August 2010 Update

Many of you have asked if The Pelican Inn has an official website. We're happy to report  pawleyspelican.com is officially up and running. Head on over and let us know what you think!

Also, we are currently accepting reservations for the 2011 summer season. Flip us an email with your availability requests.

Enjoy these last weeks of summer!

The Pelican Inn in the News & Happy Birthday Corinne

Today is Corinne's birthday.
Although not intended as a birthday present, yesterday's edition of the Emory Report included a feature on Corinne and the Pelican Inn. You can read the article online here to learn a little more about the birthday girl and her love for the inn.
Oh, and happy birthday!

The Right Kind of Crabbing

It's a wonder that crabs come anywhere near our dock. The constant thunder of bare feet up and down would surely deter the hungriest crab. The draw of the crab trap is a magical thing though. As soon as the smell of pluff mud reaches their nostrils, my kids cast aside the ipods and texting for another obsession: hauling in crabs. It is the first move of the day when still in pajamas, they drag in the trap to see what scuttled in during the night. It is also the final pass before bedtime when they hang over the water with flashlights and hope for some "keepers" to delay bedtime for boiling.

I am truly fortunate that the older kids, Emma and her friend Colin, enjoy picking out the crab meat. They sit on old stools at the big kitchen sinks, crank up the music, and pick crabs for hours while they cut up and enjoy the marsh view. Old Man Taylor's crab cakes are legendary

and crab cake night is the high point of our culinary week. Fresh crab cakes, "cold" slaw, corn muffins, and Bud-out-of-the-bottle...I'd better go get some more chicken necks for bait.

The big blond crab in the net is Colin. I think he's a keeper.

A little more on what's in store

As summer nears we have received several inquiries regarding availability and our plans for the Inn.  We are running it as a bed and breakfast, and aim to continue the charming, hospitable tradition of the Pelican Inn that so many families, including our own, fell in love with many years ago. We do have availability a few weeks this summer and would love to accommodate you—just send us a note: pawleyspelican@gmail.com.

Updated (5/26): currently, our first availabilities are in August

The Taylor family will constitute the staff, including my two younger sisters, Emma and Caroline, who couldn’t dream of a better summer job. Breakfast and midday dinner will be served each day to our guests. Corinne (Mama Taylor) may be modest about the simple Southern cooking we will serve--she told the Coastal Observer it was “nothing special”--but we in her family look forward to her cooking every day. She even spent several months meticulously perfecting her biscuit recipe in preparation for running the Inn’s kitchen, and we were lucky enough to be her guinea pigs.

We’d love to hear from past guests of the Pelican, as well as new friends. Please email us with any feedback or questions.

Looking forward to meeting you!

-The Taylor Family

Virgil the Innkeeper

Last month we brought our basset hound, Virgil, to the Pelican Inn for his first trip to the beach. He is a loyal and affectionate dog whose male companionship is greatly appreciated by our father, who would be the only man in our family if not for Virg.

We were excited to give the hound his first taste of sand and ocean, and he happily followed Emma along on the boardwalk to the beach—until he encountered the sand and saw the water in front of him. While everyone else walked down towards the ocean, Virgil quickly scampered back up the boardwalk stairs to the house. He did not like what he saw. 

  

 Virgil's first impression of the ocean had him running back to the safety of the Inn's front porch

While initially amusing, we feared that Virgil’s distaste for the ocean would be the unforeseen kink in our plans for the Inn. We sisters grew up loving the ocean and sand for swimming and sandcastles--things Virgil probably wouldn’t come around to. But we also loved the beach because Dad loved it. He had showed us how activities that were usually unremarkable (sitting and thinking, walking, etc) became remarkable when done at the beach. We hoped Virgil, as Dad's only boy, would learn this, too.

The next morning, Virgil gave the beach a second chance to impress him--and it did. Dad proudly reported that his dog ran and ran and ran, and even let the ocean get him a bit wet. Despite assumptions that this venture would leave Virgil tuckered out for the rest of the day, he wore me out later that afternoon trying to keep up with him. And I run marathons. 

I suppose we weren’t too surprised how quickly the dog came around—as a member of the Taylor family, love for the beach is probably in his blood.

Our First Guests...

Caroline, my 10 year old, and I were enjoying the spectacular wildlife of Pawley’s Island. She called me out to watch a beautiful pair of Bald Eagles fish off of the dock. We caught fat blue crabs and anything else careless enough to get in the crab trap. We noted muddy raccoon tracks all over the dock and traced the footsteps all the way up to –oh great! – our house.

That night, Caroline and I were awakened at about 1:00AM by what sounded like a massive cat fight under our bed. The racket was coming from under the floor near the air conditioning vent. After a few minutes I decided that mother raccoon must have gone out for her nocturnal feeding and her babies were squabbling in her absence. Caroline rolled over and went back to sleep with the complete confidence that mama would take care of the interruption. However, the party continued until about 5:00AM.

The next morning we visited our friends at the hardware store and acquired a Have-a-heart trap and a can of sardines. No luck. On day 3 of the siege my husband arrived. After old man Taylor was jolted out of bed by the ruckus, he finally admitted that I was not just hearing “wind off the marsh”; Enter Paul from Nuisance Wildlife.

After a meticulous inspection that revealed no evidence of raccoon, Paul began examining the duct work with this contraption that looked like a colonoscope. We were pondering the scope when Emma yelped, “Oh snap! Got your raccoon right here!” The raccoon was sitting there fat and sassy watching us search for him. Paul caught the critter, determined that it was a male and escorted him off the island. After another night of raccoon domestic discord, Paul returned the next day to evict the rest of the family.

Paul told us that the raccoons like to nest under the houses in early spring and that spring break always brings the busy season for Nuisance Wildlife. “Wind off the marsh” my fanny.

Corinne Taylor

Beach Eats: Frogmore Stew

For as long as I can remember, our family trips to Pawleys have included a Frogmore Stew Night, which I have looked forward to almost as much as Trivial Pursuit & Pie Night, Crab Cake Night and (now that I'm a "grown up") Hearts & Manhattans Night.

If you are not familiar with this South Carolina tradition, let me first inform you that there are no frogs in this stew and, well, it's not really a stew.

Consisting of sausage, shrimp, corn on the cob, and sometimes red potatoes, this low country boil is not only delicious but also fun to eat. The "stew" is dumped in the middle of the dinner table, which is covered in newspapers, and everyone grabs as much of everything that can fit on a plate. Cocktail sauce is served for the shrimp, but if you're eating with my family take heed--Emma & I have been know to mix in extra horseradish when the parents aren't looking!

Once the feeding is underway, empty shells and cornless cobs are thrown back onto the table to make room on plates for seconds and thirds. Unless, of course, the promise of a delicious dessert encourages you to practice moderation.

I've cooked Frogmore Stew at home and found that while it's always tasty, some of the charm is lost when it's eaten in a civilized manner in a land-locked state. As if I needed another reason to return to the beach.

Don't have your own Frogmore Stew recipe? The Beaufort County Library has several versions, as well as a brief history of the dish. Cooking it while at Pawleys? Let us recommend the Pawleys Island Seafood Market on 10517 Ocean Highway for your shrimp.