Why you'd want to live in Conway
In 1670, the British settled Charles Town (Charleston, SC). The area now known as Horry (O-REE) County was part of old Craven County, established in 1682. In 1730, Robert Johnson, Royal Governor of SC, included Kingston Township in a plan to encourage development of the Province of SC. 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 on the Waccamaw, at Black Lake along the Little Pee Dee, and in the Socastee area. Gen. Frances Marion, who was known as the “Swamp Fox”, had relatives living in the area. He and his troops encamped in the village of Kingston on his way to the battle of Black Mingo. 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 newly created Georgetown Judicial District. In 1785, new lines were drawn and “Kingston County” was created out of the old District. The new name for the County name was changed to “Horry District,” in honor of General Peter Horry in 1801, and a courthouse was established in Kingston at that time. The name of the Kingston village was later changed to Conwayborough, for General Robert Conway, a general in the SC State Militia. 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 1860, Conwayborough had a population of 273 whites and 203 blacks. The Waccamaw River was the main transportation link. Planters, who developed plantations both large and small, owned much of the land along the Waccamaw and Pee Dee Rivers. To learn more visit website. via https://www.cityofconway.com/
