We were at Huntington Beach this past weekend visiting Atalaya Castle (more on that later) when we heard the story of Alice. The storyteller, Mike the Park Ranger, was greatly skilled at telling stories. There's a virtual geocache at her grave so hearing the story really made me want to visit it. The story goes like this (By TripSmarter.Com | March 22, 2013):
Let me take you back to the early 1820's. The location is Pawleys Island...
She was the younger sister of a wealthy rice planter that owned "The Hermitage," located in what is know today as Murrells Inlet. Alice was schooled in Charleston, SC. While attending the New Year's Saint Cecelia Ball, she got engaged. But, a marriage to this man would never be accepted by her brother.
He was not of the same stature and culture as the Flagg family, and her brother wouldn't hear of such a thing. She was forbidden to wear the ring. Instead, it hung on a ribbon around her neck, tucked deep in her blouse, not to be seen by her family.
Alice was stricken by a terrible fever! While in delirium, her brother sighted the ring and snatched it from its hiding place! He threw it in the creek near "The Hermitage"... Alice left this world while crying for that ring.
Her brother buried her in a temporary grave, but, later her remains were moved to the Cemetery at All Saints Church near Pawleys Island. A single stone slab marked her grave with one word as a reminder... "Alice."
Legend has it that her spirit will raise from the dead if you walk around her grave backwards - 13 times...And here is a picture of her grave taken by yours truly:
And here we are at the grave site....something strange is going on here!
