South Carolina Living: Myrtle Beach South Carolina

Myrtle Beach South Carolina

The City of Myrtle Beach is the heart of the Grand Strand, a 60-mile crescent of beach on South Carolina's northern coast. Myrtle Beach SC is a great place to live, work and play, as the 22,579 full-time residents will confirm. What makes Myrtle Beach city so inviting? Here's a short list.... Three recreation centers have been expanded or renovated recently. New roads have been built with attractive landscaping and underground utilities. The cultural arts are being reborn throughout the community. Myrtle Beach local business climate offers a wealth of entertainment, dining and shopping options.

Myrtle Beach SC also has nine-and-a-half miles of public beach, a municipal golf course, a convention center, the only city-owned public library in the state, and a baseball stadium. But we can always use your input to help make our community even better.

Myrtle Beach was incorporated as a town in 1938 and became a city in 1957. Its name comes from the wax myrtle, a shrub that grows abundantly in the area. Our 25,000 permanent residents welcome millions of visitors to this full-service resort community. Guests come to enjoy the wide beaches, the Atlantic Ocean, and an incredible range of activities, entertainment, golf, shopping and dining.

History records that the first tourists here were a party of Spaniards from Hispaniola, who landed about 50 miles north of present-day Myrtle Beach in 1526 and eventually established the first European settlement in the U.S. about 30 miles to the south. That settlement, San Miguel de Cauldape, was abandoned the following year, though, and the group returned to Hispaniola.

In the next three centuries, the region's population grew, but slowly. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, people began to "vacation" here, although it was quite rustic. Houses and camps were sparse, and there were only few permanent residents at the turn of the century. But, drawn by the ocean, sand and trees, people began to call Myrtle Beach "home" as the 1900s progressed.

Today, Myrtle Beach SC is a well known destination for vacationers from around the country, Canada and abroad. According to the 2000 Census, the city is at the heart of the 13th fastest growing metropolitan area in the U.S.