Horry County is home to one of South Carolina’s tourism hubs, the Grand Strand. The Grand Strand is a string of coastal towns, centered around Myrtle Beach, which features beaches, watersports, shopping, and theme parks. Conway serves as its county seat.
Initially existing within the Georgetown District, Horry County was founded in 1808 and named in honor of Revolutionary War lieutenant colonel Peter Horry. In its early years, swamps and rivers kept the county so cut off from the rest of the state that locals often called it the “Independent Republic of Horry County.” Naval stores and lumber powered the Horry County economy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Later, the economy transitioned to tobacco farming.
Horry County Historical Society. Accessed June 01, 2016. http://www.hchsonline.org/
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The picnic and camping facilities at Myrtle Beach State Park were one of the Civilian Conservation Corps construction projects completed for the South Carolina State Parks during the 1930s. Here a...
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Harness racing at Myrtle Beach, photographed by Paul M. Pillsbury. WPA photo, 1930s. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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The Grand Strand at Myrtle Beach has not always been crowded with high rise apartment buildings, like those seen in this aerial view of the Grand Strand taken in 1955. Courtesy of the South...
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The improvement of state highways in the 1920s brought increased tourist business to the South Carolina coastal resorts. The Ocean Forest Hotel at Myrtle Beach was built by a Greenville businessman in...
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This view of the Grand Strand's Crescent Beach in 1966 illustrates vividly the extensive development in vacation property that brings thousands of visitors to South Carolina's Horry County beaches...
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Main Street in Conway, around 1906. The township plan implemented in 1731 to protect Charleston with a ring of settlements, called for a town along the west bank of the Waccamaw River, originally...
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Looking north on Main Street at Third Avenue in Conway, around 1930. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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The automobile made improvement of local roads necessary. Here, a grading machine completes improvements on recently paved Route 38 in Horry County during the summer of 1928. Courtesy of the South...
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The "Henrietta" was the largest ship ever built in Horry County. She was launched in 1875, registering more than 1,200 tons, 201 feet long, and 39 feet wide. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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Development has drawn increasing numbers of people to the coastal regions of the state since the Second World War. This photo by Bill Scroggins of Garden City Beach in 1986 shows the high tide lapping...
