South Carolina Vacation: Two River Walks and a Walk on the Beach
Conway is located a little less than 20 miles from Surfside Beach, and we had not been there before. We decided to visit Conway the morning of Wednesday, March 1.
En route Conway, we ate breakfast at The Breakfast House in Socastee. Bob had an omelette with hash browns and rye toast. I had a Belgian Waffle with blueberries, one egg and bacon. The Breakfast House is a great little place with very good food and a friendly staff.
We arrived in Conway shortly before 9:00 am. I had read on the Internet that the Conway Riverwalk was a historic walking trail and that it is the oldest thoroughfare in Conway. The Riverwalk was our destination.
the meandering Waccamaw River.
The Waccamaw River is a blackwater river. Blackwater rivers are usually slow-moving and found around the swamplands of the southern U.S. Blackwater rivers are stained by the decaying plant matter in the water.
that was used by steamboats in the 1880s, I believe.
According to information read on the Internet, the Riverwalk is about 1.5 miles round trip. We left the trail at Laurel Street. We didn’t see any directional signs telling us where to go to continue the Riverwalk. So we turned right and walked into downtown Conway. Conway is an 18th-century town. Much of the area is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. The town features mostly small brick buildings, some dating back to the early 1820s.
We turned right at this fountain and walked to downtown Conway.
As we got our feel for where we were in relationship to where we had parked our car, we stumbled upon City Hall.
We returned to our car about 9:30 am. We had thought our visit to Conway would be longer than 30 minutes. We decided at this time to drive to Georgetown, which was located approximately 40 miles south of Conway.
We arrived in Georgetown an hour later. We parked along Front Street and walked the Harborwalk from the Kaminski House Museum to the Rice Museum/Town Clock. The waterfront 10-foot-wide and four-block-long boardwalk is alongside the Sampit River.
We visited Georgetown last year, too, and walked the Harborwalk. If you click on the “last year” link, you will see pictures that I took last year. All along the Harborwalk are signs to not feed the alligators. As we did last year, we looked for alligators. We didn’t see any alligators again this year.
We spent about 30 minutes in Georgetown. Again, we thought our visit to Georgetown would be longer. I want a do-over for both Conway and Georgetown. Next year we plan to return to both Conway and Georgetown, but later in the day. Both towns have restaurants that we would like to try. We would also like to tour the Kaminski House Museum and the Rice Museum in Georgetown as well. And, yes, you heard right … NEXT YEAR. Our reservation for “Nanny & Pops” is already on the books!
Leaving Georgetown we took U.S. 17 north to Murrells Inlet, where we ate lunch at Judy Boone’s Traditions Family Kitchen. Lunch was an all-you-can-eat buffet. Neither of us eat as heartily as we used to do. The buffet was $10.99 each, which was reasonable. We got our money’s worth. After lunch we returned to “Nanny & Pops”, our Airbnb rental.
Around 4:15 pm we went for a walk on “our beach”. It was high tide. We walked from “Nanny & Pops” to the 1st Ave public beach access and on the beach to Melondy Lane public beach access, a distance of approximately 1.1 miles.
The tall building is One Ocean Place, the location of our friends Marge and Neil’s condo that they were renting.
My knee was hurting, and I didn’t think I would be able to walk back to “Nanny & Pops”. Bob walked back to the rental, via the roadway not the beach. He got the car and came after me. While I was waiting for Bob’s return, I messaged Marge. She saw me from her balcony at One Ocean Place. We waved at each other.
The Beauty Around Us 
One Response to “South Carolina Vacation: Two River Walks and a Walk on the Beach”
Conway and Georgetown are both fascinating places to explore.