Murrells Inlet is an unincorporated area and census-designated place straddling the line between Horry and Georgetown Counties in South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,547 at the 2010 census. The community was once primarily a fishing village, but has grown substantially in modern time, along with the rest of the Grand Strand, into a popular tourist and retirement location. It is most known for the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk, a 1/2mi boardwalk overlooking a salt marsh and which houses many restaurants.GeographyMurrells Inlet is located in northeastern Georgetown County at . The northern edge of the CDP follows the Horry County line. U.S. Route 17 runs through the center of the community, leading northeast to Myrtle Beach and southwest to Georgetown, the seat of Georgetown County.According to the United States Census Bureau, the Murrells Inlet CDP has a total area of 19.5sqkm, of which 19.1sqkm are land and 0.4sqkm, or 2.21%, are water.HistoryThe land around Murrells Inlet has a record of settlement that goes back thousands of years, before written history, but evident in the shell mounds and archeological findings from the Atlantic Ocean to the Waccamaw River. The early inhabitants included the Waccamaw people, who took advantage of the natural resources provided by the creeks and rivers. Wachesaw is loosely translated as "Place of Great Weeping", in reference to the burial grounds. Indian burial mounds have been found along the high bluffs at Wachesaw that contained European beads, urns and other artifacts.
