“H” is for Horry County

“H” is for Horry County (1,134 square miles; 2020 population 365,449. Horry is the largest of South Carolina's forty-six counties, forming a wedge between North Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean. The county was named for Peter Horry, an officer in the Revolutionary War. The Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Pee Dee Swamp on the west and south made communication with other South Carolinians difficult. Horry’s political and social isolation gave rise to its nickname, the Independent Republic of Horry. In the 1890's the county embraced bright leaf tobacco as a cash crop and by the 1920s was the state's top tobacco producing county. After World War II, a developing resort economy ushered in an era of sustained economic and population growth. By the twenty-first century, Horry County had become one of South Carolina's largest and most prosperous counties.