29526 · 29527 · Horry County
Conway
The historic county seat on the Waccamaw River, fifteen miles inland — live oaks, a riverwalk, and half the beach’s prices.
Conway was founded in 1732, which makes it older than almost everything on the coast, and it has been the seat of Horry County ever since. It sits on the west bank of the Waccamaw about fourteen miles inland, under live oaks, with a riverwalk, a working Main Street and a city hall designed by Robert Mills — the architect of the Washington Monument. The population has grown 22% since 2020 to 30,627, much of it people who looked at the beach, looked at the prices, and drove twenty minutes west.
Where you’ll eat
- Rivertown Bistro — on Third Avenue since 1994, and still the dinner you book for something. Closed Sunday and Monday.
- Crooked Oak Tavern — named for the live oak on the owners’ property where they got engaged and then married. Farm-to-table, nothing farmed from the sea.
- Bonfire — a smokin’ taqueria right on the river by the Riverwalk, cooking over fire. Wednesday to Sunday.
- Crafty Rooster — twenty rotating taps, and chicken bog served with Texas toast.
- Hop N’ Wich — oysters and a house blueberry-onion jam that people come back for.
- Kainan Filipino Eatery — fishball skewers and imported Philippine groceries, which is not something the beach has.
- Carolina Cheese and Provisions — cheese and charcuterie boards on Third Avenue.
- Stella’s — homemade ice cream and cakes on Fourth Avenue.
What you’ll do here
- The Riverwalk — about a mile and a quarter of boardwalk along the Waccamaw, with floating docks you can tie a boat to. The Main Street connection opened in February 2025 and finally joined it to downtown.
- Horry County Museum — free, in the restored 1905 Burroughs School, with an aquarium that was featured on Tanked. Its Living History Farm recreates county farm life from 1900 to 1955, also free.
- Theatre of the Republic — founded 1969 and named the official theatre of Horry County in 1975; the Grand Strand’s longest-running company.
- City of Halloween — Conway gives the whole of October over to it, ghost walks and all, then does a tree lighting, a living-windows night and a Christmas parade in December.
- What’s coming — the state transferred 800-plus acres of the old Santee Cooper plant site to the city, with plans for a 3.5-mile Riverwalk extension, a marina of 100-plus slips and an inland swimming beach. Planned, not built — but it is the reason to watch this town.
Where you’d look
Conway floods, and you should hear it from me rather than from a neighbour after you move in. Hurricane Florence pushed the Waccamaw to a record 21.16 feet in 2018 — flood stage is eleven — and the river stayed above flood stage for about three weeks. Here is the part that matters most: of roughly 360 Conway homes damaged in that event, the majority were in FEMA Zone X, the lowest-risk designation, where flood insurance isn’t even required. Being out of a mapped flood zone in Conway is not the same as being safe. Get an elevation certificate and price flood cover on every property, zone or not. The city has done real work since — FEMA buyouts, and in 2026 a rezoning of 57 bought-out parcels to conservation so nothing can be rebuilt on them. The Army Corps has a $7.4 million plan for relief bridges here with a 6.8-to-1 benefit ratio, and its own report says plainly that it addresses frequent flooding and “will not prevent damages from larger, less frequent storm events.” That is the honest position: the fix is real, and it is partial. The streets that have flooded repeatedly are named in the city’s own documents — Sherwood, Godfrey, Freeman, Azalea, Little, Hawthorne and Long. Ask me before you offer on any of them.
Live from the MLS
What is for sale in Conway right now
Straight from the Coastal Carolinas MLS and updated as listings change. Active listings only — nothing under contract, nothing already sold.