Myrtle Beach
November 24, 1999
In the Myrtle Beach area, we found a very pleasant surprise. There are ten commercial campgrounds in the area with~over 7000 RV sites - hut we focused on two that provide true, full hookups with water, sewage, electricity, cable TV and overnight phone hookups. These two parks have a combined total of 2189 sites with instant, hot, overnight phone hookups ~ that make them very Internet friendly. Additionally, there are a couple of local AOL numbers so we could access the Internet without incurring long distance charges. The Lakewood Camping Resort has 1200 and the Ocean Lakes Family Campground 989 of these hot phone sites. Unlike some RV parks that advertise overnight phone hookups - but only have a handful that may already be in use -- these parks are well-prepared for us Internet junkies. These two Myrtle Beach RV parks have so many sites with hot phone hookups that the probability of obtaining one upon arrival, without a reservation, are good. Of course, during the summer, vacation season, a site in these parks may be difficult to obtain and expensive. But when we arrived in early November, there were plenty of these sites available.
Are you ready? Here comes another good part. The winter rates are reasonable. Our site costs only about $21 per night for all these services. If you sign up for a month, the rate drops to only about $15 per day. "But," you may ask, "how much extra do. they charge for the phone service?" The answer is nothing! There is also no extra charge for cable, or electricity for heat or air conditioning use, sewage fee, etc.
"Why," we wondered, "are there so many vacancies here?" Sure, most of us RVing types prefer to spend the winter in the semi-tropical warmth of all the southern states from Florida to California, but why not South Carolina? We experienced near-perfect weather during the two weeks we spent there in early November -- one day it was 80 F. No, the water was not warm enough for swimming in the surf, but the wide, white, sandy, 40-mile-long beach was enjoyed by folks snoozing in the warm sunshine, fishing, shell-collecting, bird-watching, people-watching, walking, biking and jogging.
We found a site by a small, freshwater lake maybe 200 yards from the beach. Sites were available adjacent to the beach, but we have experienced salt spray and its corrosiveness on our car and motorhome, so we tend to avoid staying too close to the surf. On one side of our site was a large hickory tree and on the other was a pecan tree - both of which were in the process of shedding their leaves. The squirrels sometimes startled us by dropping nuts on our roof. Behind our site, the Mallard ducks squabbled agreeably in the lake. A Great Egret often terrorized the small fish in the shallows and a couple of Mute Swans added a. stately touch of class to the scene. The large Live Oaks provide habitat for warblers, titmice, chickadees, woodpeckers, doves, nuthatches, blackbirds, bluebirds, finches and grackles. At times, these birds were very abundant. One evening, Black-crowned Night-herons roosted in the trees on the edge of the lake and barked at each other across the lake during evening twilight. They sounded much like small dogs in the trees.
OK, so there is beach access, phone hookups, and wildlife in clean, well-maintained parks. But what else is there to do in the area that would make it attractive? A couple of years ago, we drove through this area on Hwy. 17 and were turned off by all the touristy businesses -- lots of miniature golf courses, regular golf courses, water slides, fast food restaurants, boat rentals, motels, rental' apartments, and T-shirt stores. There are at least 80 golf courses in the area. Obviously, this is a very busy, congested place during the summer vacation period. But this time, we noticed that there are also lots of nice restaurants to choose from, the beach is wide and clean, and the folks we met were very friendly. If you like live entertainment, there are about seven theaters in the area that present shows like the River Dance, Ballet, Gatlin Brothers, Cats, Fiddler on the Roof, Broadway Favorites, Bluegrass, Comedy, Dixie Stampede, Carolina Osprey and more. There are also a couple of dinner theaters. But if you are really into a little culture, Brookgreen Gardens can provide a banquet for your senses.
We found Brookgreen Gardens so enjoyable that we returned five times. For only $8.50, you get a pass good for one week. It turned out to be one of the major highlights of our two-week stay. Exhibiting over 550 pieces of American Sculpture and 2,000 species of native plants on the 9,000 acres on the site of four old, colonial, rice plantations, the gardens are a delightful place to wander around and relax. In an area of South Carolina where colonial slaves once cleared giant cypress trees from the swamp to build tidal-flooded rice fields, Anna Hyatt and Archer Huntington built a park and gardens that focused on their two great loves - sculpture and nature. Anna was a very accomplished sculptress and had become fairly wealthy before she met Archer, who inherited great wealth that his father. She decided that these gardens would be a great place to display her sculptures and those of other artists.
Here, in a place where slave's lives were short from work in malaria-infested swamps and where the clearing of giant cypress trees had contributed to the extinction of the Carolina Parakeet, which nested in cypress trees, Anna and Archer decided to allow no hunting and to conserve the wildlife. To ensure that their creation survived, they established a non-profit organization to run the gardens after they died. Construction began in the 1930's and the Depression in the 1940's proved to be an excellent time to purchase sculptures for their garden. During the Depression, artists needed a source of income and the Huntingtons needed lots of quality and relatively inexpensive works of art. Their timing could not have been better. One of their decisions was to include no abstract art but to focus on figurative, realistic, sculptures.
To this old country boy, who grew up with only a small modicum of couth, I can, at best, only moderately tolerate abstract art. However, I found Anna's figurative sculptures fascinating. These sculptures exhibit considerable flight of imagination in a way that is appealing in spite of my ingrained distrust of the metaphysical and preference for reality. Of the 550 pieces of sculptures, 85 pieces were done by Anne. But of course, Anna played a large role in the selection of works done by other artists. It seems obvious that Anna had a distinct preference for human and animal forms - often together in single works. To my untrained eye, some of these pieces approach the excellence of detail found in works by Michelangelo. I wondered about the interface between art and science in these works. At what point do the details needed for producing a realistic animal approach the exactness needed by science?
The gardens have much to offer the visitor. There are guided garden strolls, sculpture focus tours, a lowcountry wildlife trail, creek excursions on a 48-foot pontoon boat, guided horseback rides, carriage rides, kayaking tours, an introductory movie and a free shuttle. When you realize that you have become so engrossed in the art that you have forgotten to eat, the Terrace Café features a menu of Low Country specialties such as Chicken Bog (rice and chicken) or Chicken Gumbo and the Old Kitchen serves Carolina Peach Tea, pastries and such.
Of the tours, my personal favorite was the sculpture focus tour. We met Ron Gatewood, our guide, who used a motorized wheelchair, driven in reverse most of the time so that he could face us, as he entertained us with many interesting tidbits of history and facts about the gardens, sculptures, artists and the Huntingtons. It was one of those near-perfect fall days with full sunshine and comfortable temperatures. I found myself grinning a lot. I was particularly impressed all the animal sculptures - some fanciful and some very realistic. Greek mythology was well represented by elegant sculptures of Diana as a youth and adult. A larger than life sculpture of Don Quixote - broken lance and all - was of particular interest.
Across highway 17, lies Huntington State Park where Anna and Archer built their home (Atalaya) close to the beach. This park has the reputation among birders as being one of the top birding spots on the East Coast. Part of the attraction for birds is the large, fresh-water lake built by the Huntingtons. Several large alligators can often be seen from the road that runs on top of the dam. On the north side of this dam is the marsh area, where a long, board walkway takes you out into the marsh to better see the wildlife, vegetation and other elements of a marsh. At low tides, the oyster beds are a favorite hunting place for large numbers of shorebirds. Bald Eagles, Osprey, Northern Harriers and Merlins hunt in the marsh.
A one-mile-plus walk north along the beach brings you to the jetties, where other types of shorebirds such as the Purple Sandpiper were seen. Gannets and Brown Pelicans dive for fish offshore.
After about November 1st, a yearly pass can be purchased for only $15. It served us well during our multiple entries. There is also an excellent RV Campground in the park.
After a couple of weeks in the area, we left -- but reluctantly. Migrating birds find the Myrtle Beach area a nice place to rest and feed before continuing their trip south. It served the same purpose for us, but with added attractions: we caught up on our email, updated our Webpage, searched the Internet and phoned the kids - all in the comfort of our own motorhome. We will return!
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