MacLeod and Jerry Bellune are often asked about their favorite places. Tybee Island on the Georgia coast is one of them. It reminds them of what Myrtle Beach used to be like before the high rises took over the Grand Strand.

Tybee Island

In one of life’s happy accidents, we missed the turnoff to I-95. In heavy traffic in the passing lane, we couldn’t reach the exit.

We drove on to the SC 15 exit. This put us on an old 2-lane road through farms, fields and pines.

SC 15 is a blue highway on old Esso maps. It parallels I-95 and had us headed south toward the Georgia line and Tybee Island.

On a sun-splashed March morning, we sang along with Hank Williams about cheatin’ hearts and lyin’ eyes and happy we were unafflicted by either.

We eased through Savannah traffic to the President’s Highway and a road over the intercoastal waterway and through marshes smelling of decaying marine life.

This is the way vacationers came to Tybee on high tides by boat 150 years ago.

It took them hours.

We did it in minutes.

Tybee high rises tower only 3 stories. It looks a lot like Myrtle Beach did when we were children.

We admit the Ocean Forest Hotel, Oliver’s Lodge at Murrell’s Inlet, Ocean Drive Pavilion and other relics of a vanished past are probably better in memory.

Tybee, like the old Myrtle Beach harbors quaint tourist traps, a fishing pier, restaurants and low rises.

It has a colorful past, according to TybeeIsland.com.

Spanish explorers claimed it. Pirates supposedly buried ill-gotten gains. It played historic roles in the American Revolution and the War Between the States.

After the latter, Tybee became popular with Savannah citizens who wanted to escape the city’s heat for cool ocean breezes.

Few lived here year-round before the 1870s but by the 1890s more than 400 beach cottages, shops and restaurants welcomed visitors.

Many believed saltwater air cured asthma, allergies and other ailments.

Steamboats began bringing patients and tourists to Tybee as early as 1870, 5 years after the war and the year Josh Harmon launched the Lexington Dispatch.

In 1887, the Central of Georgia Railroad completed a line to Tybee, opening it to more summer tourists.

The railroad built the Tybrisa Pavilion in summer cottages dotted the island.

In 1897, Fort Screven was built to provide a coastal defense with 6 concrete gun batteries and a minefield.

In 1947, Fort Screven was sold to the town and tourism returned as a major part of Tybee’s economy.

In the 1920s, US 80 was completed, connecting Tybee with the mainland.

The Tybrisa Pavilion became a popular stop for big bands on tour. By 1940, the island had 4 hotels and numerous small lodges.

The Tybrisa Pavilion burned in 1967 and was replaced by the Tybee Pier and Pavilion in 1996.

The pier is still here today and we can see from our balcony hundreds of visitors in spring’s warm early days.

We walked a block to the Breakfast Club where the owner apologized for closing early but he had run out of most of his food.

We walked farther on to the Sunshine Restaurant where our waiter laughed when we ordered grits, toast and scrambled eggs, hold the egg shells.

It’s nice to be able to entertain the waiters with feeble attempts at humor.

They appreciate sizeable tips even more.

Next: War comes to Tybee

Do you have memories of your own time on the SC or Georgia coast you would like to share? Write Jerry Bellune at JerryBellune@yahoo.com