JANET MORGAN | JANET . MORGAN @ MYHORRYNEWS . COM
City Hall is a landmark in downtown Conway . This area was originally part of a town called Kingston .
Conway ’ s origin story : A brief history of the Rivertown
BY BEN BURROUGHS Historian
In 1670 , the British settled Charles Town ( Charleston , S . C .). The area now known as Horry ( O- REE ) County became part of old Craven County , established in 1682 . In 1730 , Robert Johnson , Royal Governor of South Carolina , included Kingston Township in a plan to encourage development of the Province of South Carolina . By 1732 , the site of the town of Kingston ( Conway ) was marked out . In 1734 , a plan for the town was completed and by 1735 the first settlers had begun to arrive .
Many area residents fought in the American Revolutionary War . Small engagements were fought near Kingston at Bear Bluff and Red Bluff , both on the Waccamaw River , at Black Lake along the Little Pee Dee , and in the Socastee area .
Gen . Francis Marion , who was known as the “ Swamp Fox ”, had relatives living in the area and several camps strategically placed around what is now Horry County .
Kingston was located in the Parish of Prince George , Winyah , established in 1722 . In 1769 , the colony was divided into circuit court districts and the land comprising what is now Horry County became a part of the newlycreated Georgetown Judicial District .
In 1785 , new lines were drawn and “ Kingston County ” was created out of the old District , however , the courthouse was still located in Georgetown .
In 1801 , the new county ’ s name was changed to “ Horry District ” in honor of Peter Horry who had served as a colonel in the Revolutionary War under General Francis Marion and as a general in the state militia after the Revolution . A courthouse was established in the village of Kingston at that time . The name of the village of Kingston was changed to Conwayborough , for Robert Conway , who had also served as a general in the S . C . State Militia after the Revolution .
At first , the village of Conwayborough was slow to grow . Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury recorded in 1801 that the town had a population of about 100 . Thomas Lockwood ’ s geography of the state published in 1832 reported that the number of inhabitants was 200 .
In 1855 , the village of Conwayborough was incorporated and elected Capt . Samuel Pope as its first mayor . Pope was a sea captain who operated a shipyard on the Waccamaw just above the village .
In 1860 , Conwayborough had a population of 273 whites and 203 blacks . The Waccamaw River was the town ’ s main transportation link .
Planters , who developed plantations both large and small , owned much of the land along the Waccamaw and Pee Dee Rivers . Throughout the rest of the county were farms , plantations and forests . The important industry in the area in 1860 was “ naval stores ,” i . e . turpentine and lumber . When South Carolina seceded from the Union , area residents rallied to the Confederate cause .
Thomas W . Beaty and Benjamin E . Sessions of Conwayborough signed the Ordinance of Secession in Charleston . Near the end of the war , Union soldiers from Maine occupied the town for a time . It was around this time that the city ’ s citizens allowed the city charter to expire .
During the 1870s the naval stores industry continued to expa nd .
Riverboats transported passengers and goods along the Waccamaw River between Conwayborough and Georgetown . The South Carolina General
Assembly shortened the town ’ s name to Conway in 1883 . In 1887 the railroad was laid to Conway and in 1898 the town was re-incorporated .
Much of present-day downtown was built in the early 1900s following a destructive fire that destroyed many of the old wooden structures in 1901 . The old live oak trees and the beautiful Waccamaw River provided the perfect setting for South Carolina ’ s Historic River Town .
Information Please | Conway ’ s Community Resource Guide | Page 42