Tree Service in Pine Lakes and Downtown Myrtle Beach, SC

Arborist making a clean pruning cut on a laurel oak branch over a shingled roof in a South Carolina yard

Central Myrtle Beach is the original city: Pine Lakes around the 1927 Granddaddy golf course, the streets between Kings Highway and the ocean from the Boardwalk north through the 40s and 50s avenues, the downtown core, and the older rental neighborhoods along the Boulevard. It has the oldest trees in the city — live oaks that were here before the golf course, pines left from the original flatwoods, and a lot of laurel oaks and water oaks planted in the 1950s and 60s because they grow fast. Those are now 60 to 70 years old, which is the end of a laurel oak's life: hollow trunks, long decay columns, limbs coming down on roofs and rental cars in every summer thunderstorm. Water oaks are worse. The live oaks, meanwhile, are at their best — and they're landmarks under the city's ordinance.

So our work here is the two-oak conversation on nearly every call: identify which oak you have, assess the laurel and water oaks honestly, preserve the live oaks with deadwooding and weight reduction, and take down the failing ones in pieces on lots where the house, the neighbor's house and the street are all inside the canopy. Add the palmettos on the oceanfront, the rental-property pines that nobody's looked at in a decade, and the July 2001 tornado that ran four miles up the beach from the Pavilion and uprooted palms along the way, and it's a busy part of the city for us.

What we do in Pine Lakes & Downtown Myrtle Beach

Laurel & water oak assessment

Species confirmed, trunk sounded, decay probed, and a straight answer about remaining life.

Live oak preservation

The landmark oaks of Pine Lakes deadwooded and reduced on a cycle, with the city's rules observed.

Tight-lot rigging

Removals in small sections over bungalows, porches, fences and the street — nothing dropped.

Rental-property programs

Annual inspections and pruning for owners who aren't here to see the tree lean.

Oceanfront palms

Palmettos cleaned before the season; no hurricane cuts.

Right-of-way coordination

Street trees are the city's; we handle your side and tell you which is which.

Neighborhoods and areas we cover

Pine Lakes
Dunes Club border
Oceanfront 20s–60s avenues
Downtown & the Boardwalk
Withers Heights
Ocean Boulevard north
Kings Highway corridor
Seaboard Street area
Pine Lakes Golf area
Oak Street / Planning & Zoning district
Myrtle Beach High area
Pirateland / 10th Ave N corridor

Tree services available in Pine Lakes & Downtown Myrtle Beach

Questions from Pine Lakes & Downtown Myrtle Beach homeowners

How do I know if my oak is a live oak or a laurel oak?

Live oak: thick, leathery, dark oval leaves kept all winter; deeply furrowed blocky bark; wide, low spread. Laurel oak: thinner, pointed leaves dropped in spring; smoother gray bark; taller, upright form. Send a photo — the difference decides whether the tree is a landmark with a century left or a hazard with a decade.

Can I remove a 60-year-old laurel oak in Pine Lakes?

On a single-family lot, laurel oaks aren't a significant species in Myrtle Beach — the permit only applies to live oak, white oak, red cedar, magnolia and bald cypress — so yes, unless it's over 30 inches, which makes it a landmark. We measure first.

How do you get a hollow oak out from between two houses?

In pieces, on ropes, all day. A climber works the canopy down limb by limb with a ground crew lowering every piece; the trunk comes down in sections. The street usually serves as the landing zone with cones out and the right-of-way permit pulled.

Will the city take the debris?

No — not from a contractor, and not branches over four inches from anyone. We haul to the county landfill the same day.

Nearby: Grande Dunes · Market Common · Forestbrook & Socastee · Carolina Forest · full service area

Tree service for Pine Lakes and downtown — the oldest canopy in the city