Interesting facts about Society Hill
• It was the first settlement in Darlington County (originally known as Long Bluff).
• Land grants were issued to Welsh settlers in the 1730s, with the permission of King George II of England.
• The Welsh settlers were Baptists and named the community after St. David’s Society.
• When first settled, no family could own more than 250 acres and, no “outsiders” were allowed.
• No “Landed Gentry” or aristocracy was allowed to foster there.
• The town was a center of intellectual life in the Pee Dee region in the 18th and early 19th century.
• It was considered as the site for South Carolina’s Capital city, before Columbia was chosen.
• It was the birthplace of Gashouse Gang (St. Louis Cardinals) member Pat Crawford.
• It was the birthplace of Oklahoma Jurist Henry Marshall Furman.
• Former S.C. Governor David Beasley was from Society Hill and represented the area in the S.C. House of Representatives for almost 20 years.
• St. David’s Academy, built in 1786, was a profound influence in the entire Eastern section of South Carolina.
• Until November 25, 1769, there were no law officers and no courts of law closer than Charleston.
• There were no regularly ordained preachers to perform legal marriage ceremonies until the late 1760s.
• There were no schools above Georgetown until St. David’s Society established the Academy in the late 1700s.
