The Grand Strand begins at the South Carolina state line at Little River (in Horry County) and stretches south to Pawleys Island, S.C. (inside Georgetown County.) Considered one of the nation’s top vacation destinations, the Grand Strand hosts an estimated 13.5 million visitors annually. The Grand Strand has seen steady growth in population in the past several decades. This population explosion has been evident in the increase of the number of residential construction starts and infrastructure development.

Money magazine rated the Grand Strand as one of the top 20 places to retire in America. The number of persons over the age of 65 has grown from nearly 18,262 in 1990 to an estimated 30,793 in 2000. This increase of 69 percent boosted this portion of the population of Horry County to account for nearly 17 percent of the resident population. In the year 2010, almost 21 percent of the county population will be 65 and over. Similarly, in Georgetown County, the population of persons over the age of 65 is 9,019, which is 16.8 percent of the total county population.

In 2000, The Searchers, Inc., a St. Louis-based data research company, named the Myrtle Beach area and Horry County as an Outstanding Community. Quality of life, taxes, crime rate, and affordability of housing were among the criteria in The Searcher’s selection. Travel managers from AAA named the Myrtle Beach area the second most popular travel destination for the summer of 1999. And the readers of Southern Living selected the area their second favorite family vacation destination and their favorite beach in 1999.

The history of the Grand Strand includes an unlikely tale of two neighboring, but vastly different, cultures and geographical areas. Georgetown County developed from a thriving colonial plantation culture that reached its zenith just before the Civil War, while the more isolated Horry County rose from humble beginnings in farm and timber trades.

Long ago, Waccamaw and Winyah Indians called the area "Chicora," meaning "the land." Recorded or documented history about the Native Americans is difficult to retrieve, but their lifestyles have been recreated in several exhibits at the Horry County Museum in Conway. A burial mound is located at Waites Island near Little River, and the remains of an Indian village have been excavated on Wachesaw Plantation near Murrells Inlet.

English colonists laid out plans for Georgetown, the state’s third oldest city, in 1730. Surrounded by intricate rivers and marshlands, Georgetown became the center of America’s rice empire. Crops of indigo, cotton, and lumber also contributed to the wealthy economy. A rich plantation culture took root here and flourished.

Before the Civil War, wealthy plantation owners turned Pawleys Island into one of the first summer resorts on the Atlantic coast. Planters and their families spent summers on the cool, breezy island to avoid malaria and other deadly diseases associated with the more swampy, still conditions of the plantation sites. Historic cottages, inns and other buildings still stand on Pawleys Island.

After the Civil War, Georgetown’s rice plantation culture disappeared. Today, the Georgetown Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to being a major industrial center, the city is well known for careful preservation of its past with historic churches, homes, and storefronts, fine restaurants, and plantation sites.

In 1900, Burroughs & Collins Company, a timber-turpentine firm with extensive beachfront holdings, began developing the resort potential of the Grand Strand by constructing a railroad to the beach. They built the first hotel, the Seaside Inn, in 1901. Mrs. F.E. Burroughs, wife of the founder of the Burroughs & Collins Company, hosted (and won) a contest to name the town. Myrtle Beach was chosen for the many wax myrtle trees growing wild along the shore.

The Intracoastal Waterway was opened to pleasure boats and commercial shipping in 1936. Myrtle Beach was incorporated in 1938. The Myrtle Beach Air Force Base was established in the 1940s and used for coastal patrols during World War II. The Myrtle Beach Pavilion began delighting children and their parents in 1949.