Myrtle Beach and Conway: In Vintage Postcards (SC)

by Susan Hoffer McMillan

The connections between Myrtle Beach and Conway, South Carolina form an intricate tapestry of contrasting threads-from the neon glitz of the beach resort to the more reserved colonial town that spawned it. Conway citizens enjoyed the coastal town as a playground in the 19th century, and many even helped steer its evolution during the 20th century into a premier vacation destination by relocating to Myrtle Beach to shape and share in its future. Through more than 200 postcards, many dating from the early 1900s, readers witness a wide array of architecture, from the Ocean Forest Hotel and the early Myrtle Beach Pavilion to the local landmarks that were destroyed by Hurricane Hazel in October 1954. These images also tell the stories of other Grand Strand beaches, as well as of Conway, a quintessential Southern city with historic properties and live oak canopies.

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2001

Reviews

[Caroline]

This is a book of postcards from the late Victorian era through about the 1950s, showing Myrtle Beach growing from a tiny village of a only a few hundred people, to a burgeoning tourist hot spot.
This book will probably mean the most to people whose are more familiar with the Myrtle Beach area (I've only visited it once). Nevertheless, I still found it interesting. As the book goes on, the buildings get larger and grander, but they were still, for the most part, family owned businesses. Paging through the pictures, I was struck by a sense of melancholy, that so many of these businesses and buildings are long gone, wiped out by hurricanes, the Great Depression, bankruptcies, and the rise of corporations. A few may stand, but most are long gone and only their ghosts survive.