This is a story of early Myrtle Beach, it starts in the summer of 1933. This was during the depression when labor was $1.00 a day and lumber was cheap. The Pavilion was the place where young people in formal evening wear danced each night while the older people sat around and watched from the balcony. Everyone stayed for long periods at Ocean Forest Hotel or the Breakers Hotel or in beach cottages along the ocean.

Simeon Chapin loved to tell the story that when he had his holdings appraised, he was told he had rich farmland for livestock and timber but 9 miles of "worthless beachfront". Three men, Mr. Chapin, Mr. Burroughs, and Mr. Bryan planned for Myrtle Beach to grow by attracting moderately well-to-do families to build here. Mr. Chapin loved the dunes and the higher ground of this stretch of land between 31st and 34th Avenue and divided it into 10 lots. He planned a road (Ocean Boulevard) which would "bend" back from the ocean to save the dunes and natural growth. The large lots and much of that growth is still evident today.

The Pharr House was built in 1934 by Simeon Chapin when Ocean Boulevard ended at 31st Avenue North. The house sits on lot #6 (150 feet wide) of "Myrtle Heights" and it was built close to the road in order to preserve the dune and vegetation. Within a few years, he built the Yaupon Dunes House on lot 7 and used the Pharr House as a guest cottage, which earned it the nickname "Whileaway". The only other structures in the area north of these houses were the Springs Mill Cottage (relocated & now the Art Museum) and the Ocean Forest Hotel (demolished in 1974).

Other families bought and quickly built on lots adjacent to these homes and the area suddenly became the center of summer social activity for adults and children alike. Local residents tell stories of children riding bikes all along the Boulevard during the day, and the huge cocktail parties every night for the parents.

At Mr. Chapin's death in the late 1930's, the house eventually passed to his daughter Elizabeth Patterson. In 1958 she sold it to the Stowe family (Pharr Yarns textile mill) who retain it today. The same family also owns the Robertson House which is located next door, one house to the south of the Pharr House.

While visiting the Pharr House be sure to notice all of the old photographs of early Myrtle Beach in the living room. This room also features an oversized hearth and mantel, along with a panoramic view of the ocean. Upstairs you will find louver doors on all of the bedrooms, a characteristic of early beach cottages when ventilation and circulation was dependent on beach breezes for cooling the house during the hot summer months.