '40s, the Intracoastal Waterway opened, planes were flying out of Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, and the famed Myrtle Beach Pavilion saw its stiles turn for the first time. Today, after several decades of consistent development, the Grand Strand coastline, which stretches some 60 miles from Little River to Pawleys Island, boasts an impressive skyline thanks to hundreds of high-rise hotels.

Of course, with more than 80,000 rooms available, other resorty perks are bound to follow, and that's certainly the case here. For starters, if you need to eat, there are more than 1800 full-service restaurants promising everything from fresh local seafood (much of it caught the day you eat it) to authentic Italian. Golfing, too, is an important component of the area's year-round tourism industry thanks to the existence of well over 100 courses. And while the "fun in the waves" the Fantastic Shakers sing about continues to be Myrtle Beach's top headliner, other attractions like water parks, entertainment venues and massive shopping centers will certainly help diversify your "things to do" list.

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