Roofing company in Pawley's Island, SC

PAWLEYS ISLAND — Pawleys Island, known for its laid-back beaches and "arrogantly shabby" aesthetic, has long touted itself as the oldest seaside resort in America.

The community welcome signs boast the distinction, and even the Georgetown County website repeats the line.

But a city in New Jersey makes the same claim, which raises questions about Pawleys Island’s right to the title.

The City of Cape May calls itself “the nation’s oldest seashore resort.” Aside from a slight variation in wording, its assertion is the same as Pawleys Island’s.

"I do think the claim for Pawleys is real," said Mark Stevens, tourism development director for the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce, adding that he wasn’t aware Pawleys Island had competition for the title. "So it’s interesting."

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Some locals are skeptical of Pawleys' claim. That includes Lee G. Brockington, a historian and consultant who has written several books about Pawleys Island.

The first vacationers in Pawleys Island were plantation owners seeking to escape the heat and malaria of their riverfront plantations, Brockington said.

She said visitors to Pawleys Island were first recorded in the 1790s. It’s difficult to pin down an exact date, which she said is one reason she hesitates to call Pawleys Island the oldest seaside resort.

"I've always been much more comfortable in saying one of the first resorts on the East Coast," Brockington said.

It's important to distinguish the Pawleys Island community from the Town of Pawleys Island when discussing the area's history as a travel destination, Brockington said.

Research shows that no one vacationed on the barrier island home to the Town of Pawleys Island until after 1822, according to Brockington. When plantation owners traveled to the “seashore” in the 1700s, they were actually staying on the mainland by the salt marshes, which means they were visiting the Pawleys Island area.

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Although some homes on the barrier island were constructed with materials from the 1700s, those houses likely existed elsewhere first, according to Brockington. She said that houses were able to be dismantled, moved and rebuilt elsewhere.

There was a push to advertise the history of Pawleys Island under former mayor Bill Otis roughly 20 years ago, Brockington said. She said that could be when Pawleys Island began using the "oldest seaside resort in America” moniker.

The other oldest seaside resort

The City of Cape May is positioned at the southern tip of the Cape May Peninsula in New Jersey. It’s a historic district known for its beaches and vast collection of Victorian houses. It also has a rich whaling history and housed military bases during World War I and World War II, said Kate Wyatt of the Greater Cape May Historical Society.

Visitors from Philadelphia began traveling to Cape May for pleasure and health benefits in 1766, according to the Cape May website.

That would put vacationers in Cape May before the plantation owners started visiting Pawleys Island, according to Brockington’s research.

But Wyatt said she still wouldn’t call Cape May the oldest seaside resort. She said the name is a ploy to attract visitors rather than a statement of fact.

“That’s all marketing and tourism,” she said.

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Cape May gained notoriety as a resort in the 1800s when hotels were built along the cape, Wyatt said. In 1878 a fire swept through the historic district, destroying many of the hotels. The buildings were reconstructed and Cape May’s reputation as a tourist destination only grew, according to an article on the Cape May website written with the help of the historical society.

Wyatt said she considers Cape May to be one of the oldest resorts, but doubts that it was the first. Other travel destinations in New Jersey cropped up around the same time as Cape May, she said.

Brockington and Wyatt said despite what may be advertised, it’s impossible to know which resort is the oldest.

“No one knows which the first one is,” Wyatt said. “That's the issue.”