An affinity for Pawleys Island seems inbred in many Kingstree residents. So much so that a Kingstree correspondent to The State newspaper in 1935 dared called Pawleys a "suburb" of Kingstree, primarily because so many local businessmen were commuting to and from the island that summer while their families enjoyed extended vacations.
Surf breaks on the rocks at Pawleys Island.
Flash forward 83 years. Lee Gordon Brockington, senior interpreter at Hobcaw Barony and a year-round Pawleys resident with deep roots in Kingstree, signed her latest book, Pawleys Island, August 26 at the Williamsburgh Museum. The book, co-authored with journalist and political commentator Steve Roberts, who along with his wife NPR and ABC News contributor Cokie Roberts has vacationed on Pawleys for the past 40 years, looks at the island's history from the early days until the mid-1950s in both pictures and prose.
Lee Brockington holding a copy of Pawleys Island.
Kingstree residents have long appreciated what Pawleys Island offers. Even in the 1890s and early 1900s, a number of intrepid souls each summer undertook the adventure of traveling from Kingstree to the island, even though it meant crossing the rivers at Georgetown, first by boat and later by barge or ferry.
Pawleys has always been a place for families to gather and relax, but in the 1920s and '30s, several groups from Kingstree traveled to the island for outings. In July 1927, county agents from Clarendon, Georgetown, and Williamsburg counties held a two-day 4-H camp for boys on the island. Approximately 30 young men from Williamsburg County attended the camp. Then in the summer of 1930, the association of Williamsburg Farm Women spent August 6-8 on the island where the participated in learning handwork and group singing, as well as enjoying the beach. Thirty-six women arrived on the island in the Cedar Swamp School Bus, with a few additional automobiles, for this time of fellowship and fun.
Pelicans have long been called the "Pawleys Island Air Force."
With the opening of the Lafayette (now Siau) Bridge in 1935, travel to and from Pawleys Island became easier. Kingstree residents took full advantage of the easier access that summer, with many families spending a month or so on the island while the menfolk commuted back to Kingstree to take care of their business interests.
On July 21, 1935, Carrie Sparks Douglass, news editor for The County Record and local correspondent to the state's daily papers, wrote a piece in The State which stated, "Scores of businessmen have moved their families to one of the several beach resorts and commute back and forth to their work here in town for a period of from a few days to several weeks."
Sea oats have become an emblem for Pawleys Island.
Carrie Douglass then went on to describe what she called the "Kingstree Colony," the nucleus of which was five cottages, built within a 400-yard radius of each other, all owned by Kingstree residents. Two of the cottages had been there for some time, although the Dick Blakelys had recently built an addition to their beachfront cottage, and W.N. and Freda Jacobs had completely remodeled their cottage, "FreMaNap," located directly behind and across the road from the Blakelys.
In 1934, Erban Kennedy had built the "Kennedy Kottage," beside the Jacobs cottage, and on a lot adjoining the Kennedys, N.L. Williams had built two cottages and the Beachnut Grocery. Williams' son Norman and some of his high school friends were running the grocery store for the season.
Watching the shorebirds is an entertaining part of any visit to Pawleys Island.
In the summer of 1935, Kingstree residents exclusively occupied those five cottages, and as the cottages had a total capacity for 15 families at any given time, the town had been well-represented on the island. Other Kingstree residents came to the island for weekends, spending them in one of several boarding houses available. The Kingstree folk were particularly partial to the boarding house run by Mrs. T.R. Owens, whose husband was connected to the W.E. Bynum Lumber Company in Kingstree. Bynum, Carrie Douglass noted, was also a member of the Kingstree Colony, although his house was located in another group of cottages on the beach. She went on to name some 80 families and individuals from Kingstree who had spent time on Pawleys in July 1935.
Not everyone from Kingstree had access to a cottage or stayed in a boarding house. One Kingstree resident took his accommodations with him when he went to the beach. Lindsey H. Cromer, Jr, editor and publisher of The County Record and the Lake City News, had once owned a lot on Pawleys but sold it, opting instead to, along with a local carpenter, design and build a trailer he pulled behind his automobile. The trailer had four bunk beds, a water tank and a refrigerator. Mr. Cromer claimed that he was not that partial to the beach, and with his trailer he could just as easily spend time in the mountains.
The south end at Pawleys Island in 2017.
The adventure of a beach vacation did not end with the building of the Lafayette Bridge. On August 11, 1940, a Category Two hurricane made landfall near Beaufort, SC, packing 100-mile-an-hour winds and a 13-foot storm surge. A group of 12 to 15-year old girls from Kingstree was enjoying a house party on Pawleys when the weather got rough. Carrie Douglass, back in Kingstree, received a phone call at 3:30 that Sunday morning, informing her that the group was moving to Georgetown for the rest of the night. It was only later that parents found out the girls had spent the remainder of the night in the lobby of the Lafayette Hotel and in the offices of Dr. Assey, who not only opened his office for them to use, but also had a Georgetown restaurant supply them with breakfast the next morning at his expense. By daylight on Sunday, the winds had calmed enough for the girls and their chaperones to return to Pawleys to pick up the luggage they had abandoned in their middle-of-the night flight and come home to Kingstree.
Patricia Smiley and Lee Brockington discuss Lee's new book.
While Lee Brockington and Steve Roberts' book on Pawleys Island doesn't contain any references to the Kingstree Colony, there are three etchings by Williamsburg County artist the late James Fowler Cooper. Mr. Cooper owned a house at Pawleys and sold much of his work at The Hammock Shop. Lee says the 100 plus photographs in the book were chosen with an eye toward those that had not been published before.
Lee Brockington signs a copy of Pawleys Island.
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