Probably no other individual feature of Horry County has been as important to the history and development of the area as the Waccamaw River. In 1734 Kingston Township was first surveyed with the town of Kingston (later to become Conway) as its center. The importance of Kingston was its access to the Waccamaw River and through Winyah Bay to the shipping lanes of the Atlantic. Rafting logs on the Waccamaw River required stamina and skill to snake the long rafts of freshly cut cypress and native pines to the great saw mills on the river. Rafters would live on the rafts, building shelters during cold weather and even cooking their meals on the floating logs.

The sailing ship Henrietta was built at Bucksville on the Waccamaw River in 1874-1875 by the H. L. Buck Lumber Company. In 1891, Bucksville boasted the largest and best equipped mill in the state exporting six million feet of pine and cypress shingles. Schooners from all over the world waited to be loaded at the Bucksville warf.