I learned on Shark Week that the first recorded shark attack happened there. Their reenactment was quite entertaining.
That's actually not entirely true. It was the first time that they realized the attack was from a shark. There were attacks predating that were simply attributed to "big fish." There was a documented attack in a harbor in Charleston, SC where a guy fell into the water in then was bitten in half by what was probably a great white several years prior to the New Jersey stuff.
In South Carolina I would think a large tiger shark is far more likely. I don't think that's a very common area for Great Whites.