ESHELMS
All That Remains
thesunnews.typepad.com/georgetown/2011/08/southern-scenes...
"Reminders of a different time are scattered everywhere in Georgetown County, even blocks away from some of the newest developments.
A few hundred feet from a highly commercially developed area of Pawleys Island stand the remnants of an African-American’s only resort that hosted musicians as famous as Duke Ellington, James Brown and Little Richard.
What was once the Magnolia Beach Club and then became known as McKenzie Beach, stands along U.S. Highway 17 North, according to historian Lee Brockington.
Brockington said the ruins that stand today are likely from McKenzie Beach, which was a predominantly African-Americans motel and restaurant operated by Frank McKenzie. Before running that resort McKenzie was one of the partners in Magnolia Beach Club, which was a resort that catered to prominent African-Americans from the 1930s until Hurricane Hazel destroyed much of the property in 1954.
While many residents know it as McKenzie Beach, Brockington said the hay-day for that location was as the Magnolia Beach Club.
She said famous musicians, like Ellington, played at a pavilion on the ocean front and prominent African-Americans from the area and all of South Carolina stayed at ocean-view cabins scattered around the property.
On the property today, which is privately owned, are ruins that include what was likely the McKenzie Beach motel, which can be see from the highway, a small cabin on the north side of the property, and another building near the water.
Visible through the window frames of the ocean-front building are some of the most expensive homes and developments around, a haunting combination of the past and the present."
All That Remains
thesunnews.typepad.com/georgetown/2011/08/southern-scenes...
"Reminders of a different time are scattered everywhere in Georgetown County, even blocks away from some of the newest developments.
A few hundred feet from a highly commercially developed area of Pawleys Island stand the remnants of an African-American’s only resort that hosted musicians as famous as Duke Ellington, James Brown and Little Richard.
What was once the Magnolia Beach Club and then became known as McKenzie Beach, stands along U.S. Highway 17 North, according to historian Lee Brockington.
Brockington said the ruins that stand today are likely from McKenzie Beach, which was a predominantly African-Americans motel and restaurant operated by Frank McKenzie. Before running that resort McKenzie was one of the partners in Magnolia Beach Club, which was a resort that catered to prominent African-Americans from the 1930s until Hurricane Hazel destroyed much of the property in 1954.
While many residents know it as McKenzie Beach, Brockington said the hay-day for that location was as the Magnolia Beach Club.
She said famous musicians, like Ellington, played at a pavilion on the ocean front and prominent African-Americans from the area and all of South Carolina stayed at ocean-view cabins scattered around the property.
On the property today, which is privately owned, are ruins that include what was likely the McKenzie Beach motel, which can be see from the highway, a small cabin on the north side of the property, and another building near the water.
Visible through the window frames of the ocean-front building are some of the most expensive homes and developments around, a haunting combination of the past and the present."