Surfside Beach is a town in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. Its nickname is “The Family Beach”. The population was 3,837 at the 2010 census, down from 4,425 in 2000. It is considered a part of the Grand Strand.

According to the United States Census Bureau Surfside Beach has a total area of 2.0 square miles (5.1 km), of which 1.9 square miles (5.0 km²) is house and 0.04 square mile (0.1 km) (1.02%) is water.

This allocation of seashore was mentioned in the 1765 diary of John Bartram, botanist, who lodged at what was presumably Stephen Peak’s plantation, “at the west end of long bay”. It was in addition to mentioned in the 1773 journal of William Bartram, naturalist, who also “got to the West grow less of Long Bay, where lodged at a large Indigo plantation.” The plantation in Ask was called “The Ark”, possibly because it was originally owned by “Mr. Aark.” A 1838 survey recorded it having 3,194 acres. The plantation reported 57 slaves in 1850 and 63 in 1860. The main house was located near the ocean front (at 3rd Ave S and Willow Dr in present-day Surfside Beach) with several slave cabins just to the north along the ocean and a cemetery in back it (S Hollywood Dr on the west, to Juniper Dr upon the north, to 6th Ave S upon the east, to Cypress Dr on the south.) The main home served as shelter during the good hurricane of 1893. It was well ahead used as an inn then to house beach lifeguards, before it was demolished in the 1960s. The cemetery, where many of the enslaved people of the plantation were buried, continued to be used by descendants of those enslaved families until 1952. In 1980, the town of Surfside Beach avowed it abandoned, opening the area for development. The area once occupied by the cemetery is unconditionally covered by residences.

Surfside Beach was first incorporated in 1964 later 881 residents. It was past known as Roach’s Beach and had single-handedly a few buildings steadfast the hurricane of 1893. Principal industries were lumber and feed cultivation for the 30 or suitably horses and mules in the area. The new owner, Mr. George J. Holiday, renamed the area Floral Beach for his wife, Flora, and daughter, Floramay. In the late 1920s, a society from Columbia purchased and partially developed the land. In 1952, most of the house changed hands once more and became known as Surfside Beach. The undeveloped beach area was covered gone sand dunes. A one-lane sandy road led from the highway to a quiet beach.