Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Had to go all the way to the beach to find out cool family trivia!!

We went to the beach last weekend for a few days, Thursday - Sunday. We had a wonderful time, and I will share pictures as soon as I get some from my mom. While we were there, we stayed at a motel that is owned by some of my family members. My great-aunt and great-uncle own a small motel in North Myrtle Beach. It was always fun to go to "the motel" when I was little because it is right on the ocean. Even if we went down in the fall or winter, we could still look out and see the water. I can remember us going and sitting around the office visiting with family members almost every time we were there.

While we were driving around town with my cousin, we saw this sign.



Apparently, a new bypass road is being built in North Myrtle, and the city is naming the road after my great-uncle, who passed away several years ago. I asked my cousin why he was getting a highway, because all I knew is that he owned the motel, and they used to have a restaurant too. My cousin shocked me when he said, "You didn't know that Uncle Robert was the first mayor of North Myrtle Beach??"

What? I had never EVER heard that piece of family trivia! He was not only the first mayor of North Myrtle, he also was on a committee that helped name the different sections of beach (Cherry Grove, North Myrtle, Atlantic, etc). He started the police program in NMB as well. His children followed in his successful footsteps. One son is a SC State representative, another is the Horry County Coroner, the third son is a Horry County policeman, and his daughter is a retired principal.

So here is where his road will be. If you are sitting at Ocean Drive/Main Street, and facing Hwy 17, his road will be directly in front of you.



Here is the on-going construction on this stretch of road. According to the paper, the road should be open soon, sometime in August.


And, in case you want to read more about my great-uncle, just click here. This is a link to an article in the NMB newspaper about the construction of his road. I'm sure he would have been very proud to know the city would honor him in this way. From talking with the family this weekend, I know they are proud too!

5 comments:

Andrea said...

Well how cool is that!!! Hmmm, I wonder if I have any cool family stories that I don't know about...I doubt it!!!!

Kim said...

If you have any connections please get this section of the bypass opened SOON. It origanlly was to opened in the Spring of 09 but we are still waiting.

It will make our travels at the beach go alot quicker especially when there is alot of traffic at peak season.

Neat to know that this is named for a family member of yours. I will think of you everytime we drive on it.

Angie Tullock said...

Wow, can you get any Obama Stimulus money for this?...Afterall, it is named after a family member. They should pay you royalites or something...

Diane Teague said...

Please Please use your connections to get the connector connected. It would save soooooooooooooooooo much time. It has taken forever.

I did not know you were related to famous. My great great uncle was in Warren Harding's cabinet (Postmaster General 1922). Does this count for something? And no I did not know him personnally.

Heather said...

No Andrea, we don't have any cool family history.
Why did everybody go 30 years without mentioning this to you. You'd think it would have come up?