Press Kit - Area History

Our beautiful home was once a resting place and part-time residence of the Winyaw and Waccamaw Indians who called the place Chicora, or "the land."  Hundreds of years later, the Spanish explored our coast as early as 1514.  We were also sometimes home to the notorious pirate Blackbeard in the 1700s.

Named for Revolutionary War General Peter Horry, our county and town eventually became home to farmers and timbermen, fisherman and watermen.  The area did support a few early indigo plantations, but since it was initially difficult to reach the coast from inland settlements, the area remained relatively uninhabited until the 1900s when the railroad connected inland towns to the ocean.  The Intracoastal Waterway opened the area further in 1936.

Weathering storms and cycles of economic boom and bust, the four communities of Cherry Grove, Windy Hill, Crescent Beach and Ocean Drive consolidated city services and formally joined in 1968 to become the City of North Myrtle Beach.

For further information and assistance, or to be added to our media list please contact:

Jennifer Prince, Media/Communications Specialist
Jennifer@NorthMyrtleBeachChamber.com
Phone:  (843) 281-2662
Fax:  (843) 280-2930
270 Highway 17 North
North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 29582