North Island has always been the beacon from the sea leading toward Georgetown, South Carolina. It was an island of exploration for the Spanish in 1526 and the first landing place of Lafayette, France's hero of the American Revolution, in 1777. It was a summer resort for aristocratic rice planters and their slaves from Georgetown and Waccamaw Neck until 1861. North Island's lighthouse, built in 1812, led thousands of sailing ships from all over the world past massive stone jetties and through Winyah Bay to Georgetown. Today, North Island is a sanctuary and laboratory for the study of nature's effects on this unique barrier island. Join historian Robert McAlister as he recounts the island's storied past.

North Island has always been the beacon from the sea leading toward Georgetown, South Carolina. It was an island of exploration for the Spanish in 1526 and the first landing place of Lafayette, France's hero of the American Revolution, in 1777. It was a summer resort for aristocratic rice planters and their slaves from Georgetown and Waccamaw Neck until 1861. North Island's lighthouse, built in 1812, led thousands of sailing ships from all over the world past massive stone jetties and through Winyah Bay to Georgetown. Today, North Island is a sanctuary and laboratory for the study of nature's effects on this unique barrier island. Join historian Robert McAlister as he recounts the island's storied past.

This is a historical-fictional novel based on an actual event that occurred in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, in the year 1870. Some names have been changed, and some events have been embellished and expanded upon. Overall, this is what happened leading up to a very tragic climax. It started out as a friendly competition between two former Confederate soldiers for the hand of a lovely young lady. Over time, the competition developed into a feud and progressed to the point where a challenge to a duel was issued. One of the young men was very intelligent and highly educated. The other was a simple farmer. The challenge led to the death of one of these young men. One was the writer's great-grandfather. The writer was told this story over a half century ago by his grandfather. He feels that the story must be told so that others may learn what arrogance, obstinance, and vanity can lead to.

Before radar, depth finders and satellite-guided navigation, long before the seafloor was charted with scientific precision, mariners relied on lighthouses to approach a coastline safely. South Carolina's history with lighthouses goes back nearly two and a half centuries. At Cape Romain, a windmill was converted into a lighthouse. St. Philip's Church in Charleston was converted into a beacon for seafarers to aid navigation to the Holy City. With such a long and storied past, the story of South Carolina's lighthouses is inseparable from its maritime history. Join author John Hairr as he recounts the fascinating history of these beacons that have shone above the shores of the Palmetto State.

Join author Dr. Rick Simmons as he recalls the hidden history and legends of The Grand Strand in South Carolina. Though today South Carolina's Grand Strand is known primarily for tourism, Hidden History of the Grand Strand examines the area's often-overlooked stories spanning more than five hundred years, from the lost Spanish flagship Capitana in 1526 to the German U-boats that reportedly roamed the Intracoastal Waterway with the help of local collaborators during World War II. Along the way, learn about the hidden history of the now-vanished villages of La Grange and Lafayette, the great canal on North Island and the wrecks of the Freeda A. Wyley, the USS Harvest Moon and the City of Richmond, as well as the real stories behind the legends of Old Gunn Church, the illegal casino at the Ocean Forest Hotel, the U-boat pens on the Waccamaw River and Drunken Jack Island. This work presents a unique look at the area, its history and the legends that enthrall visitors to this day.

Take the Exorcist Steps to meet “the diverse array of ghosts” in DC’s historic neighborhood—from the author of Capitol Hill Haunts (The Hoya). On the banks of the Potomac River, Georgetown has had three centuries to accumulate ghoulish tales and venerable apparitions to haunt its cobbled streets and mansions. In this historic Washington, DC, neighborhood, the eerie moans of three sisters herald every death on the river, and on R Street, President Lincoln is rumored to have witnessed the paranormal at a seance. Along the towpath of the C&O Canal, a phantom police officer still walks his lonely beat, and on moonlit nights, he is joined by a razor-wielding ghoul. From the spirit of a sea captain who lingers in the Old Stone House to the strange ambiance of the Exorcist Steps, author and guide Tim Krepp takes readers on a chilling journey through the ghostly lore of Georgetown. Includes photos! “A great storyteller who, with a confident grasp of the facts and judiciously inserted asides, can bring to life both the haunters and the haunted. His way of ending his chapters with—gasp!—the literary equivalent of a horror movie organ chord lends a delightfully chilling touch.” —HillRag

The history of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, can be summed up in four words: rice, sea, golf, and hammocks. The rivers threading through coastal South Carolina created an ideal environment for cultivating rice, and by the mid-18th century, vast plantations were producing profitable crops and wealthy landowners. But those plantations also produced malaria-carrying mosquitoes, so the landowners sent their families to the seashore for the summer and built the first houses on Pawleys Island starting in 1822. The end of slavery doomed the rice culture, and the old plantations were sold to rich Northerners for hunting and fishing retreats. By the 1960s, many of the old plantations were turned into golf courses, reviving the economy. But the beating heart of Pawleys Island remains the rhythm of the sea and what one early visitor called "the only beach in the world."