[6] The post office address also includes an unincorporated area on the mainland adjacent to the island, which is also commonly referred to as Pawleys Island and includes a commercial district along the Ocean Highway (US Route 17) as well as a residential area between the highway and the Waccamaw River.

It is on the southern end of The Grand Strand and is one of the oldest resort areas of the US East Coast.

The earliest known inhabitants of the Pawleys Island area were the Waccamaw and Winyah people, two Native American tribes whose history dates back more than 10,000 years.

The Waccamaw were successful farmers, raising a variety of crops, and were skilled at domesticating animals including deer, chickens, ducks, geese, and other fowl.

[11] Town namesake George Pawley, who inherited the island through a land grant to his father, sold parcels to wealthy rice planters seeking a coastal summer refuge from malaria-causing mosquitoes.

[12] In 1791, President George Washington toured the Grand Strand, traveling The King's Highway to an unincorporated portion of Pawleys Island to visit the Alstons, who owned several plantations in the area.

The water temperature is comfortable from May to October, and there is abundant fishing, crabbing, shrimping, and birdwatching most months of the year.

[14] The Town of Pawleys Island is located just off U.S. Route 17, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of Georgetown.

The Gray Man is a famous purported ghost local to Pawleys Island and is said to have walked the coastline for nearly 200 years.

The most common origin story of the Gray Man is that in 1822 a young woman was staying on the island with her family when she received word that her fiancé was going to join her there.

The news of her fiancé's death nearly drove the girl mad, and she had distressing waking and night-dream visions of him.