Indigo Farms located just across the border into Calabash, N.C., is on part of the original Bellamy property and is owned by some of John’s direct descendents. These days, farming remains in the blood of some Bellamys. The Bellamys, like the Vereens, farmed, growing rice, timber and some indigo. A house built by his grandson, William Addleton Bellamy, stood near what is now Highway 9, six miles north of Kings Highway until the 1960s. Bellamy first came to the area in 1765 with a land stake of 300 acres on Buck Creek off the Waccamaw River that straddled the North and South Carolina line. John Bellamy (spelled Bellimy on the Mouzon map) who moved to the Grand Strand from North Carolina. Notables with this name include Vereen’s Marina in North Myrtle Beach and Arthur Vereen Construction.Ī neighbor of the Vareens was Dr. Vereen descendents continue to make their mark in business and civic activities throughout the Grand Strand. The 114-acre Vereen Historical Memorial Garden is located on some of the original family lands near Little River. All were involved in the Revolutionary War, many fighting under General Francis Marion. The elder of Vareen’s brothers settled in the area near Socastee, as well as Yauhanna. When George Washington made his journey along the Kings Highway in 1791, it was Jeremiah’s son (also named Jeremiah) who hosted the President overnight when he arrived in South Carolina and helped guide him safely through the region. Jeremiah was also related to Peter Horry, for whom the county was later named. He moved from his father’s plantation near the Georgetown-Williamsburg County lines, putting down roots in an area near Little River that had been inherited by his wife Mary. Jeremiah Vareen was the first of his family to settle in what is now Horry County. The Vareen family was French Huguenot and the spelling of their name evolved from Varin to Vareen and eventually Vereen. Vareen was one of the dominant names in the early days of the Grand Strand. It would take a full book to recognize all of the families that deserve a mention for their contributions toward that development, but here are just a few. With a lot of land available and few takers, most found themselves in possession of large properties, properties that were later subdivided among their children.īy the time Kings Highway was paved in 1940, the Grand Strand was well into its transformation from an inhospitable territory to one of the nation’s top tourist destinations. Stage coaches began making the 1,300-mile trek by 1750.Ī few brave souls saw potential in the rugged frontier and dared to carve out their future, and ultimately ours, in the district. Following what had largely been a path laid out by Native Americans, the route was completed by 1735. While most travelers of the day found it easier to make the journey by sea, trips by land were a necessity in some cases. What is now Highway 17 was an unpaved, sandy and often indefinable course connecting Boston and Charleston. There was little to entice settlers to come here, and until the mid-1800s this was one of South Carolina’s least populated regions. The Grand Strand region clearly shows who had put down their stakes.īack then, the area was known as Long Bay and in no way resembled the tourism mecca it is today. The massive map called “An Accurate Map of North and South Carolina with Their Indian Frontiers,” which was drawn in 1779 by cartographer Henry Mouzon from nearby Kingstree, S.C., is considered the touchstone for locating the lands of all of the very early settlers of the Carolinas. Those names are engraved on one of the earliest maps of the region and are noted alongside geographical markers like creeks, marshes and swashes. Longtime residents will recognize names like Vereen, Lewis and Bellamy. And many of their descendents have chosen to stay in the Grand Strand area that their ancestors helped shape. The brave souls who chose to settle this inhospitable land were a hearty bunch. Three hundred years ago, the section of the highway that cut through the Grand Strand was considered one of the most difficult stretches of the road to travel because riders and carriages faced obstacles of sandy dunes, scrub brush and swamps. Kings Highway is one of the oldest extended travel routes in the U.S. It’s hard to imagine that this glittering artery traversing the Grand Strand is actually an historic road dating back centuries. Highway 17 is a bustling thoroughfare dotted with restaurants, hotels, businesses and shops.
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