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    Conway
    Conway
    Conway
    Ebook187 pages51 minutes

    Conway

    By Susan Hoffer McMillan

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    About this ebook

    Conway was established in 1732 as Kingston, the principal seat of Kingston Township, but was renamed in honor of local politician Robert Conway, who distinguished himself in war service under the heroic Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, following the American Revolution. Situated where Kingston Lake joins the Waccamaw River, Conway was originally isolated by wetlands and developed slowly, primarily supported by subsistence farmers in surrounding Horry County. Lacking the tidal rivers of remaining coastal South Carolina, area residents harvested turpentine and timber, improved transportation via steamboats and trains, and cultivated tobacco and tourism as the 20th century spawned nearby Myrtle Beach. Today, Conway reveres its 1825 Robert Mills Courthouse anchoring a picturesque downtown highlighted by moss-draped live oaks and a Main Street bridge beckoning visitors to frequent festivals, live theatre, and a scenic river walk.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateDec 8, 2014
    ISBN9781439648841
    Conway
    Author

    Susan Hoffer McMillan

    Historian Susan Hoffer McMillan is a former tour guide for the City of Conway, where she has lived all of her adult life. She pursues her passion for Conway�s past through photographic images, paper ephemera, and archaeology. McMillan�s sixth Arcadia Publishing title depicts Conway and nearby locales from the 1890s through the 1960s.

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      Book preview

      Conway - Susan Hoffer McMillan

      stands.

      INTRODUCTION

      Prior to Europeans settling here, Native Americans enjoyed the abundant wildlife and other coastal resources on the land destined to become Conway for 10,000 years. Conway’s recorded history began in the 1730s and evolved from Royal Governor Robert Johnson’s township plan to populate the Carolinas with settlements situated within 100 miles of Charleston on navigable rivers so as to readily supply Charleston with troops in case of siege. The township in Craven County was surveyed in 1732 by Alexander Skene and Chief Justice Robert Wright and named Kingston, with its principal town, now Conway, given the same name. Two years later, Kingston’s earliest recorded European visitors barbecued a bear at this Waccamaw River locale during an exploratory trip to this wilderness. In 1735, Johnson began issuing land grants of 50 acres per person to settlers willing to relocate to the new townships. These brave pioneers were given basic land clearing tools, starter food provisions, and transportation to their new land. Nearly surrounded by water, they established a lifestyle that ensured their survival but was far from mainstream society. This self-sufficiency eventually led to a nickname, the Independent Republic of Horry, which is an enduring source of pride for its citizenry.

      In 1769, Kingston Township became part of Georgetown District. Following the American Revolution, which saw only minor skirmishes in this area, the population was a blend of settlers who entered the country from either Charleston or the Bay of Albemarle in North Carolina. Freed of British control, they wanted new names without royal connotations for their town and township. In 1801, the town of Kingston was renamed Conwayborough, recognizing resident Gen. Robert Conway, and Horry District was carved from Georgetown District and named in honor of Gen. Peter Horry of Georgetown. Both men had served in the American Revolution, but only Conway lived on the soil that perpetuates his name. Horry District later became Horry County, and Conwayborough was shortened to Conwayboro and, finally, Conway in 1883.

      The naval store business of producing tar, pitch, and turpentine from pine rosin became the dominant industry as virgin forests of longleaf pine were cleared for profit. Additionally, massive cypress trees were milled for timber and shingles widely desired for their weather resistance. The intersections of huge oak branches produced strong braces desired in ship construction, so ancient live oaks were heavily harvested too. As the area’s primeval forests disappeared, the turpentine industry shifted farther south, and local land owners increased farming efforts to feed their families. Cotton and tobacco would eventually replace turpentine as money crops, while livestock and produce fed the populace.

      The Civil War, much like the American Revolution, saw minimal action around Conwayborough, but its toll was felt in lives and livelihoods lost to the war. Reconstruction was slow and arduous. Cotton and tobacco acreage yields increased and marketing improved as the 19th century drew to closing. Conwayboro had incorporated in its antebellum years and later dissolved, perhaps due to war, but it was revitalized and reincorporated as Conway in 1898 with Col. Cephas Perry Quattlebaum as its first postbellum intendant, or mayor. A boom period that began around 1890 extended through World War I and into the 1920s, when the boll weevil attacked the cotton crop, followed by another disaster, the Great Depression. Government-funded excavation of the Intracoastal Waterway through Horry County during 1930–1936 mitigated the poor local economy with jobs and cash, and the lumber industry continued clear cutting forests. The 1940s held great promise until World War II drained from Conway many of its most talented youths, some of whom never returned.

      By mid-20th century, tobacco reigned throughout the county, except east of the Intracoastal Waterway, where real estate was king as tourism shined on the coast. Hurricane Hazel destroyed many early beach cottages and hotels in 1954. Businessmen and farmers took notice, exchanging tobacco, lumber, and retail profits for beach real estate. It was a wise investment, for tobacco would eventually decline as tourism flourished in the years ahead. The 1950s saw a postwar prosperity that changed Conway in innumerable ways, many of which are evidenced in this book.

      The author has heard that the history of this county can be summarized in a few words; Beaty, Buck, and Burroughs were the family names; turpentine, timber, tobacco, and tourism were the businesses. Read on, for there is so much more depth to this story.

      A crescent moon silhouette, labeled Conway, S.C., is set against a painted outdoor scene as a stage for souvenir photographs in this 1940s view of an unidentified man seated on the moon. Vendors of these quick and inexpensive photographs personalized to specific locales often appeared at carnivals and other festive venues beginning in the 1940s. Pictures of other individuals with the Conway moon appear occasionally.

      One

      WATER AND RAILS

      Two unidentified men pause beside rails of the Conway, Coast & Western Railroad, which spanned the Waccamaw River and extended to Myrtle Beach via Pine Island, in this 1907 postcard view, mailed at Conway. This railroad was chartered as the Conway & Seashore Railroad in 1896 and renamed the Conway, Coast & Western Railroad when it was extended westward to Aynor in 1903.

      Conway’s first railroad trestle bridging the Waccamaw River near the Kingston Lake junction became a favorite swimming hole where local youths frequently dived from the bridge’s structural metal frame. Others less daring observed the youthful water antics for amusement. This image from around 1920 inspired the name of a popular restaurant, the Trestle, serving meals at 308 Main Street since 1992.

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