Housed in the Ocean Drive Beach & Golf Resort, a beachfront hotel in North Myrtle Beach, the Shagger's Hall of Fame Museum celebrates the Shag, which is officially recognized as the “State Dance of South Carolina.” A popular, regional, fast dance that was inspired by the jitterbug and black rhythm and blues music, the Shag evolved through the Big Band era of the 1940s, was shaped by rock and roll and soul music in the 1950s and '60s, and thus became the famous dance associated with the distinctive "Beach Music" of the Carolinas.

In Myrtle Beach in the segregated 1940s, youthful white observers copied the fast dance, as performed by African-American dancers, at a black nightclub called Charlie's Place, which was owned by black music promoter Charlie Fitzgerald. Then, at open-air dance halls such as Roberts Pavilion (later the O.D. Pavilion) in Ocean Drive Beach, Sonny's Pavilion in Cherry Grove Beach and Spivey's Pavilion in Myrtle Beach, imitative and innovative young dancers perfected the Shag. The rhythm and blues music that accompanied the Shag, popularized by the soul music era of the 1960s, eventually became known in the Carolinas and much of the South as "Beach Music".

Although Hurricane Hazel in 1954, and Hurricane Hugo in 1989, destroyed many of the original dance pavilions, the Shag survived and grew in popularity. Today, various dance contests and celebrations on the Grand Strand preserve the popularity of the Shag and Beach Music, and the Shagger's Hall of Fame Museum commemorates the historic pop culture of the dance through displays and exhibits that are open to the public.

Admission: Free

Group Tours Self
Events: New inductions are made during the several SOS Shag events during the year: Spring Safari Fall Migration, etc.