Volumes have been written about Myrtle Beach, a town that exploded into vogue in the 60s and 70s as a summertime family destination. A 60-mile stretch of sandy beaches and waterfront communities, stretching from Georgetown to Little River, is known at the “Grand Strand,” so named in the 1940s by a newspaperman, Claude Dunagan. The epicenter of the Grand Strand, and its most-famous community, is Myrtle Beach.

The City of Myrtle Beach itself is not terribly large, with just around 30,000 fulltime residents, but come summertime, Myrtle Beach and its beach town cousins to the immediate north and south host some 16-million visitors annually.

First came simple summertime cottages around 1900, then the railroad from Horry County seat, Conway, then came seaside resorts. When the Ocean Forest Hotel and the country club, now called Pine Lakes first opened around the time of the Great Depression, golfing was added to the nearly year-round appeal of Myrtle Beach. Today it’s estimated that around 1.5-million golfers descend upon area links mostly in spring and fall. There are around 100 active golf courses in the region lending support to the “Seaside Golf Capitol of the World,” bragging rights.

When the 1940s and 1950s spun around, free-spirited youth enjoyed a seaside dance craze called “The Shag,” which, 75-years later, still has its dedicated champions. The Shag is South Carolina’s National Dance.

Theaters arrived in the 1970s giving visitors another reason to consider Myrtle Beach for extended and weekend vacations, along with factory outlet shopping and more restaurants per capita then almost anywhere else in the U.S.

Decades after a name change from “New Town,” to “Myrtle Beach” the primary reason for the millions of visitors coming has remained steadfast; the wide, friendly, safe and clean beaches along the oceanfront.