The Horry County Museum presents a program in collaboration with Coastal Carolina University and the South Carolina 250th Commission on Saturday, July 18th, 2026 at 1 PM. This lecture will examine ways that artists depicted the American Revolution, in South Carolina and elsewhere, while it was happening and after independence was won. We will look at images of the war and its heroes that were available to newly minted Americans at the time as well as ways the war was remembered 50 and 75 years later.
Elizabeth Chew became CEO of the South Carolina Historical Society in January 2024, leading a statewide organization that collects and shares the stories of all South Carolinians. A historian, curator, and educator, she has worked at museums and historic sites for over 30 years
Prior to arriving in Charleston, she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Curator at James Madison’s Montpelier in Virginia. During her 8 ½ years there, Dr. Chew led teams of curators, historians, and educators to research and interpret James Madison and his family, his role in framing the U.S. Constitution, and the community of enslaved people on the plantation.
Earlier in her career, she served as Curator at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, VA. During her thirteen-year tenure there, she was responsible for ongoing research and interpretation initiatives that wove together the Monticello house, its collections, Jefferson and his family, and the enslaved community.
Elizabeth received a BA from Yale University, a master's from the University of London, and a PhD from UNC- Chapel Hill.
The program is free to the public and will be held in the Museum’s McCown Auditorium located at 805 Main Street, Conway, SC 29526. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov. To view a full list of scheduled programs, visit the museum website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.

The 2026 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with SC A to Z. This film, part of the Carolina Stories Series by SCETV, takes a light-hearted look at favorite places and homegrown things, spanning the alphabet to showcase all that South Carolina is and has to offer. From the ACE Basin and the Arthur Ravenel Bridge to the Yorktown aircraft carrier and Zentrum (BMW’s visitor’s center), South Carolina A to Z is a vivid look at the unique offerings of South Carolina. Cameras spotlight the familiar (Brookgreen Gardens, Palmetto trees) to the not-so-familiar (Edgefield pottery, locally-grown rice, UFO Welcome Center) for a glimpse of what makes our state so special.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, July 22nd, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2026. For a list of films, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org. For more information, call the Horry County Museum at 843-915-5320 or e-mail hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov.

The Horry County Museum presents a lecture by Eric Emerson on Saturday, July 25th at 1 PM, on the history of the South Carolina state flag.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, but it also marks the origins of South Carolina's state flag. Although our state has had a number of flags, only two have been approved by the General Assembly. The second of these was created by A.S. Salley, the first Secretary of the South Carolina History Commission (now known as the South Carolina Department of Archives & History), with help from Clemson College and a little-known friend in Charleston. In this lecture, Dr. Emerson will recount the Revolutionary War origins of our flag and explain how Salley convinced the General Assembly to task him with re-creating the state's first official flag. His design would be the forerunner of today’s banner, the nation’s second most popular state flag.
Dr. Emerson is the sixth director of the South Carolina Department of Archives & History (SCDAH). He also serves as State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and State Archivist. He received his Bachelors of Arts in History from the University of North Carolina – Charlotte and his masters and doctorate in History from the University of Alabama. Prior to coming to SCDAH in 2009, he served as the executive director of the Charleston Library Society and the South Carolina Historical Society.
The program will be held in the McCown Auditorium located at 805 Main Street, Conway SC. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov. To view a full list of programs, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.

The 2026 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with Pirates of the Carolinas. Part of the Carolina Stories Series by SCETV, this hour-long film digs up the true tales of treachery and villainy that occurred off the coasts of North and South Carolina during the Golden Age of Piracy.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, July 29th, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2026. For a list of films, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org. For more information, call the Horry County Museum at 843-915-5320 or e-mail hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov.

See history come to life at the L.W. Paul Living History Farm! The Farm will host its annual Tobacco Heritage Day on Saturday, August 1st from 9 AM-Noon. For much of the 20th century, tobacco was the main cash crop for Horry County and the Pee Dee Region and provided an income for many farm families in the area. During the late summer, leaves were gathered and taken to the barn to be strung and cured. This process required participation from all family members, down to young children, whose job would be to hand the tobacco leaves to a stringer. Demonstrations will include gathering, hand tying and stringing tobacco, cooking on the wood burning stove, and a variety of other farm activities.
The L.W. Paul Living History Farm is located at the corner of Hwy 701 North and Harris Short Cut Road in Conway, SC. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the L.W. Paul Living History Farm at 843-915-5321 or email the Horry County Museum at hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov. For a full list of programs, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.

The 2026 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with a documentary by South Carolina ETV on inductees from the Colonial Era into the South Carolina Hall of Fame. Established in 1973, The South Carolina Hall of Fame, located in Myrtle Beach, inducts one deceased and one contemporary honoree each year. It is by law the “official” Hall of Fame for South Carolina. There are nearly 100 members of the South Carolina Hall of Fame, each of whom has made outstanding contributions to South Carolina’s heritage, history, and progress.
Biographies of Colonial Era inductees include King Hagler, Eliza Pinckney, Henry Laurens, Thomas Lynch, Sr., William Henry Drayton, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, August 5th, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2026. For a list of films, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org. For more information, call the Horry County Museum at 843-915-5320 or e-mail hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov.

The Horry County Museum presents a program by Steven Smith on his new book The Battles of Fort Watson & Fort Motte, 1781 on Saturday, August 8th at 1:00 PM. In his book, Smith relates the history of four critical weeks from April 12 until May 12, 1781, in which the tide […]

The 2026 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with The Battle of Camden, part of the Carolina Stories Series from ETV. In this film, Revolutionary War re-enactors help tell the story of this crucial event in American history, one of the worst American battle defeats in the Revolution. From new guerilla tactics employed by American militia to the actions of an over-confident king, the tragic events that transpired on August 16, 1780 became the catalyst that led to the birth of a nation.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, August 12th, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2026. For a list of films, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org. For more information, call the Horry County Museum at 843-915-5320 or e-mail hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov.