The Strand's history layer is deeper than its beach image suggests. This guide assembles it museum by museum.

Virtual Tour: Bishop Collections of Antique Maps + Historical Prints

Myrtle Beach Art Museum

Curator Liz Miller leads a virtual tour of the Bishop Collection of antique maps and prints: 30 works dated 1606 to 1863, donated to the museum in 1999 by Dorothy Jones Bishop in memory of her husband George. The tour explains how cartography evolved — compass, telescope and sextant sharpening Europe's picture of the New World map by map.

Key takeaways
  • ["30 antique maps and prints, dated 1606-1863","Donated in 1999 by Dorothy Jones Bishop","The tour traces the evolution of mapmaking technology"]

Atalaya Castle - Huntington Beach State Park

I Love RV Life

I Love RV Life tour Atalaya Castle, the Moorish-style winter home of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington inside Huntington Beach State Park: the carriage house exhibits, the courtyards, the water tower, the horseshoe-shaped residence with Anna's sculpture studio, and the servants' wing — a $2-admission walk through one of the most unusual historic homes on the Carolina coast, which also served as a WWII radar station.

Key takeaways
  • Atalaya admission was $2 per person when filmed — 'worth much more,' per the hosts
  • Archer Huntington, heir to a railroad and shipping fortune, built Atalaya as a winter home in the 1930s
  • Anna Hyatt Huntington, a renowned sculptor, worked in the castle's studio

Warbird Park in Myrtle Beach Full Tour & NEW Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Dedication on Memorial Day!

Dean Team Adventures

The Dean Team gives the full tour of Warbird Park on Memorial Day, the day the park's new Vietnam War Memorial was dedicated. The film walks the aircraft and memorials at Market Common, takes in the dedication ceremony with the Carolina Youth Chorale singing, and explains the park's place on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.

Key takeaways
  • ["Filmed at the Vietnam War Memorial dedication on Memorial Day","The Carolina Youth Chorale performed at the ceremony","The park stands on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base at Market Common"]

The collections

The Art Museum's Bishop Collection tour leads: 30 antique maps and prints dated 1606 to 1863, tracing how Europe's picture of the New World sharpened instrument by instrument. The Pinball Museum's origin film and the Wheels of Yesteryear tour cover the playable and the polished: a personal collection that outgrew an office, and a muscle-car hall where 'Survivor' tags mark the unrestored.

The historic sites

Atalaya Castle's tour walks the Huntingtons' Moorish winter home — carriage house, courtyards, Anna's studio, its WWII chapter as a radar station. Warbird Park's Memorial Day film catches the Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedication on the former Air Force base.

Playing Vintage Games at the Myrtle Beach Pinball Museum (Best Arcade in Myrtle Beach!)

Jonathan Browne Menzies

Jonathan Brown Menzies tells the Pinball Museum's origin story: founder Jerry Pinkus loved pinball as a kid, kept a machine in his real-estate office to entertain clients' children, and collected until the collection needed a museum of its own. The film plays the floor and confirms the deal — $12 an hour, all you can play.

Key takeaways
  • ["Founded by Jerry Pinkus from his personal collection","$12 an hour, all you can play","The collection outgrew his office before becoming the museum"]

WHEELS OF YESTERYEAR Myrtle Beach MUSCLE CAR MUSEUM

Daze with Jordan the Lion

Jordan the Lion tours Wheels of Yesteryear, the vintage muscle-car museum built from a husband-and-wife's private collection. The film walks rows of Mopars and muscle cars, explains the 'Survivor' tags marking cars that have never been restored, and judges the collection a must-see for car people visiting Myrtle Beach.

Key takeaways
  • ["The museum displays a husband-and-wife's private collection","Mopars are a strength of the collection","'Survivor' cars are unrestored originals, tagged as such","Verdict: a must-see for muscle-car fans"]

From Naval Stores to Rice Fields: The Hidden History of Georgetown, SC

Mount Pleasant Magazine

Georgetown, the podcast sits down with historian Lee Brockington of Hobcaw Barony for a deep dive into the hidden history of Georgetown and the Waccamaw Neck. The conversation ranges over the rice plantations, the families who built them and the enslaved people whose labor and skill made the region rich.

Key takeaways
  • ["Lee Brockington is Hobcaw Barony's historian and a Georgetown County authority","The episode covers the rice era and the Waccamaw Neck plantations","Enslaved labor and skill are central to the history told"]

The deep history

Georgetown's hidden-history conversation with Hobcaw Barony's historian covers the rice plantations and the enslaved labor and skill that built the region's wealth. Conway's portrait and the Odditorium's full tour — the boulevard's own museum of the strange — close the set.

Sources: the 8 videos on this page.

Watch: Myrtle Beach Museums And History Guide, guided

2 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Conway: A Historic Rivertown

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Visit Myrtle Beach's short portrait of Conway, one of South Carolina's oldest towns: moss-draped oaks, brick-lined streets and a preserved downtown of boutiques, cafes and public art. The film follows the Waccamaw River to the scenic Riverwalk and notes the town's fall transformation into the City of Halloween.

Key takeaways
  • ["Conway is one of South Carolina's oldest towns","The Riverwalk follows the Waccamaw River below downtown","In fall the town transforms into the City of Halloween"]

Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium in Myrtle Beach on Ocean Boulevard - Full Tour!

Carmen and Brian

Carmen and Brian's full walk-through of the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium on Ocean Boulevard, next to the Boardwalk. They tour the whole museum of oddities room by room, stop at the interactive pieces visitors can try themselves, and place it among the cluster of Ripley's attractions on this stretch of the boulevard.

Key takeaways
  • A complete tour of the Odditorium on Ocean Boulevard by the Boardwalk
  • Interactive exhibits are demonstrated, not just shown
  • One of several Ripley's attractions clustered on this block

More Myrtle Beach essentials

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