MYRTLE BEACH

city, Horry county, eastern South Carolina, U.S. It lies along the Atlantic coast between the ocean and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. From the early 1900s Myrtle Beach was developed as a seaside resort, and since the 1960s it has become renowned for golf, tennis, and amusement parks, as well as for fishing and swimming. In the 1990s the city's growth included the establishment of country music and entertainment venues. The Myrtle Beach area has become the leading tourist destination in South Carolina. Named for the native myrtle bushes that abound there, the city is the centre of the Grand Strand, a 60-mile- (95-km-) long beach area that extends from the North Carolina border to the vicinity of Winyah Bay near Georgetown. Situated south of the city are Myrtle Beach State Park and Brookgreen Gardens, an outdoor museum of American sculpture. Inc. town, 1938; city, 1957. Pop. (1990) 24,848; (1998 est.) 25,284.