29585 · Georgetown County
Pawleys Island
The island holds 109 people. The ZIP code around it holds almost 17,000 — and that distinction changes everything.
First, the thing nobody explains: the island itself is under four miles long, mostly one house wide, reached by two short causeways, and home to 109 people. The 29585 ZIP code around it holds almost 17,000. So when someone says they live at Pawleys Island, they almost certainly mean Litchfield, Hagley, Willbrook or one of the plantations on the mainland — and that distinction changes the price by an order of magnitude. Rice planters began summering out here in the early 1800s to escape the fever; eleven cottages stood by 1858, and some are still with the same families five generations on.
Where you’ll eat
- Frank’s & Frank’s Outback — two restaurants on one site since 1988, with a rock garden out the back that takes walk-ins when the weather allows. Dinner only, closed Sunday and Monday.
- Pawleys Island Tavern — the PIT, down a long dirt drive behind the Island Shops, found by a bright green mailbox. Walls papered in dollar bills, live music nightly, and a blue-plate lunch under six dollars.
- Bistro 217 — the proper dinner in the area. Whole fried snapper is the thing people order.
- Perrone’s — Steve and Eileen Perrone’s place, and the most well-travelled menu on the Neck: Peruvian causa, Moroccan poussin, nduja with bucatini.
- Hanser House — family-run at North Litchfield, known for its Southern oysters Rockefeller and the steam pot.
- Landolfi’s — an Italian bakery and deli that still makes zeppole for St Joseph’s Day in March and pastiera di grano at Easter.
- Get Carried Away — where Palmetto Cheese was invented before it went national. Still the best version of it.
What’s nearby
- The Hammock Shops Village — the Pawleys Island rope hammock was invented in 1889 by a riverboat captain who added the wooden spreader bars; each one still takes about 1,200 feet of cotton rope. A weaver works at the bench Tuesday to Saturday and you can watch.
- Hobcaw Barony — 16,000 acres of private research reserve south of here. You can only go in on a guided tour, which is exactly why it’s intact.
- Golf most places would envy — Caledonia and True Blue are both Mike Strantz courses and both sit on national top-100 lists; the Heritage Club runs across the old True Blue and Midway rice plantations; Pawleys Plantation is a Nicklaus signature, renovated in 2023.
- Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park — ten minutes north, and close enough to count as yours.
Where you’d look
The island floods, and the town is open about it. More than 80% of island roads overtop at least once a year, and there is a $31 million plan to raise them six inches at a time over fifteen years. Separately, the federal money to rebuild the south-end beach after Hurricane Ian has been sitting unspent since 2022 because three oceanfront owners have not granted easements — both sides asked the state Supreme Court to take the case in September 2026. A privately funded project to move the inlet is in progress at the south end right now. None of this affects the north end, and none of it should scare you off the mainland, but anyone buying on the island should go in with their eyes open and budget seriously for wind and flood cover. On price: Georgetown County’s median sits near $430,000 and Litchfield Beach near $550,000, while the island itself trades in the millions on a handful of sales a quarter. Three different markets, one postal address.
Live from the MLS
What is for sale in Pawleys Island right now
Straight from the Coastal Carolinas MLS and updated as listings change. Active listings only — nothing under contract, nothing already sold.