Book excerpt: “A popularly written glimpse of history along the Grand Strand . . . Eminently readable and varied”—from the award-winning historian and author (The State). From Little River to Georgetown, the South Carolina Grand Strand—popularly known as the Myrtle Beach region—is only fifty-five miles long, yet few coastlines have a richer, more colorful history. Numbered among its parade of colorful characters are hardened explorers, seasoned woodsmen, remarkable women, famous soldiers, powerful politicians, men of violence, rich men, poor men, and gifted visionaries. Planters, Pirates, and Patriots offers historical vignettes of the Grand Strand’s diverse array of heroes, smugglers, and settlers that “have the resonance of real life. Truth is stranger than fiction; it’s also more entertaining” (The Charlotte Observer). “An enthralling and engrossing history with the pace and vividness of a good novel.” —Charles Joyner, author of Down by the Riverside