Litchfield/Pawley's Island/Murrells Inlet Area

[april77]

Hello-

I'm looking for info about the Litchfield/Pawley's Island/Murrells Inlet area. My in-laws just bought a house in Litchfield and we are going down to spend about a month with them this summer. Activities for a 3 and 6 year old? Esp. rainy day activities. Good day trips for when I need time away from the in-laws. Natural food stores and Farmer's Markets? General atmosphere? My in-laws are familiar with the area but we have never been.

Thanks!
April

[mama de dos]

Hi there!

My parents live at Litchfield and have been there for more than 10 yrs. It's a lovely place to visit and the kids have a blast at the beach, but I'm glad I don't live there.

It's a very un-'crunchy' area in general, but I've never had problems nursing in public over the last 9 yrs. There are fun kid things to do (beach, putt-putt golf, water park in summer, etc) and the beaches are MUCH nicer IMO than the ones a bit north in Myrtle Beach. Traffic can be heavy in the summer, but nothing compared to MB, thank goodness. There's far less of a touristy vibe than in MB, too. It's a laid-back and nice place to hang out.

Food is not so easy for us there. There's no Whole Foods or anything like that in the area, and the grocery stores have limited selections of 'natural foods products'. There is one WF in Charleston, but that's quite a drive. There is a small "health food store" down on Hwy 17 in Litchfield, but it has a pretty limited selection. There are some restaurants that are ok, particularly a Thai one we love in Murrell's Inlet. It's called the Blue Elephant and it's mixed in right amongst all the seafood restaurants. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it's clean and nice inside and the food is great. The owner is actually Thai and travels back fairly frequently. My dad just told me that the owner is leaving tomorrow for a trip, so we won't be able to visit the restaurant during our upcoming trip this week. My boys LOVE to eat there whenever they can.

If you eat seafood, there are some good options in Murrell's Inlet, esp. Lee's Inlet Kitchen (a local favorite that's been there forever) and Russell's. Russell's in not fancy at all, but has good, fresh well-prepared local seafood.

OK- gotta go make food. Hope this helps a bit and that you have a great trip!!

[april77]

Thanks so much. I know my in-laws so the "lovely to visit but I don't want to live there" was pretty much what I was expecting. We're driving so I'm going to start stocking up on non-perishables to take with us.

Anyone else have info?

Thanks!!

[mama de dos]

Hi again!

I don't know if you've already left, and if so, if you have internet access, but I wanted to pop back in with a few other ideas. We just got back late last night from a week in Litchfield/Pawley's and we had such a great time. It was really beautiful and the kids had SO much fun on the beach. :

While there, I confirmed my frustration with the no Whole Foods/natural foods store problem, but still managed to do OK. The Food Lion in Pawley's has some natural foods stuff. Nothing like WF or what I'm used to, but I found a few pleasant surprises.

Other things we did while there: My boys went on very long bike rides with their grandfather and loved it- there are miles of paved bike paths through Litchfield and through Huntington Beach State Park (which is cool to visit!) and is just off of Hwy 17 in Litchfield. If you can take bikes, that's great, but there are also a few places I think where you can rent bikes you can ride on the beach.

I also wanted to mention Brookgreen Gardens, a beautiful sculpture garden (outdoors) also in Litchfield off of 17. They have programs there sometimes in the summer and I *think* maybe horse drawn carriage rides?

There's also the Hammock Shops in Pawley's which is historic and a fun place to walk around and shop. (and to buy a locally made Pawley's Island hammock) They even have a very small play area for kids out there and it's just nice to walk around under the oaks and browse in the stores.

Ros's Rice Mill Cafe is back in there and has yummy food and is a great place for lunch. They're known for their soups which are often cream-based but yummy!! There's a pretty good toy store in there and another good restaurant which just opened (took the place of Louis Osteen's great place) that I can't remember the name of but that people said was yummy. I haven't tried it, though.

Up 17 a ways, in southern Myrtle Beach is Broadway at the Beach. There's lots of stuff there and it can be fun to visit. It's an outdoor shopping complex, but there's also Ripley's Aquarium in there which is super nice and an IMAX theater there. My boys saw a 3-D movie about Under the Sea which they were fascinated by. They're both pricey, but both are good options for a rainy day. There's also Putt Putt golf there, which has huge 'castle' and a dragon which sticks its head out of one of the turrets periodically and breathes fire and smoke. My kids think that's really cool. There are also huge fish and ducks that you can feed with food you buy from little dispensers. I think they may also have remote control boats you can do there. There's also your typical fudge store, ice-cream store (Goodberry's has yummy frozen custard and there's also Ben and Jerry's), gift shops, restaurants, I think there's a Build A Dino (like Build a Bear)......... Elsewhere, there's a huge water slide park called Myrtle Waves (I think that's the name) that can be fun and other touristy things- some Nascar thing, can't remember what else.

As far as back down in Litchfield/Pawley's, just hitting the beach is awesome, especially around low tide when the little ones can play in tidal pools. (check the tide tables so you don't go down at high tide-water can be rough and with very little beach) The marshes are beautiful, too.

If you want a day trip, Charleston is about 1.5 hrs and is really lovely with LOTS of historic stuff to see and do there. (There's also a Whole Foods )

Georgetown is about 20 mins down Hwy 17 S and is also very historic and has a nice waterfront area.

Hmmmmmmmm......That's all that comes to mind for now. I felt bad for saying I wouldn't want to live there, like I was a bad South Carolinian! (I'm from there originally!) and after such a lovely time there this week and being reminded how beautiful and relaxing it is there, I felt like I should give some more info. I still wouldn't want to live there, but it is lovely and relaxing to be able to visit there!

Feel free to ask more ?s if you have any. I hope you have the first of many wonderful trips!! Let me know how it goes!

[april77]

Thanks so much again!! We leave in two weeks and the kids are so excited. My MIL just called yesterday to tell me that they have bikes for everyone so we don't have to haul ours or rent. She's also discovered the tide pools and can't wait to show the kids. I've been grabbing extra snacks and toiletries on sale. FIL is a junk-food junkie so we're used to having food issues when with them, we just don't normally visit for a month-long stretch.

Thanks again and I'll be sure to post when we get back and let you know what we thought!

[tangela]

pawleys island

i grew up in South Carolina (greenville, foothills of mountains, near border of NC)..but i live on Long island now..been here for 26 years..my boys are teenagers now and i was lucky enough to discover mothering mag. when they were babes and have enjoyed it thru these way too short, unspeakably wonderful years of watching them grow up into men...my eldest leaves for college Aug. 26th; there are no words to describe this process...but back to pawleys island...we are going there for 2nd time aug. 1st for a week..have not been there since 2001; wonder if it's still the same graceful spot it was as i was growing up, and in 2001....i know most readers have young children, but if you have any ideas what teenage boys might find interesting...let me know..or if you want to talk to about how to let go it's time to really let go and you haven't learned quite how to do that yet....