A trolley tour

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

We took another trolley tour today – instead of music and movies and Myrtle Beach, this was history and the WWII years. A lot of U-boats were off the east coast after Pearl Harbor, and although that attack was widely reported, the submarines were kept quiet so as not to tip off the Germans that we knew they were there. Many ships and subs were sunk and lives were lost. Myrtle Beach high schoolers and grammas were recruited to keep watch for subs as well as enemy planes (no planes were ever seen).

German POWs arrived in Myrtle Beach on December 9, 1941. In order to meet Geneva convention rules, it was easier to ship them to the US on empty troop transports than build appropriate camps for them in Europe. Many of the new arrivals were shocked to find out the US was not bombed and reeling from the war – things their propaganda had taught them. The men worked on farms and in logging and were paid the same as US soldiers of the same rank.

We drove along the “golden mile” of big ocean front houses. Wow. There are several massive houses being built now. Wow.

We visited Pine Hills golf course, designed by Robert White (Bob White!). The clubhouse was lovely. The SC golf hall of fame is outside on bronze plaques.

The original Colored School opened in 1932 by black families who felt their kids needed a school. It closed in 1955 and eventually fell into ruin. When the road was widened, it ended up in the middle of the street. Former students tried to save it for a museum, but it just disintegrated when they thought about moving it. Land nearby was donated and a replica was built. Artifacts from the actual original as well as items from the time were collected for the museum. The building also houses a collection of information about notable black people.

We lunched at the Tupelo Honey Kitchen. I had spicy and sweet fried chicken, and I do believe it my favorite fried chicken ever. The fried and the chicken were terrific, but the sirachi-honey flavor was TERRIFIC!. It was finally a completely beautiful day and we are outside. Glorious.

There was a very fun store nearby. I found some foam flowers I couldn’t resist (Keith and Julie were very encouraging). Getting them home will be tricky, but I imagine we will figure it out. I really liked the potted, metal cactus dealies, but pretty solid they were not making it in my carry-on.

We went to Friendly’s so Gary and Julie could appreciate it there.