Explorin’ With Loren: Pawleys Island known for being ‘arrogantly shabby’

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. (WMBF) - Leave your troubles behind when visiting Pawleys Island, known for having South Carolina’s most beautiful beaches, marshes, and rivers.

The town is also known as being “arrogantly shabby” and for having the original rope hammock.

Folks can visit the four-and-a-half-mile island for a weekend getaway or stay for a season. Sarah Weston, marketing director for Pawleys Island Realty, showed the beautiful properties that are available to rent. They have anywhere from two to nine bedrooms, and cost a couple thousand dollars a week to rent, or as much as $10,000.

Weston said there’s about 100 full-time residents on the island and the rest are visitors enjoying 250 of their rental properties that line the sandy beaches.

“It’s a tradition of generations is what we say. People come every year with their grandparents and it’s just a special place for you to get away from everything and unwind,” said Weston.

Check out Pawleys Island Realty

Once settled in, cross the bridge and grab a bite at Rustic Table, where co-owner and chef Adam Kirby cooks up delicious southern home cooked meals.

“This is more of comfort food, a little more laid back, a lot of local seafood, a lot of local food. We do a big-time brunch on Saturdays and Sundays,” said Kirby.

Rustic Table is Kirby’s second restaurant, which he opened in 2015. His first restaurant, Bistro 217, serves an upscale menu of French, German, and Asian-inspired dishes. The owner said opening his latest eatery was a must.

“This is more like what I grew up eating because I’m from the south and this is basically mom’s cooking with a little twist on it,” he said.

Kirby whipped up a Rustic Table grilled Caesar salad with friend oysters and their popular shrimp and grits. The laid-back restaurant also has daily happy hour specials from 4 to 7 p.m., where folks can try a little bit of everything.

“My mother taught me one thing. She taught me the difference between good food and bad food. So, we try to make everything as good as possible. I figure if you make really good food, people will come,” said Kirby.

Check out Rustic Table

People can’t visit Pawleys Island without visiting 65-year-old Marvin Grant, who’s been carefully making hammocks for 30 years. He spent the last 29 years working at the Original Hammock Shop that was established in 1938.

“I can close my eyes and do this. In my prime, I used to do it in 45 minutes,” said Grant.

Grant said he learned the craft while in the military and enjoys teaching children how to make the hammocks and fix them if something happens.

“If something goes wrong with their swing or their hammock, they’ll know how to repair it,” he said.

Grant’s shop is filled with postcards from children over the years who thanked him for his tutorials. The hammocks come in a variety of colors and costs a couple of hundred dollars. The smallest hammock uses 1,200 feet of rope.

Grant, who has a gift of gab and a shining personality, said he plans to stay a while longer before retiring and continue to teach for generations to come.

Check out The Original Hammock Shop

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