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| The pages of Murrells Inlet's past are graced with footprints of Native American tribes, 16th century Spanish explorers and English colonists in the 17th century. In the 1700s and 1800s large land tracts were cultivated into successful rice plantations. By 1850, almost 47 million pounds of rice were produced in the Waccamaw Neck, an area that includes Murrells Inlet. South Carolina rice planters were far wealthier and more powerful than the tobacco, sugar and cotton plantation owners of the southeast. One rice planter, Joseph Alston, even became South Carolina governor. Also in the 1800s, pirates sailed our coastline and hid in the Inlet's winding creeks, waiting to plunder England-bound ships. People who summered in Murrells Inlet in the 1800s generally traveled to Conway or Georgetown by train, then picked up a steamboat that docked at the Wachesaw river landing. A horse and buggy or oxen cart carried travelers and their belongings to their cottages. The river steamboats were known for serving excellent food. Many of the steamboats' cooks settled in Murrells Inlet and opened their own restaurants, giving the area a reputation for savory cuisine long ago. Front-porch tales, ghost stories and a variety of local tours keep alive the history so deeply rooted in our marsh creeks, sandy banks and river landings. Names of local streets and neighborhoods are reminiscent of the people, plantations and cottages of yesteryear: Hermitage, Sunnyside, Vaux Hall and Wachesaw are but a few of the nostalgic familiarities that make Murrells Inlet the quaint seaside community it is today. |
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