Sea Cap'n Cain

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Myrtle Beach is as ruthless with old miniature golf courses as Las Vegas is with old casinos. When they get old, they get bulldozed.

That's why it's notable that Sea Cap'n Cain is still around. The towering, gray-bearded Old Salt clutches a pipe and rests his arm on a life preserver, but the Cap'n Cain Golf course that once stood behind him has been reduced to a weedy lot and a low mound of rocks. Off to one side stands a fake-ship building and a replica lighthouse. Everything else that wasn't nailed down has been hauled away.

The slow economy may have temporarily spared the Captain from a quick death. Also, he's an old school statue, steel and concrete. A power line stretched awkwardly across the his face suggests that someone tried and failed to shift the dense Cap'n from his moorings... or he's been here since before Myrtle Beach had electricity.

Update: In 2013 the mini-golf was cleaned up and reopened under new management. The old sea captain was repainted with a new, dark beard and a jaunty red jacket.