City of Conway

City of Conway Municipal Water Report Background

British settlers established Charles Town (Charleston, SC) in 1670. The area now known as Horry (O-REE) County was originally part of Craven County, formed in 1682. In 1730, Royal Governor Robert Johnson included Kingston Township in a development plan for South Carolina Province. By 1732, the site for Kingston (Conway) was marked, with a town plan completed by 1734 and first settlers arriving in 1735.

Many local residents fought in the American Revolutionary War. Small engagements occurred near Kingston at Bear Bluff on the Waccamaw, Black Lake along the Little Pee Dee, and in Socastee. General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox," had family in the area and encamped with his troops in Kingston en route to the Battle of Black Mingo.

Kingston was located in Prince George Parish, Winyah (established 1722). In 1769, the settlement became part of Georgetown Judicial District. In 1785, "Kingston County" was created with new boundaries, later renamed "Horry District" in 1801 to honor General Peter Horry. A courthouse was established in Kingston, which was eventually renamed Conwayborough after General Robert Conway of the SC State Militia.

The town grew slowly - Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury noted about 100 residents in 1801, while Thomas Lockwood's 1832 state geography reported 200 inhabitants. By 1860, Conwayborough had 273 white and 203 black residents. The Waccamaw River served as the primary transportation link, with plantations lining both the Waccamaw and Pee Dee Rivers. Small farms, homesteads and forests comprised the rest of the county, with naval stores (turpentine and timber) as the major industry.

During the Civil War, area residents supported the Confederacy, with Thomas W. Beaty and Benjamin E. Sessions of Conwayborough signing the Secession Ordinance. Union soldiers from Maine briefly occupied the town after the war. The naval stores industry continued expanding in the 1870s, with riverboats carrying passengers and goods between Conwayborough and Georgetown. In 1883, the town's name was shortened to Conway. The railroad reached Conway in 1887, and in 1898 the town incorporated and elected its first mayor. Much of modern downtown was constructed in the early 1900s following a devastating fire. Today, the historic live oak trees and scenic Waccamaw River provide the perfect setting for South Carolina's Historic River Town.