Travel: Soothe the soul -- and the stomach

[Photo: Lisa Elia]

Creek Drive was the thoroughfare in town and it hasn’t changed much. On one side of the road are expensive, but unpretentious, homes with inviting porches. On the other side are oaks and palmetto trees that overlook the marsh.

MURRELLS INLET, S.C. -- My feet dangled from the dock as I sipped sweet tea and waited for a table at a seafood restaurant. I watched some tourists get off a charter fishing boat with sunburns, but no fish.

Behind me, the smell of broiled shrimp, scallops and swordfish made my hunger pains worse. A flurry of feathers hit the water and an osprey came up seconds later clutching a fish in its claws. At least someone was getting a good seafood dinner tonight.

Eventually, I did, too -- plump shrimp, grilled mahi-mahi and broiled scallops. Almost everyone who visits Murrells Inlet, South Carolina's oldest fishing village, partakes of the native specialty. This 6-mile stretch of protected water and marshes on the southern outskirts of Myrtle Beach has long been famous for the bounty of its waters and its slow pace of life.

The inlet has resisted many of the changes that nearby towns have undergone: high-rise condominiums, neon signs and T-shirt shops. A narrow road with no stoplights cuts through the heart of the village. Most parking lots in front of restaurants are not paved. Seafood stores, a marine supply business, a bait-and-tackle shop and family-owned restaurants with names like Drunken Jack's and Nance's make up most of the businesses in town.

"I was born and raised in Myrtle Beach, but I just got tired of the crowded beaches, the traffic and all the construction. It just wasn't the same small town I grew up in," said Dwain Patrick, a commercial photographer who escaped to Murrells Inlet in 1986. "It's beautiful here. You can see all kinds of wildlife out in the water like diamondback terrapins, alligators, buffleheads (a type of duck), herons and kingfishers."

Aboard Patrick's 16-foot fishing boat one sunny afternoon, he pointed out ducks preening in the prairielike cord grass, and a few minutes later we passed Drunken Jack's island, which is the source for one of the most often-told stories about Murrells Inlet.

It goes that a pirate named Jack worked on Blackbeard's crew in the early 1600s. The crew stopped at the mouth of the inlet to bury barrels of stolen rum, but before hiding the liquor, the pirates drank a large amount of it. Two years later, his mates came back to get the rum but found only 32 empty casks and the bleached bones of their unfortunate crewmate.

But Patrick said he believes the island really got its name from Col. Jack Green, who was a surgeon in George Washington's army. Green was a member of the wealthy, all-male Hot and Hot Fish Club. From the late 1700s until the Civil War, the group would hunt and fish on the island, then cook what they caught. They washed down their meals with quite a bit of wine and whiskey, Patrick said. "Their wives weren't allowed on this trip, and they had a great time drinking and eating."

The inlet remains almost as rustic as when pirates and partygoers hid out in its creeks and marshes during the 1700s. It may even have been named for a pirate named Murrell, who preyed on Atlantic Coast ships in the late 17th century and made his headquarters in the inlet. Some credit the name to the less-glamorous rice planter John Morrall, who bought 631 acres of land around the inlet in 1731.

The Vereen family came to Murrells Inlet around the time of the pirates and probably fed a few of them during the past 300 years. Russell Vereen carries on the family trade today at Russell's Seafood Grill and Raw Bar, and although he doesn't feed pirates, he seems to have absorbed some of their swashbuckling spirit. He's known to drive a 1973 white Electra Glide Harley-Davidson with a sidecar and license plates reading "Cadlac" to work now and then.

"I like to spell it in the finest Murrells Inlet tradition," the 42-year-old Vereen said.

That's not the only tradition his family is known for. The Vereens have been in the business of feeding people for a few generations. In 1791, when George Washington made his southern tour, he stayed overnight at the home of Jeremiah Vereen so he could get a good home-cooked meal. Russell's father owned the Wayside restaurant for about 30 years, and for many years, his uncle ran Oliver's Lodge, the oldest restaurant in town.

"Feeding people is in my blood," said Vereen, who proudly tells people that his roots in the area date to 1670 when his family came over with the French Huguenots.

The inlet's seafood heritage reaches back even before the Europeans settled here. The Pee Dee and other American Indian tribes gathered oysters, clams and shrimp from the creeks and marshes, and fished in the Waccamaw River, which borders the village's western side. Today, out in the marshes, evidence of how well the Indians ate can be found in 3- to 4-foot middens, or mounds of discarded oyster and clam shells that have been covered over with mud and grass.

By the early 1800s, this was a thriving fishing community that also produced and shipped salt from two salt works. Rice plantations along the Waccamaw also contributed to the village's economy. During the summer, many of the plantation owners and their families would live in Murrells Inlet to get some relief from the oppressive heat and mosquitoes.

And no doubt they also enjoyed the seafood. Oyster roasts, where the seafood is cooked over an open fire and served on a wooden trough, have long been a staple in the area.

Genevieve Peterkin, who is in her mid 70s and has lived in Murrells Inlet most of her life, remembers going to the roasts as a child. "This was the forerunner of the first restaurant in this area," she said.

The oyster roasts eventually moved inside, and Oliver's Lodge, the first restaurant in Murrells Inlet, began serving family-style meals in 1910. After World War II, more restaurants opened as more people vacationed here during the summer and eventually started to live here year-round.

One of them was mystery writer Mickey Spillane, who has called Murrells Inlet home for 43 years.

He discovered the area by accident. In 1944, he was an Air Force pilot flying down the East Coast when he spotted a deserted stretch of beach that went on for about 60 miles. He later learned that spit of land was Myrtle Beach. After World War II, he returned to Myrtle Beach and a friend took him fishing in Murrells Inlet. He saw a house on the water and fell in love with it. He asked the owner how much he wanted for it, and Spillane wrote him a check that day.

"I was the first Yankee who moved down here," said Spillane, who grew up in northern New Jersey. "Now, the only Southern accent I hear is from my wife, who's from Marion, S.C. In fact, I've been here so long that now I think there are too many Yankees down here."

The prettiest spot in Murrells Inlet is along Creek Drive. This was the first thoroughfare in town and it hasn't changed much in the past century. It's a simple dirt road with a strip of grass running down the middle.

On one side of the road are expensive, but unpretentious, homes with porches beckoning owners to relax. On the other side are oaks and the rustling fronds of palmetto trees that overlook the marsh, which usually offers a variety of wildlife activities: white egrets perching on docks, fiddler crabs scurrying in the mud and an angler casting his line and hoping to catch something for supper.

No one has tried to pave Creek Drive, Peterkin said. Besides, locals wouldn't stand for it. "I think the residents would go out there and dig some trenches so it would make the road a little bumpy," she said.

It wasn't long ago when all Peterkin heard out in the marsh were sounds of wildlife. "I don't hear alligators bellowing like cattle during their mating season in the spring, and I don't see fireflies at twilight anymore," she said. Too often, she hears the annoying hum of a water-scooter engine.

That's not the only change that has come to Murrells Inlet. More retirees from up north have discovered the area's charms.

"When I moved here, no one wanted to live here," Spillane said. "There was only one golf course in the area, and now there are 100."

Residents have taken steps to keep the fishing village from losing its small-town character. They formed a committee called Murrells Inlet 2007 and have taken on projects such as building a boardwalk along the waterfront and preserving some land for parks.

Peterkin said she has found newcomers willing to pitch in and preserve the inlet's seafaring way of life. "I call it the second invasion," she said. "But, thank God, Sherman isn't leading them this time."

WHERE TO STAY: The Brookwood Inn ((843) 651-2550) has been in the inlet since the 1950s, and there is a Holiday Inn Express ((843) 357-0100) just outside of the village.

WHAT TO DO: Captain Dick's Marina in the heart of town offers a variety of fishing excursions inside the inlet or out in the ocean. For more information, call (843) 651-3676 or visit www.captdicks.com on the Web.

Brookgreen Gardens is at the southern end of Murrells Inlet on U.S. 17. The area was once home to several rice plantations. Philanthropist Archer Huntington and his wife, sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, bought the property in 1930. The gardens have one of the best collections of American figurative sculpture in the world. For more, visit www.brookgreen.org.

Across the street from Brookgreen is Huntington Beach State Park. A Moorish-style castle called Atalaya is the centerpiece of this beachfront park that has a nature trail, beach, and camping and picnicking areas.

CONTACTS: For more information about the area, call the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce at Murrells Inlet at (843) 651-1010, or visit www.myrtlebeachinfo.com, or contact the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce toll-free at 1-800-777-7705, www.georgetownchamber.com.

Soothe the soul -- and the stomach

Murrells Inlet has long been known for its relaxed pace and sumptuous seafood.