Nestled between Charleston and Myrtle Beach lie beautiful beaches, challenging golf courses, charming restaurants and everything from elegant beach houses to magnificent Colonial homes.
Known as the Hammock Coast, this stretch of South Carolina includes the communities of Georgetown, Andrews, Pawleys Island, Litchfield Beach, Murrells Inlet and Garden City.
Georgetown, the third-oldest city in South Carolina, is still a working waterfront town and a favorite of tourists. With more than 60 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it offers visitors the opportunity to glimpse what life was like in the town’s formative days in the early 18th century. Downtown Georgetown is packed with charm, and a leisurely stroll takes you past Colonial homes, gorgeous gardens, live oaks draped over quiet streets, five museums, charming boutiques and quaint eateries.
Nearby Andrews, just west of Georgetown, is an outdoor adventure mecca, offering opportunities for biking, swimming, camping and hunting turkey and quail.
Heading north along the coast, your next stop is Pawleys Island, known as one of the oldest seaside resorts in the United States. Seventeenth-century planters took advantage of the cool breezes during hot summer days. They even invented a special style of hammock know as a Pawleys Island Hammock. You can visit the Original Hammock Shops, where the hammocks are still woven by hand, and take one home for yourself. Two inns are located on the island and countless beach houses are available year-round, but if you’re looking for a gas station or a store, you won’t find one. Pawleys Island is all about relaxation.
Not far from Pawleys Island, you will find Litchfield Beach, located just up Highway 17. Once the home of a rice plantation, it’s now a quiet, upscale beach community featuring fine dining, pubs and antique shops.
If getting back to nature is your vibe, Huntington Beach State Park will give you the chance to enjoy soft, white sands and a sense of serenity unavailable at other places along the Atlantic shore. Take advantage of the opportunity to go crabbing, biking, canoeing, kayaking or fishing. As is the case all along the Hammock Coast, you’re also never far from a golf course if you want to hit the links.
Murrells Inlet is known as the Seafood Capital of South Carolina, and with good reason. Along with excellent restaurants, the Marshwalk offers small shops and the chance to enjoy watersports such as parasailing, jet skiing and fishing. But be careful: Murrells Inlet was once a haven for Blackbeard and other pirates, and some people have even imagined encounters with the town’s local ghosts.
If you’re looking for family-friendly vacation, Garden City has it all. You can enjoy a beautiful but uncrowded beach with fishing and crabbing on a nearby 1,250-foot-long creek walk.
No visit to the Hammock Coast is complete without a stop at Brookgreen Gardens, first developed in the 1930s and featuring 2,000 species of plant life, native animals and birds. Take a guided nature cruise through tidal creeks and old rice fields, or view the works of some of the nation’s best 19th and 20th-century sculpture artists.
Families have been visiting the Hammock Coast for generations. Isn’t it about time you and your loved ones established a vacation tradition that is certain to create cherished memories for years to come?
For more information about all of the fun activities and beautiful attractions along South Carolina’s Hammock Coast visit HammockCoastSC.com or call 843-546-8436.
