Myrtle Beach’s importance to the Confederate war effort was due to its salt manufacturing operations. Modified from the marker below- Salt was used to tan leather, preserve food, as a dietary supplement, and was a necessary commodity for the southern war effort. To meet demand, salt works operated all along the Confederacy’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Seawater pumped into 100-gallon, wood-fired kettles was boiled off leaving salt crystals. Salt works were located at “Cane Patch”, now Singleton Swash at the present day Dunes Golf and Country Club and Withers Swash which flows through Family Kingdom Amusement Park. A swash is a Southeastern name for a channel of water through or behind a sandbank.

From the marker- In April of 1864 the footprints in the sand before you would have included those of Union Marines. On April 23, embarking in longboats from the USS Ethan Allen, marine raiders landed without being engaged at Cane Patch (now Singleton Swash) and destroyed a major Confederate salt works. The following day the raiders destroyed a smaller, undefended salt works at Wither’s Swash.

The saltworks at Withers Swash- Shown below is the report from W.H. Winslow Executive Officer USS Bark Ethan Allen– Off the coast of South Carolina, April 22, 1864.

The saltworks at Singleton Swash- Salt was a profitable item to manufacture during the war. The price varied, but was generally about four to six dollars per bushel. The Singleton Swash was large and made up of four separate works. Each work contained 12 large pans. The water was raised from the beach by horsepower, leading into a cistern large enough to contain 100,000 gallons, built of timber, planked and caulked on the inside. It included about thirty buildings, three of them large warehouses built of heavy logs, containing about two thousand bushels of salt and large quantities of rice, corn, and bacon. Peter Vaught, whose family owned property in the Windy Hill area, built and operated the saltworks at Singleton Swash during the war. The small tidewater lagoon on the eleventh fairway of the Dunes Golf and Beach Club (9000 North Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach) is thought to be the site of the large saltwater storage tank for the saltworks. C.B. Berry wrote in 1968 “Golfers today, playing on the Dunes Club at Myrtle Beach, often drive their balls across a small round tidewater lagoon on Fairway No. 11. There is much evidence to indicate that this lagoon was once the site of a large salt water storage tank for a salt works that Peter Vaught was once interested in. Nearby, along the banks of the Singleton Swash marsh, one can still see outcroppings of old brick-work which might have been the foundation and furnaces for the cast iron salt evaporating pans.” That description was written in 1968 and it is possible they no longer exist. The only image I can find related to this appears in the sources at the end of the post with a link to it’s source on the South Carolina Historic Property Records website. It is blurry on the website as well. The picture seems to show a monument on some type of foundation. I have also included images of C.B. Berry’s article in it’s entirety in the sources at the end with a link to the source as well. The Dune’s Club is very difficult to access as it is for members and their guests only. I’ll wait until there is a golf tournament there accessible to the general public. It’s the highest rated golf course in Myrtle Beach.

Image from the file record.

Pictures of the swash from Shore Drive are shown below.

The Singleton Swash flowing toward the ocean from the same spot as the pictures above is shown below.

Satellite images of the 11th hole.

The Civil War era report of I.A. Pennell Acting Master appears below from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies. What is referred to as Cane Patch is actually Singleton Swash. The report makes mention that one of the buildings was a blockhouse with loopholes on all sides to protect the works.

A small display of a salt kettle is on exhibit at the Horry County Museum- 805 Main Street, Conway.

Replica of the Morris Island Lighthouse

Text- As early as 1673, there is a record of a light burning at what was then known as Charles Towne colony. On May 30, 1767, the cornerstone for a new light was laid on a group of three small islands then referred to as Middle Bay Island. The Charles Towne light was one of ten pre-Revolutionary War lights built in the colony. In January 1790, the newly formed South Carolina legislature transferred the title to the newly formed United States Government. Within a year, the three islands had melded together to become Morrison’s (Morris) Island. On December 30, 1860, the State of South Carolina, soon to secede from the Union, took possession of the lighthouse. The Confederates destroyed the lighthouse on Morrison’s Island to prevent the Union armies from using the lighthouse as a lookout tower. In 1873, following the Civil War, the United States Congress approved funds for the construction of a new first order tower on Morris Island. Construction began that fall. The finished lighthouse, 158 feet above the ocean, was painted with black and white bands. When first illuminated on October 1, 1876, the Morrison’s Island lighthouse could be seen 19 miles out at sea. Explosions on the Folly Beach from live bombs used by the United States Navy during World War II naval training exercises caused cracks to form in the base of the old lighthouse. In 1962, the Sullivan’s Island lighthouse became operational and the Morris Island light was extinguished. Resting upon the pedestal above is a 109 feet tall replica of the Morris Island Lighthouse.

Sources

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Series 1 Volume 15, pages 410-411.

Myrtle Beach Salt Industry by C.B. Berry. Independent Republic Quarterly, 1968, Vol. 2, No. 3 pages 18-20. The Horry County Historical Society.