The culture of Myrtle Beach is totally Southern and proud of it. It’s a bit different from the Deep South, but it’s based loosely on the farming communities which pre-dated the beach development as a tourist destination.

Protestant religion is strong throughout the south, also known as part of the Bible Belt. Churches are easy to locate in all of the major sections, and visitors are warmly welcomed.

Southern manners are expected, and it’s common that strangers greet each other or strike up friendly conversations anywhere.

Beginnings

The Myrtle Beach area was first an Indian trail with the Winyah and Waccamaw Indian inhabitants who called it Chicora.

Then Spanish explorers sailed from Hispaniola with Lucas Vacquez de Allyon in the 1500s. The first European settlement, San Miguel de Guadalupe, in the United States was 30 miles south of the present Myrtle Beach. It lasted less than a year with settlers dying from hardship and disease.