Chapel Creek

Local Opinion

Verdict: This is where many of the locals I know want to live. Historic river community with beautiful land and homes, though opportunities to buy are pretty rare.

I love this neighborhood. Even the entrance is amazing. Driving through the main road in Chapel Creek, you’re greeted with tunnel of old, swooping live oaks, draped in Spanish moss. As the neighborhood opens up, turns to your left and right take you to homes within the neighborhood until you arrive at the only cow pasture in Pawleys Island. One of my best friends growing up lived back here - his parents are still there - and even as a small child I was entranced at the property when I came to visit.

The Waccamaw flanks the community to the west and Chapel Creek (the creek this time) curves in to mark the eastern side of the neighborhood. Homes on both sides (though not all homes) have navigable water access. That means you can take an afternoon ride out to watch a sunset from the river, or head out looking to bag a big bass, or paddle your kayak. This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest things in life.

The homes that aren’t waterfront tend to be more affordable, and house several young families that I know. River Oaks Circle, to the west as you come into the main part of the community, in particular is host to these more affordable properties. Don’t be fooled: just because they don’t have river access doesn’t mean they’re not desirable. Many if not most of the properties are on large estate lots, and many feature beautiful trees.

The subdivision of Rossdhu, also to the west, is highly sought after. These tend to be larger, grander homes also on estate lots. Rossdhu Avenue itself is a private road, and therefore a very quiet road. The homes along the water are on a “private” creek that presumably used to be a rice canal, as it circles an impoundment. These homes are very impressive from the water.

In the early 1800s, this community was the home of Pawleys Island’s post office. The building has been relocated - it now lives in the Hammock Shops, currently as the restaurant Bisqit. Before that, it was part of the Waverly Plantation dating back to the early 1700s. When I was a kid, my dad went scuba diving in the pitch-black waters at the mouth of Chapel Creek and came back with an intact South Carolina Dispensary bottle. This community is the picture of Pawleys Island history.