Many Waccamaw Neck planters spent late May to early November at the seashore to escape the malarial swamps of the rice fields, with DeBordieu and Pawleys Islands among their favorite destinations. Their summer cottages were usually built on the banks of the marsh behind the island, and these early homes stood on high brick foundations above the rise of gale tides along the creek. Much of what is now DeBordieu Beach was owned by William Alston, who had built two seashore houses here by 1800. Each May, Alston and other planters moved their entire households to the shore, packing furniture, bedding, and provisions first into boats and then transferring them to wagon to complete the journey by narrow carriage roads.