Frequently Asked Questions
Waterfront dining with eight great restaurants offering everything from burgers and sushi to the finest steaks and freshly caught seafood. Take in the fresh salt-air breezes and the abundant marsh life brimming with oysters, crabs, clams, egrets, herons, osprey and more. Sightseeing tours, boat rentals, Jet Ski rentals, charter fishing, parasailing, walking ghost tours and shopping are also featured.
Yes, you can enjoy live music nightly in most of the restaurants. Visit the individual restaurant websites for a list of featured bands and show times. View the list here.
Certainly! The MarshWalk hosts a variety of events throughout the year. Please visit our event page for more information
The portion of the MarshWalk bordering the Wicked Tuna parking lot and extending to the fishing pier is often referred to as “the government dock” by long-time Murrells Inlet residents because the area served as a Crash Boat Station during WWII, rescuing pilots from the Myrtle Beach Air Base who practiced out over the ocean.
In the late ‘70s, it seems some local teens were using the island across from the MarshWalk to grow “recreational herbs.” One of the restaurant owners decided to put a stop to the illegal pastime by putting a few goats on the island to eat the unwanted vegetation. The teens and herbs were gone, but the goats managed to remain. The small land mass is commonly referred to as Goat Island. The goats are well cared for by Bubba Love and removed to a private farm every fall.
Perhaps you’ve seen the statue of Bubba on the MarshWalk near Drunken Jack’s. Bubba is the self proclaimed mayor of Murrells Inlet. The beloved Bubba, who works at Drunken Jack’s, and sometimes Creek Ratz, is actually named Jerome Smalls, but through the years his nickname became Bubba Love. Bubba’s mother is responsible for some of the original recipes in Murrells Inlet, many of which are still being served today.
Murrells Inlet (pronounced Merle’s Inlet) is one of the oldest coastal communities in South Carolina. English colonist John Morrall, for whom Murrells Inlet is likely named, settled on the inlet in 1731, sixty-one years after the Colony of South Carolina was founded at Charleston. As surrounding Waccamaw Neck became the center of South Carolina’s rice-planting empire in the 18th and 19th centuries, Murrells Inlet became a small, but bustling, port for shipping rice and indigo to Britain, and later, turpentine, cotton and peanuts to ports in the North.
During the pirate period of the early Colonial Era, fearsome pirates such as Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet and others are believed to have cruised into Murrells Inlet in search of fresh water and a site to careen their ships for removal of barnacles. Pirates who became local legends include Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard because of his coal-black beard, and Drunken Jack, who was left behind on an island with a huge stash of stolen rum (and died with a smile on his face). Now you know how Drunken Jack’s Island got its name!
Absolutely! Alice Flagg, the ghost of the Hermitage and the Gray Man are two of the most famous. Read their stories on the Inlet History page.
Destination and marketing fees may apply at our participating restaurants which support our destination marketing and special events hosted at the MarshWalk – This does not benefit MI2020 or their efforts.