For decades, the Beale family has been meeting on Pawleys Island for their favorite summer vacation

Since 1966, the Beale family has vacationed on Pawleys Island, and, for the last 25 years, members have been coming the same two weeks in August, renting as many as a dozen houses near each other, on both the ocean and creek sides.

Over the years, family members have developed traditions that have evolved summer after summer, including bocce ball tournaments on the beach, kayak racing on the creek, land races, talent shows, pizza parties and more.

Pawleys Island may be famous for its laid-back lifestyle, but the Beales have a decidedly different take on how a vacation on the island should start and end.

Rick Beale, who was a young boy when he first visited the island, explains it like this: “A Pawleys Island vacation should not be a journey of rest and relaxation with the intention of arriving back at work in a pretty and well-rested body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a ride!’”

He borrowed the phrasing of that last part from acclaimed author Hunter S. Thompson. He added that he hopes that the rustic charm of the island will endure for many years to come.

“There are a lot of pretty places in the world, but for the first two weeks of August, you will find me on that island. God willing, of course,” Beale said.

He thinks of the years he has visited Pawleys in terms of time periods: 1966-69 – childhood; 1969-79 – a hiatus after his father died; 1979-80 – college years; 1989-2000 – his single days; and 2002-25 – his family years.

In his childhood years, Beale remembers an amusement park called King’s Funland and trampolines by a little ice-cream trailer during the first days he spent vacationing on Pawleys Island with his family from 1966-1969. That was long before Pawleys Island became an incorporated town in 1985 when commercial activity on the island was restricted.

After his father died in 1969, Beale said his family took a hiatus from visiting Pawleys, but he returned in his college years, from 1979-1980.

“My cousin Bobby and I rented two cottages for $100 per person,” he said. “That covered our food, booze, and rent for the week.”

He returned to the island in 1989, staying on his Uncle Bob’s porch at the Forrester (now the Eavesdrop) and sometimes at his sister’s cottage, the Anchorage, also on the porch.

“With the birth of my daughter, Sarah, I started renting my own cottage in 2000, Mack’s Shack (now Porch Time) and then the Dodeka in 2002,” Beale said. “We’ve stayed there for the last 23 years.”

From Bowling Green, Virginia, Beale said his family and extended family come from near and far. His longtime girlfriend, Sharon Curlee, is also from Bowling Green; his son, Lee Beale, lives in Richmond, Virginia; and his daughter, Sarah Beale Tinsley, lives in Clemson. She and her husband recently had their first child, William Beale Tinsley, Rick’s first grandchild. He also has a ton of great nieces and great nephews — his sister Beth’s grandchildren.

His sister, one niece and one nephew are from Caroline, Virginia; and another niece is from Fredericksburg, Virginia. His cousins, including those with names like Brooks, Curran, Williams, Smalley, Sponseller, and Gemmill, hail from Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and New York.

Other families the Beales and extended family members have connected with over the years include Phil and Mary Bruce Glaize, Johnny and Betty Fryant, Bev and Stephanie McKay, Bill Hair, his daughters and their families, the Ligons, Ryan Rose and his crew, Carter and Martha Barre, and David and Debbie Zier.

Lisa Tuttle of Atlanta, Georgia, one of Beale’s first cousins, has been coming to Pawleys Island with her family and the extended Beale family for decades. She said they usually rent the house called The Forrester.

“My sister’s family and my husband, Rob, started sharing a cottage with my dear cousin, Beth Beale Curran, with her family and ours,” she said. “For years, we shared the Anchorage, but availability changed, and the Curran and Rick Beale families grew too large to share a cottage, so my sister Meg McGaughey Gemmill and I started renting together.”

She said her sister passed away in 2016, but her sister’s son, Ken “Brady” Gemmill, who has been coming to Pawleys since he was a toddler, continues the tradition, and now brings his wife, Jenna, their son, Callum, as well as her parents. 

Tuttle said she enjoys connecting with family during the Pawleys Island vacations. She agreed that the traditions are a big part of what makes Pawleys so special.

“The Island provides something for everyone of all ages – swimming, boating, fishing, crabbing, kayaking, golf, great seafood, shopping, bocce ball, or simply chilling on the beach reading a book or listening to music,” she said.

Tuttle especially enjoys the talent shows, which provide the children and adults with an opportunity to show off their skills. She remembers a few years when they called the talent show “Wacky Island.”

“The kids dressed in funny costumes and lip-synched to various songs like ‘C’mon Barbie, Let’s Go Party’, and ‘Man, I Feel Like a Woman’,” she said. “It was priceless.”

She said her nephew was nicknamed Boogie Woogie Brady after he displayed some impressive dancing skills.

“My sister and I introduced the show, explaining that Wacky Islanders spoke a language like English; however, all nouns began with a “w”,” she said. “We’d make everyone in the audience call out their names, like Wisa, Weth, Wob, Willy, Winda.”

Beale said what he loves most about Pawleys Island – and what brings him and his family back year after year – is simplicity.

“I swim in the ocean every day, fish in the creek, play bocce on the beach, enjoy boiled peanuts, fresh seafood and an occasional meal at the Chive Blossom, though I rarely leave the island,” he said.

Beale also enjoys the many family traditions that have evolved over the years. He especially likes what he calls the Tip-to-Tip Race, which started in 2014.

“We meet at the north end of the island and run or bike to the south end,” he explained. “Along the way, family and friends have been known to provide a beverage of their choice at the end of their cottage driveway.”

Betsy Altman, owner/broker of Pawleys Island Realty Co., which has worked with the Beale family and their relatives for 25 years and counting, said her longtime guests are a special family.

“I love seeing them at the Chapel, where many of them come year after year,” Altman said. “Our family has gotten to know them, and I love now seeing the grandchildren.”

She said Pawleys Island Realty has an 85-percent repeat vacationer rate in the summer and most of the guests return repeatedly in other seasons, too. Many of these guests rent the same houses for the same week each year and get to know the houses and their neighbors very well.

“We are grateful the Beale family and their extended family and friends continue to come to Pawleys each year and celebrate each other,” Altman said. “That is what makes our tradition of generations so special, and we couldn’t be Pawleys Island Realty without guests like the Beales.”

 By Clayton Stairs / tourism manager for the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce