Events

For the past 15 years, Joe McGill has been sleeping in former slave dwellings throughout the United States. His adventures are now chronicled in the book Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery. Join us at the Horry County Museum at 1 PM on Saturday, July 19th as McGill discusses why this simple act is still being requested by historic sites of enslavement.
Joseph McGill, Jr., is the founder of the Slave Dwelling Project. By arranging for people to sleep in extant slave dwellings, this project has brought much needed attention to these often-neglected structures that are vitally important to the American built environment. He has conducted over 250 overnights in approximately 150 different sites in 25 states and the District of Columbia. He has interacted with the descendants of both the enslaved communities and of the enslavers associated with antebellum historic sites. He speaks with school children and college students, with historical societies, community groups, and members of the public.
Since 2016, McGill has expanded the Slave Dwelling Project to offer a program of living history called “Inalienable Rights: Living History Through the Eyes of the Enslaved.” The Project has conducted 7 conferences since 2013. Mr. McGill was a field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, working to revitalize the Sweet Auburn commercial district in Atlanta, GA and to develop a management plan for the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.
Mr. McGill served as the Executive Director of the African American Museum located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is also the former Director of History and Culture at Penn Center, St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Penn School was the first school built during the Civil War for the education of recently freed slaves.
Mr. McGill appears in the book Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. He is also a member of the South Carolina Humanities Council Speakers Bureau.
This event will be held at the Horry County Museum located at 805 Main Street, Conway, S.C. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov. For more information about our programs, visit the museum website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.

The 2025 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, July 23rd, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2025. 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 Dr. Rick Simmons on the often overlooked stories from the Grand Strand’s history on Saturday, July 26th at 1 PM. Join us as Dr. Simmons shares the Hidden History of the Grand Strand. From shipwrecks and forgotten landmarks to stories of German U Boats along the coast, this talk presents a unique look at the area, its history and the legends that captivate visitors to this day.
Dr. Rick Simmons was previously the George K. Anding Endowed Professor and Director of Honors at Louisiana Tech University. Author of more than 130 published works including eight books, his books about local history include Defending South Carolina’s Coast: The Civil War from Georgetown to Little River and Hidden History of the Grand Strand. He currently lives in Pawleys Island, SC, with his wife Sue, and teaches at the Georgetown School of Arts and Sciences.
This event will be held at the Horry County Museum located at 805 Main Street, Conway, S.C. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov. For more information about our programs, visit the museum website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.

The 2025 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with Between the Waters. This 30 minute film, part of the Carolina Stories Series by SCETV, shares the history of Hobcaw Barony, named after a Native American word meaning ‘between the waters’. Join us to learn the Native American and African American history of Hobcaw as well as the history of environmental conservation that continues at the site.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, July 30th, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2025. 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 2nd 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 2025 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with the locally produced film Swamp Fox: Francis Marion & the American Revolution. Produced and narrated by historian Rod Gragg, this film follows the life of Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion from his birth in 1732 near Monck’s Corner, SC to his experiences as a sailor, and service in the French and Indian War, where he learned the ambush fighting techniques that would frustrate the British in the Revolutionary War and earn him the nickname ‘Swamp Fox’.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, August 6th, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2025. 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 2025 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with We Have a Story to Tell: 350 Years of the South Carolina National Guard. Part of the Carolina Stories series by South Carolina ETV, this film features a partnership between the SC Military Museum and the SC Military History Foundation to tell the stories of the SC Army National Guard and the SC Air National Guard. The Guard’s history is long and rich, dating back to 1670, and its service to the United States and to South Carolina is enduring. See how the Guard has served both at home and abroad throughout its history.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, August 13th, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2025. 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 free concert by the local group Ukes By the Sea on Saturday, August 16th, at 1:00 PM. Ukes By The Sea is a light-hearted ukulele band based in Myrtle Beach, SC. Members of the band range in age from 11 to 93. Their mission is to share joy through happy music. The group performs a mixture of toe-tapping, uplifting popular songs from the 1960s through today. More information about Ukes By the Sea can be found at Facebook.com@ukes.by.the.sea.2024
The concert will be held in the Museum’s McCown Auditorium located at 805 Main Street, Conway, S.C. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov. For more information about our programs, visit the museum website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.