Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We had a great time at the Pelican's Game early in spring, except it was the coldest night we had experienced there! The upside is I am now an owner of a Pelican's sweatshrit!
It warmed up nicely and we were able to enjoy the beach & Brookgreen Gardens over the next few days.
Greatly appreciated, CTyankee54. I have also explored Summerville/Goose Creek areas of Charleston and have come to the same conclusion as you: Very nice, but too far from the beach. I leaning toward areas around Socastee and Murrell's Inlet.
I can hardly wait until my first Pelicans game, ordering the first of many pizzas from Ultimate CA Pizza to my house and not having to get up early to snowplow the driveway for months on end. But as my status says, I'm still waiting for a miracle. So I'll just keep researching until said miracle arrives.
On a side note to Pawleys and neece, I have repped 3 people now and I'm still not allowed to rep either of you yet.
After many trips to the Myrtle Beach area I personally do not like the Socastee area. Pretty run down in many areas almost sprawl like.
Did you spend time in that area?
I do however like the Murrells Inlet area but the homes seem much older then I would like.
I enjoy reading this thread because so many people have contributed.
We have looked at many areas like you and always seem to go right back to the beach. Myrtle Beach that is.
I also read some have regretted moving to the MB area but also have found that more enjoy it and really like the MB area.
Like you we visited some areas in Florida ( don't like it a bit ), spend a couple days around Charleston ( love isle of the palms ) and some smaller towns in NC coastal area.
But end up going right back to the MB area.
Having grown up coming to Myrtle Beach and spent most of our adult lives vacationing in MB we feel comfortable in most of the MB area and love the massive amounts of things to do. Along with some of the best food you can find anywhere east of the Mississippi.
"Southernness" might be a little hard to come by as well, considering that there are probably more Northern transplants in the MB/Conway area than native Southerners.
You really need to visit this area if you are picturing it as a little "Mayberry" type of place. MB/Conway is a great place, but it is very large and congested, and does not have a small Southern town type of vibe at all. Conway and MB kind of sprawl together into one big, touristy place, and the traffic can be a nightmare. You would probably have to go inland away from the coast to find the kind of town that you are looking for, because the coast is pretty much owned by wealthy Yankees now...
I am going to SC in a few weeks.....i was looking more into Loris or Aynor. Im hopefully going to CCU and I realize that no matter where I live thats near a college town and a beach its not going to be "mayberry". SOOO it sucks lol....but maybe I can find something similar....Ill just have a lot of exploring to do when I get down there... ....BTW Im from NE and I hate rich NEders lol
IMHO, downtown Conway has that small town feeling/southernness. If you go out on 501 in Conway, obviously that's not the case but as long as you stay closer to downtown, it's rather quaint. But, I agree that anyone wanting to move here needs to visit in "place to live" mode...not "vacation" mode before deciding to move. We originally were going to move to Conway when we moved here but determined it was further away from the beach than we wanted. So we ended up in Forestbrook which we absolutely love...easy to get to just about anything but also easy to avoid traffic and tourists if you want. And we can be on the beach in 15 minutes.
As far as other SC places...we also considered the Charleston area (just absolutely loved Summerville) but decided it was too far from the beach especially with traffic which seemed very heavy to us. And we looked in Greenville which is obviously not near the beach. We liked it there as well but one of our top priorities was beach access so we ended up in MB.
There are areas of the Grand Strand that are quite rural especially if you stay west of the Intercoastal. But, if a person wants a small town, there's not much except Conway unless, as was stated above, you go further inland.
Best advice is to visit several times and look around. We made 3 trips to MB to explore before we moved here. And we didn't go near the beach on any of the 3 trips...just stayed inland and explored everything from Little River to Pawley's Island. We ate in small restaurants where we talked to waitresses and owners about the plusses and minuses of their area...we stopped and talked to people walking the neighborhoods we drove through...we looked for libraries, churches, schools, shopping areas, grocery stores, etc. to see how they looked and how far away they were from potential neighborhoods that we were considering. It was exhausting but well worth the effort because we had first hand information before we moved. Anyone planning to move should go through a similar process.
Im going down to SC in a few weeks and I am preparing a "to do list"....when I go down there I will be exploring and researching towns....not acting like its a vacation....Im excited
When we moved down here from Maryland, we rented for two years in two different areas (North MB and Little River). We have a young child and have been happy with NMB school district so far. Little river was a good fit for us- away from the touristy stuff but close enough that if you were in the mood for it you can go. good luck with your hunt!
If you want to be close to MB but not in MB, which is what I would suggest, I would look between Garden City and Pawleys Island. They are all beach towns...I lived there for 4 years and loved it..I just moved to Mt. Pleasant in December for work, but I miss it up there.
We moved to MB in May because I was finally able to land an RN job at a local hospital. If you had told me previously that I would be living in MB, I would have laughed in your face. I have dreamt about living in Charleston, SC (Mt Pleasant) for 3 years now, and assumed I would be able to find an RN job there after graduating, not the case. However, it has been really nice so far, and everyone on this board has been extremely helpful, for which I am so grateful. Do I love MB? No. But it's me, not MB! I had hoped to live somewhere with "culture", not to say MB doesn't have any, but I would prefer more.
We are liberal, non-church goers so meeting people can be tough, but most everyone we have met so far have been very friendly. I still hold on to the Charleston dream, but we are here for 4 years (until youngest graduate's HS). I think MB is a great area, and I would never come on the boards to bash it. The people are fantastic, the weather is awesome and I'm 15 minutes from the beach...what more can one want? Seriously?
Skye-- at which hospital do you work? I also am an RN. Getting a job as a new grad can be tough. Glad you found something and somewhere you are happy! I also love it here.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The upside is I am now an owner of a Pelican's sweatshrit! 
