Myrtle Beach, South Carolina & Environs

[scifan57]

Wow! It's not often you see rainfall measured in feet!

 

[giradman]

Amazing! I've been perusing some of the flooded towns including Georgetown (part of this thread) - last picture shows part of the downtown area near where we boarded for our tour which I described - these are quite sad photos for me having visited the Carolina coastal areas, so often over the decades. Dave
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[scifan57]

Amazing! I've been perusing some of the flooded towns including Georgetown (part of this thread) - last picture shows part of the downtown area near where we boarded for our tour which I described - these are quite sad photos for me having visited the Carolina coastal areas, so often over the decades. Dave
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It's sad to know that many people have lost everything. Even insurance, if they have it, can't replace everything.

 

[suenc]

Brookgreen Sculpture Gardens - Part 1

Probably the most dramatic attractions of the Brookgreen Gardens is the outdoor sculpture gardens (brief description below from the link given) - hundreds of moderate to large scale works are featured, many kind of by themselves and others being the center point of elaborate gardens. Many artists over decades have made contributions (see list below - I've heard of only a handful, but some names will be familiar, such as Gutzon Borglum, who did Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota).

I'll present a small handful of some of these works (most are my own pics except for a few) - this post will include photos of some of the more isolated art pieces - the final of Susan sitting w/ Bernard Baruch (1870-1965), who was born in Camden, South Carolina into a Jewish family, but move to New York City in 1881 - check the link, if interested; there are a number of these benches w/ sitting statues on the property. Dave

P.S. Flower a bonus - near the restaurant where we ate lunch.



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Brookgreen Gardens is phenomenal. I supposed I could be called an "isolated art piece." Bernard doesn't seem to want my attention.

 

[suenc]

Amazing! I've been perusing some of the flooded towns including Georgetown (part of this thread) - last picture shows part of the downtown area near where we boarded for our tour which I described - these are quite sad photos for me having visited the Carolina coastal areas, so often over the decades. Dave
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This was unbelievable, especially since we had been there only a few days before. Almost like a horror movie.

 

[giradman]

This was unbelievable, especially since we had been there only a few days before. Almost like a horror movie.

A portion of I-95, the major north-south interstate from Maine to Florida remains closed according to a USA Today article from the paper today - I've driven all of I-95 in the Carolinas and a detour such as described below implies several hours or more of a delay - a major headache! Dave

Repairs are continuing on hundreds of roads and bridges — including northbound I-95. Transportation officials hoped to reopen it later Monday or Tuesday. Officials repaired 18 bridges weakened or damaged by floodwaters along the 13-mile stretch that had broken the vital highway link from Maine to South Florida. The closure, combined with detours on local roads, forced some travelers to drive 100 miles out of their way.

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[scifan57]

A portion of I-95, the major north-south interstate from Maine to Florida remains closed according to a USA Today article from the paper today - I've driven all of I-95 in the Carolinas and a detour such as described below implies several hours or more of a delay - a major headache! Dave


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I'm sure repairs to the road system alone will be in the billions of dollars.

In a similar vein, a person I know visited the observation deck on top of the World Trade Centre in New York City on September 10th, 2001.

It's heartbreaking to know that many places you just visited a short while ago are now severely damaged or destroyed.

 

[giradman]

May 2017 - Return Trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!

Well, we decided to return to Myrtle Beach so will continue this travelogue w/ some new posts if our activities add to the experience here, i.e. we plan to do a number of things already done and documented in this thread, but if anything 'new' arises and/or I get some nice pics then will post.

This time we have returned to the Marriott Resort for our third visit to this hotel - kind of feels like coming home! We splurged for an oceanfront room up high (8th floor), i.e. had some 'rewards points' and got half price - NICE! Pics below - several initial ones from the web and the rest are mine - the 'hammock area' is interesting - these were made by a company in Nags Head (upper Outer Banks North Carolina) - WELL, Pawley's Island is nearby and is famous for 'rope hammocks', so why not use ones made there? Maybe worth a post?

Myrtle Beach is a bizarre place to visit, but we've been coming here since the mid-1970s - it's LARGE, traffic congested, corny shows, too many kid's activities, uncountable number of putt-putt golf courses, etc. BUT the beaches are beautiful, the history w/i an hour or so fabulous, and the food great, if the restaurants are chosen well - tonight we ate at Thoroughbreads Chop House & Seafood Grille for the first time - she started w/ oysters (from Louisiana), plump and delicious, followed by prime rib and garlic mashed potatoes (she wanted less garlic & I yearned for more!) - for me, I had the Chilled Seafood Platter (blue crab ceviche, Louisiana oysters on salted ice, and shrimp cocktail) - topped off w/ a couple of glasses of Washington State chardonnay - more to come. Dave
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[scifan57]

May 2017 - Return Trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!

Well, we decided to return to Myrtle Beach so will continue this travelogue w/ some new posts if our activities add to the experience here, i.e. we plan to do a number of things already done and documented in this thread, but if anything 'new' arises and/or I get some nice pics then will post.

This time we have returned to the Marriott Resort for our third visit to this hotel - kind of feels like coming home! We splurged for an oceanfront room up high (8th floor), i.e. had some 'rewards points' and got half price - NICE! Pics below - several initial ones from the web and the rest are mine - the 'hammock area' is interesting - these were made by a company in Nags Head (upper Outer Banks North Carolina) - WELL, Pawley's Island is nearby and is famous for 'rope hammocks', so why not use ones made there? Maybe worth a post?

Myrtle Beach is a bizarre place to visit, but we've been coming here since the mid-1970s - it's LARGE, traffic congested, corny shows, too many kid's activities, uncountable number of putt-putt golf courses, etc. BUT the beaches are beautiful, the history w/i an hour or so fabulous, and the food great, if the restaurants are chosen well - tonight we ate at Thoroughbreads Chop House & Seafood Grille for the first time - she started w/ oysters (from Louisiana), plump and delicious, followed by prime rib and garlic mashed potatoes (she wanted less garlic & I yearned for more!) - for me, I had the Chilled Seafood Platter (blue crab ceviche, Louisiana oysters on salted ice, and shrimp cocktail) - topped off w/ a couple of glasses of Washington State chardonnay - more to come. Dave
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There are certainly great outdoor facilities at your hotel and the views must be spectacular.

 

[giradman]

Hi SciFan.. - we decided to spend our time today @ the hotel; Susan had a spa appointment and I went to the fitness center in the morning - getting some reading done - will have a light lunch by the pool and just take in that area and the beach w/ a nice walk. Tomorrow, we'll do an outing and likely return to Brookgreen Gardens for much of the day and an early dinner in Murrells Inlet - discussed and illustrated in earlier posts in this thread - thanks again for your interest. Dave

 

[giradman]

Pawley's Island - Rope Hammocks!

Well, in my last post I mentioned and showed some hammocks in the pool area of our hotel and wondered why the brand was not from Pawley's Island, which is just south of Murrells Inlet near Georgetown (all previously discussed in the thread) - a little information below from the link; and pics showing the island, a shopping area w/ several hammock stores (also shown), and a relaxing hammock hanging on a dock.

Brief history of the Pawley's Island hammocks below second quote - Susan & I have been on the island several times and have visited the hammock shop(s) years ago - I thought of buying one (not inexpensive) but could not figure out where to put it on our property - nice wooden frames look great (as in the pics), but of course adds to the expense. Dave

Pawleys Island is a town in Georgetown County, South Carolina, United States, and the Atlantic coast barrier island on which the town is located. Pawleys Island population was 103 at the 2010 census. The island is one of the oldest resort areas of the US East Coast. The town of Pawleys Island, though, is only on the island. The island is connected to the mainland by two bridges, the North Causeway and the South Causeway. The island became a refuge from summer mosquitoes because of common windy conditions. The town's namesake George Pawley owned the island during the colonial era, and sold portions of it to other planters seeking to escape malaria. In 1791, president, George Washington toured the Grand Strand, travelling The King's Highway to visit the Alstons, wealthy planters who owned several plantations in the area. Rice fields occupied the Waccamaw River side of the neck.

The article offers information on the origin and history of Pawleys Island Hammocks. These breezy sailor slings were created by a riverboat captain named Joshua John Ward in 1889, and are still made entirely by hand in South Carolina's Low Country. In fact, it takes one weaver three hours and 1,200 feet of cotton rope to complete a single hammock. In 1935, after years of word-of-mouth sales, A. H. Lachiotte, Ward's brother-in-law, made the business official (Source).

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[giradman]

Flying Fish Seafood Restaurant & Market - Must Recommendation!

Tonight for dinner, Susan & I revisited a restaurant next to the Alabama Theater in Barefoot Landing, a large complex w/ water in the middle, foot bridges, numerous shops and restaurants - the Flying Fish Market & Grille is not to be missed if you are in the vicinity - probably our third time dining there, and the last two (including tonight), we had the same food, i.e. shared a dozen of delicious oysters (kind of a habit w/ us!) and each ordered the 1 1/4 pound snow crab dinner (cole slaw + another side) - I MUST say that the crabs were consistent and probably the best that I've ever eaten (AND I've had a LOT of snow crab over the decades) - if you love to eat this crustacean, then stop by - cannot say much more - the restaurant offers numerous daily fish specials and also sushi, which I would love to try (and we may just return for that purpose?). Dave
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[giradman]

Brookgreen Gardens - Revist and Continuation!

For those interested in this attraction, please return to pg. 3, post #24 - just some repeat information quoted below - in the pre-antebellum period, coastal Carolina and Georgia produced the majority of rice in the United States and also a major supplier in the world - this was a lucrative culture for the plantation owners who were some of the richest people in the country at the time. Rice production was completely dependent on enslaved African-Americans, many from the West Coast of Africa w/ a long history planting and growing this grain. For the third time, we took the boat tour which is a thorough explanation of the rice culture of the time - initial pics below showing scenes from the tour and the importance of the rice field trunks, which regulated the flow of fresh water into the fields depending on the tides.

In addition to the boat tour, there are a number of others offered - we decided for the first time to take the Trekker Tour which travels the unpaved (and bumpy) backroads of the Oaks and Laurel Hill Plantations - as stated below little remains, but the lovely 'live oak lane' which led to the Oaks Plantation House is shown below (the house no longer exists); views of the Waccamaw River were seen on the tour (my pic of a boat on the river, which is part of the intracoastal waterway) - the river empties into Winyah Bay at Georgetown and is the main drainage waterway for many of the historic rice plantations in the Georgetown area - will continue in the next post w/ some more pics of the Gardens and attractions. Dave

Originally, what is now Brookgreen Gardens was four rice plantations. The plantations from south to north were The Oaks, Brookgreen, Springfield, and Laurel Hill. The current gardens and surrounding facilities lie completely on the former Brookgreen Plantation, which was owned by Joshua John Ward, the largest American slaveholder. Only a handful of relics survive on the former plantations. The Alston (or Allston) cemetery survives on the grounds of The Oaks plantation. Gov. Joseph Alston and his child are buried in the cemetery. The same grave is a memorial to the governor's wife Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr, who was lost at sea.The rice mill at Laurel Hill is all that remains of the plantation today. During the American Civil War, Confederates built an earthen structure on the grounds to block Union Navy ships from coming into the tidal rivers (Source).

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[giradman]

Brookgreen Gardens - Anna Hyatt Huntington - Continuation

The Huntingtons purchased the four former rice plantations in the early 20th century, in part related to the health of Anna Huntington who suffered from tuberculosis - "they founded Brookgreen Gardens sculpture center and nature reserve near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 1931." A little history of the sculptor, Anna Huntington quoted below.

The pics are mine, a number w/ Susan posing, a few birds from the zoo's aviary, and a number of sculptures w/ name plaques following - two of the items are by Anna. The more we return to these gardens and all its attractions, the more we want to come back - if we lived closer, I believe we would have a yearly membership and be donors.

About 5 PM (closing time), we headed just down HW 17 to Murrells Inlet for an early dinner - of the many seafood restaurants, we picked the Wicked Tuna - of course, we started w/ a dozen oysters (mixture from New York, Virginia, and North Carolina) - Susan had the grilled seafood platter w/ garlic mash potatoes (this is often 'hit & miss' w/ her, but she loved this one!); I decided to go w/ sashimi and a few rolls; a first for me was red snapper which was delicious. Dave

Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington (1876 – 1973) was an American sculptor and was once among New York City's most prominent sculptors. At a time when very few women were successful artists, she had a thriving career. She exhibited often, traveled widely, received critical acclaim at home and abroad, and won awards and commissions. During the first two decades of the 20th century, Hyatt Huntington became famous for her animal sculptures, which combine vivid emotional depth with skillful realism. In 1915, she created the first public monument in New York City, outside of Central Park, by a woman: Her Joan of Arc, located on Riverside Drive at 93rd Street, is also the city’s first monument dedicated to a historical woman (Source).

Huntington and her husband, Archer Milton Huntington, founded Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She was a member of the National Academy of Design and the National Sculpture Society and a donation of $100,000 from her and her husband made possible the NSS Exhibition of 1929. Because of her husband's enormous wealth and the shared interests of the couple, the Huntingtons were responsible for founding fourteen museums and four wildlife preserves. They also gifted Collis P. Huntington State Park, consisting of approximately 800 acres (3.2 km2) of land in Redding, Connecticut, to the State of Connecticut (Source).

P.S. Last October, we visits the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas and saw the other 'Presidential Eagle' shown above.
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[giradman]

North Carolina Southern Coast - Calabash to Holden Beach

Well, for the day we decided on an exploratory car trip north into North Carolina (NC, our state) - our goals were to visit Calabash, Ocean Isle, and Holden Beach (the latter two popular barrier island resort areas) - further up the southern NC coast are Oak Island, Southport, Bald Head Island and the lower Wilmington peninsula beaches (see the maps and images below) - the latter we know quite well.

Our first stop was for lunch in Calabash, NC (just at the SC border - see quote below) - claimed to be the Seafood Capital of the World (not sure that I would agree?), but their style of corn meal battering and frying is popular w/ many imitators throughout the adjacent areas. We ate lunch at an 'historic' Calabash restaurant Ella's - shared an oyster soup that was delicious w/ nearly a dozen plump oysters; Susan had local boiled shrimp w/ a few sides & I had the boiled shrimp salad - excellent; the tangy cocktail sauce was quite tasty - definitely worth a visit.

We continued up the coast to visit Ocean Isle Beach & Holden Beach - these are popular vacation destinations and our first time view of these two barrier islands - both are mainly residential w/ few restaurants and other attractions - great for families who just want to enjoy the beach - we decided that the Wilmington area (Wrightsville Beach) & Atlantic Beach area are much more to our liking - just a personal preference, i.e. I've had many acquaintances over the years that love these beaches. We stopped at a public beach spot on Ocean Isle for Susan to dip her feet in the ocean (couple of pics).

On our return we visited Barefoot Landing discussed previously for a little shopping - some wildlife pics below - we decided to re-dine at the Flying Fish Restaurant - again started w/ a dozen oysters (6 from Virginia and the other 6 from Harker's Island) - the latter island is near Atlantic Beach and Beaufort, NC - we have visited often and a point of boat departure to visit Cape Lookout National Seashore and its fabulous lighthouse; Susan had a seafood boil w/ clams & mussels and I had the swordfish grilled w/ a light herbed beau blanc sauce - overall, a wonderful day w/ some GREAT seafood - more tomorrow. Dave

On North Carolina’s southeastern coast is Calabash, the picturesque fishing village that calls itself the "Seafood Capital of the World." This tiny port town shaded by large oaks has become synonymous with a style of preparing seafood that involves corn meal battering and frying. Ubiquitous hush puppies accompany every meal. Calabash, an Indian word for a crooked-neck gourd, has about one seafood restaurant per 10 residents. The town’s fame increased locally and other restaurants opened. Then, Calabash attracted national attention and restaurants across the Southeast began advertising their Calabash-style seafood. Pioneering restaurants like Beck’s Restaurant, Coleman’s Original Calabash Seafood Restaurant, and Ella’s of Calabash still serve up the Calabash-style seafood that earned the town its fame, as do other more recent restaurant additions (Source).

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