Myrtle Beach History and Sports

Myrtle Beach is a wonderful place for you to take your family, enjoy a vacation alone, or to relax with a loved one. It is situated between the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, although building west of the waterway is rapidly increasing. Much of the area between the coast and the waterway is a slightly elevated sandbar or dune area. West of the waterway the land is mostly pine forest with a normal high water table, in which developers dredge ponds and use the soil to create elevated areas for better drainage around buildings.

The vacation spot was uninhabited until 1900, when a railroad was built between Conway and Myrtle Beach. The Pavilion, as well as the Seaside Inn, was built in today's downtown. By the 1930s, the city grew to include areas as far north as present-day Ocean Forest. The Ocean Forest Hotel was built about this time. The Intracoastal Waterway began construction several years later, and in 1957, Myrtle Beach officially became a city. Its name was derived from the wax myrtle shrub that grows throughout the area. In the 1960s, northern development in what was unincorporated Horry County began to develop, with the newly formed communities of North Myrtle Beach and Briarcliffe Acres. Myrtle Beach had become well associated with tourism by the seventies. By the late 1980s, into the early, and mid 1990s, Myrtle Beach grew into the county's eighteenth largest population gain. Because of relatively low cost of living and many amenities, it has attracted many retirees, some of whom became acquainted with the area while vacationing.

Another reason Myrtle Beach has attracted retirees and vacationers are because of its variety of sports and leisure activities. Baseball is a featured sport in Myrtle Beach. The Carolina League's Myrtle Beach Pelicans, a class A farm franchise for the Atlanta Braves major league baseball club, plays its home games at Coastal Federal Field. Myrtle Beach is also home to many of the top junior tennis players in the state. With the potential found locally, Myrtle Beach has become a well-known name in Junior Tennis. Myrtle Beach High School is home to the Myrtle Beach Seahawks, which has a highly regarded tennis team. Hockey is another popular sport in Myrtle Beach. The Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz is a new team formed from the former Pee Dee Pride.

Although these sports are great fun, one of the things Myrtle Beach is most well known for is its golf courses. The city has over 120 golf courses on the "Grand Strand" and hosts over 4,000,000 rounds per year. One popular discussion board for Myrtle Beach golf is Myrtle Beach Golf Talk. Myrtle Beach claims to have more miniature golf courses than anywhere in the world. It is a wonderful place to enjoy yourself, whatever your recreational desires might consist of.

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