Surfside Beach, South Carolina

Surfside Beach, South Carolina
Town
Surfside Beach shoreline
Seal
Nickname:  The Family Beach
Location in Horry County, South Carolina
Coordinates: 33°36′22″N 78°58′23″W
Country	United States
State	South Carolina
County	Horry
Government
• Mayor	Robert Krouse
Area
• Total	1.96 sq mi (5.09 km2)
• Land	1.95 sq mi (5.05 km2)
• Water	0.02 sq mi (0.04 km2)
Elevation	10 ft (3 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	4,155
• Density	2,132.96/sq mi (823.44/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	29575, 29587
Area code(s)	843, 854
FIPS code	45-70585
GNIS feature ID	1231847
Website	www.surfsidebeach.org

Surfside Beach is a town in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. Its nickname is "The Family Beach". The population was 3,837 at the 2010 census, down from 4,425 in 2000. It is considered a part of the Grand Strand.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau Surfside Beach has a total area of 2.1 square miles (5.1 km²), of which 1.9 square miles (5.0 km²) is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1 km²) (1.02%) is water.

History

Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

In the early nineteenth century, there is evidence of a slave plantation of 3,200 acres (1838) at what is now Surfside Beach. There are traveller accounts from the eighteenth century of the area. The 1765 diary of John Bartram, botanist, shows him lodging at what was probably Stephen Peak's slave plantation, "at the west end of long bay". In 1773, William Bartram, naturalist, also "got to the West end of Long Bay, where [he] lodged at a large Indigo plantation". The plantation in question was called "The Ark", a name for which the first record is in 1867; it may have originally been owned by "Mr. Aark". In 1820 it was owned by John Tillman. The 1838 survey recorded it having 3,194 acres. The plantation reported 57 enslaved people in 1850 and 63 in 1860. In 1850 the crops were sweet potatoes and rice. Other farmed animals and crops are thought to have included cattle, sheep, pigs, Indian corn and peas.

The main house was near the ocean front (at 3rd Ave South and Willow Drive in present-day Surfside Beach), with several buildings for slave quarters to the north along the ocean and a cemetery behind it (South Hollywood Dr on the west, to Juniper Drive on the north, to 6th Ave South on the east, to Cypress Drive on the south). The main house had four large rooms and was made of timber; it was used as shelter during a hurricane in 1893.

Twentieth century

The main house became a hotel, and then a shelter for lifeguards, before it was demolished in the 1960s. The cemetery, where many of the enslaved people of the plantation were buried, continued to be used by descendants of those families until the 1950s. In 1980, the town of Surfside Beach declared it abandoned, opening the area for development. There are now houses on the site, which have destroyed most of the cemetery, though some graves are still visible, and in 2022 markers and memorials were put up.

Surfside Beach was previously known as Roach's Beach and had only a few buildings surviving the hurricane of 1893. Principal industries were lumber and feed farming for the 30 or so horses and mules in the area. The new owner, George J. Holiday of Galivants Ferry, renamed the area Floral Beach after his wife, Flora. He built a sawmill and opened a hotel in the old house of the plantation, the Tillman house.

Holiday sold the land to a group from Columbia who partially developed the land. In 1952, most of the land changed hands again and became known as Surfside Beach. A pier was built in 1953.

Hurricane Hazel in 1954 destroyed most of the beach's seventy houses, and the pier. In 1976 the Department of Housing and Urban Development noted that the town "is subject to serious flooding from tidal surge caused by hurricanes and tidal storms"; there had been significant storms or hurricanes in 1872, 1874, 1883, 1893, 1894, 1899, 1906, 1944, as well as Hurricane Hazel, and no flood defences were in place or planned. Development plans continued. By 1956 there were six families living permanently on the beach, with others coming on holiday. The settlement expanded after the reactivation of Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in 1956. The town was incorporated in 1964. It had 881 residents at that point. Municipal annexation led to growth of the settlement.

Twenty-first century

Surfside Beach adopted a public-places smoking ban which took effect October 1, 2007. Surfside Beach is the first town in Horry County to enact such a ban, and one of only a handful in South Carolina to do so at the time.

On February 4, 2023, at 2:39 PM local time, a Chinese spy balloon that had been flying across the United States for days was shot down directly over the town's coast by an AIM-9X Sidewinder launched from a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. US military aircraft were spotted directly overhead of the town minutes before the balloon was shot down.

Surfside Beach in 2023

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1970	1,329		—
1980	2,522		89.8%
1990	3,845		52.5%
2000	4,425		15.1%
2010	3,837		−13.3%
2020	4,155		8.3%
U.S. Decennial Census

2020 census

Surfside Beach racial composition

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	3,822	91.99%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	46	1.11%
Native American	15	0.36%
Asian	21	0.51%
Pacific Islander	9	0.22%
Other/Mixed	146	3.51%
Hispanic or Latino	96	2.31%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,155 people, 2,111 households, and 1,230 families residing in the town.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,425 persons, 2,150 households, and 1,234 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,287.6 inhabitants per square mile (883.2/km²). There were 3,698 housing units at an average density of 1,911.8 per square mile (738.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.75% White, 0.95% African American, 0.50% Native American, 0.36% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races, and 0.93% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.42% of the population.

There were 2,150 households, out of which 16.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.8% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.6% were non-families. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.06 and the average family size was 2.55.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 13.6% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 29.7% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.5 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $40,612, and the median income for a family was $49,847. Males had a median income of $31,864 versus $24,966 for females. The per capita income for the town was $24,445. About 4.7% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.2% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.

In Surfside Beach, there are thousands of homes and condos owned by non-residents who own vacation property for the sole purpose of attracting weekly vacation rentals.

Government

The city is governed by an elected Council government system. The Council appoints a professional Administrator to manage all day to day activities and operations. The Mayor has no administrative duties and no powers beyond presiding over the meetings and acts as a figurehead of the Town within Councils direction. Council is elected to approve policy and to pass the annual budget.

Transportation

Major roads and highways

• 
  U.S. 17 Bus.
• U.S. 17
• SC 544
• Glenns Bay Road
• Ocean Boulevard
• Surfside Drive

Education

Surfside Beach has a public library, a branch of the Horry County Memorial Library.

Notable person

• Russell Fry, U.S. Congressman