Kings Highway, a major thoroughfare through the Myrtle Beach area, began as an Indian trail long before Europeans settled along the Grand Strand. Later, this trail became the route from the northern states to Charleston and Savannah.

The area’s first inhabitants were the Waccamaw and Winyah Indians, who named the region Chicora, meaning “the land.”

Early attempts by European explorers to settle the Grand Strand were disastrous. Spaniard Lucas Vasques de Allyon founded the first colony in North America here in 1526, but the settlement was ravaged by disease, and the inhabitants perished within a year.

English colonists formed Prince George Parish and laid out plans for Georgetown, the state’s third oldest city, in 1730. Surrounded by rivers and marshlands, Georgetown became the center of America’s colonial rice empire.

Before the Civil War, plantation owners turned Pawleys Island into one of the first summer resorts on the Atlantic coast. Historic beach cottages and other landmarks still stand, and while the legendary Pawleys Pavilion is just a memory, an annual reunion keeps the spirit alive. Speaking of spirits, the Gray Man ghost still patrols Pawleys Island when hurricanes loom. A few miles north is Murrells Inlet, a fishing and seafood village where another apparition roams: Alice, Ghost of the Hermitage. According to legend, Alice Belin Flagg (1833-1849) died broken-hearted and now combs the creekside for her lost ring.

Until the 1900s, the beaches of Horry County were virtually uninhabited due to the county’s geographical inaccessibility and poor economy.

Near the turn of the century, the Burroughs & Collins Company, a timber/turpentine firm with extensive beachfront holdings, began developing the Myrtle Beach area as a resort. In 1901, the company built the beach’s first hotel, the Seaside Inn. At that time, oceanfront lots sold for $25, and buyers received an extra lot if they built a house valued at $500 or more. The beach community was called New Town (and, previously, Long Bay, Withers, or Withers Big Swamp) until the Horry Herald sponsored a contest to officially name the area. Mrs. F.E. Burroughs, wife of the founder of Burroughs & Collins, won with the name Myrtle Beach, which she chose for the many wax myrtle trees growing wild along the shore.

In the 1920s, a group of businessmen began building an upscale resort called Arcady at the north end of the community. Arcady featured the present Pine Lakes International Country Club, home of the Strand’s first golf club and birthplace of the magazine Sports Illustrated, as well as the legendary Ocean Forest Hotel.

Several major developments took place along the Strand during the 1930s and 1940s. In 1936, the Intracoastal Waterway was opened to pleasure boats and commercial shipping. During the 1940s, the Air Force Base was established and used for training and coastal patrols during World War II. The base was closed in 1993. The Myrtle Beach Pavilion was built in 1949, and the historic band organ and carousel were installed in 1954.

Myrtle Beach was incorporated in 1938 and became a city in 1957.

Hurricane Hazel demolished buildings and trees along the Strand in 1954, clearing the way for new hotels and homes. During the rebuilding phase of the 1960s, a golf boom began, with new courses being built each year. The number of golf courses along the Grand Strand now totals around 115.

The Myrtle Beach Convention Center, which houses the official South Carolina Hall of Fame, opened in 1970 (the adjoining Radisson Plaza Hotel opened in January 2003). During the 1970s, new construction in the area topped $75 million, and the permanent population tripled. In the 1970s and 1980s, construction of attractions, homes, retail shops and other amenities increased steadily, paving the way for another boom in the early 1990s. The Grand Strand currently attracts millions of visitors and thousands of new residents to the area each year. The Myrtle Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area was listed as the 13th fastest growing area in the nation, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released in April 2001. The area has grown 36.5 percent over the past decade.