Take a look back at scenes from Atlantic Beach, also known as the Black Pearl, a historic vacation destination for African Americans on South Carolina’s coast.
Columbians have long taken an annual summer trip to the coast to escape the ‘famously hot’ weather here and to enjoy the beautiful beaches we have along the Grand Strand. But during the Jim Crow era, the beaches, hotels, house rentals, restaurants, and even the SC State Parks were closed to Black visitors. So, back then, many Black vacationers went to Atlantic Beach.
The “Black Pearl,” or Atlantic Beach, is slice of land comprising 4 blocks next to the sea north of Myrtle Beach. There, African American proprietors operated bars, restaurants, hotels, and rental houses that catered to African American vacationers. Atlantic Beach provided its visitors with access to sea breezes, lively entertainments, and a chance to relax and mingle with other families from various parts of the state. A community of Black year-long residents kept the place in order in the off-season. Additionally, Black entertainers hired to perform in Myrtle Beach or other coastal communities also found a welcome place to stay at Atlantic Beach while in the area.
Catering to families and single tourists alike, the seaside community of Atlantic Beach rose to prominence in the 1940s and 50s, when other beaches in the area were exclusively for the enjoyment of white families. It all began in 1934, when Black business owner George Tyson of Wilmington, N.C. purchased 47 acres of beachfront property just north of Myrtle Beach, which he originally called Tyson's Beach. However, Tyson soon fell on hard times, and he sold this property to a group of Black professionals who wanted to create an oasis for Black families along the coast. These investors formed the Atlantic Beach Company and included Dr. J. Ward Seabrook, president of Fayetteville State College, Dr. Robert Gordon of Dillon, who later built the Gordon Hotel, Dr. Leroy Upperman, a retired physician from Wilmington, Dr. Peter Kelly of Conway, and others. Many individuals later purchased lots and vacation homes within the 4 block limits of Atlantic Beach, making it one of the few Black-owned seaside resort areas in the United States.
In its heyday, Atlantic Beach welcomed tourists from up and down the eastern seaboard, as it was conveniently located along well-traveled Highway 17. Advertisements for Atlantic Beach cottages and restaurants were placed in Black-owned newspapers, such as Columbia’s Lighthouse and Informer and the Palmetto Leader. Some early establishments included the Bluebird Inn, the Gordon Hotel, and the Cotton Club. Black entertainers like Ray Charles, James Brown, The Drifters, Tina Turner, and many others would perform at the Cotton Club after their engagements in white clubs ended and they returned to Atlantic Beach for the night. Atlantic Beach was so popular that on holidays one resident recalled there was hardly enough room to walk.
At times, trouble disrupted the calm at Atlantic Beach. In the summer of 1950 members of the Ku Klux Klan stormed through Atlantic Beach and then forced their way into the Whispering Pines club located in a nearby Black neighborhood called The Hill about a mile away. The Klansmen had heard that white men and women were entering the club to watch Black dancers and listen to the music. The owner of that club, Charlie Fitzgerald, ended up getting tossed into a car by the Klansmen and injured, and later it was Fitzgerald who was arrested and sent to the State Penitentiary in Columbia for some unrelated charge. This shocking series of events is an ugly reminder of the racial violence and inequalities of that time. Also notably, I learned that the Whispering Pines nightclub is credited as one of the birthplaces of South Carolina's state dance, the Shag.
Then, on October 14, 1954, Hurricane Hazel came ashore near Myrtle Beach as a Category 4 and wiped out at least 10 homes and several businesses in the Atlantic Beach community, including the renowned Gordon Hotel and the beach house of a Columbian named Dr. H. H. Cooper. The property owners did not have insurance, and many could not rebuild.
Yet, others came in and filled in the spaces with new structures. The 1960s were a time of regrowth for the area. And in 1966 the town of Atlantic Beach was chartered.
But after 1970 African American tourists had other options for their vacations and Atlantic Beach began to decline. When a photographer from the Columbia Record newspaper visited the area in 1982, Atlantic Beach was not what it once was. But we can view glimpses of its livelier past in these images.
In 2005, a historic marker was placed at Atlantic Beach. Today, Atlantic Beach still offers sea breezes and a relaxing space along the Grand Strand. Residents hope to bring back development while continuing to honor its past.
Further Reading and Sources:
- “Atlantic Beach was a ‘Black Pearl,’” The State, July 16, 2023. Access via NewsBank.
- "A gamble on prosperity," by Jeffry Dyer, photographs by Donna Bise, Columbia Record, April 18, 1982. Access via NewsBank.
- Greetings from Myrtle Beach : A history, 1900-1980, by Barbara F. Stokes, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 2007. Access at Richland Library.
- Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand, by Susan Hoffer McMillan, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S.C., 2007. Access at Richland Library.
- Toward the Meeting of the Waters: Currents in the Civil Rights Movement of South Carolina during the Twentieth Century, edited by Winfred B. Moore, Jr. and Orville Vernon Burton, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 2008. Access at Richland Library.
