St. David’s Academy: On this day in history from the Darlington County Historical Commission, St. David’s Academy organized December 13, 1777
Photo Contributed
By Brian Gandy
Director of Darlington County Historical Commission
In 1777, a group of prosperous planters of the area formed the St. David’s Society to promote the cause of education.
The historical marker placed at the location on Main Street in Society Hill reads:
The St. David´s Society, organized in 1777 and chartered in 1778, built the first public academy in St. David´s Parish 3/4 mile northeast in 1786. Alexander McIntosh, George Hicks, Abel Kolb, William Pegues, and Thomas Evans were early officers. The academy was removed to this site about 1840 and the present building was erected in 1957.
In 1777, a group of prosperous planters of the area formed the St. David’s Society to promote the cause of education; little was done during the war, but with the return of peace, a schoolhouse – St. David’s Academy – was erected on the first hill beyond the river, about 1 mile from the village of Long Bluff; a few years later, the Welsh Neck Baptist Church removed from the east side of the river to a lot on the hill, adjacent to the Academy. A new community began to grow up around the Academy and Church, and was named Greeneville in honor of Gen. Greene of the Revolution.
The old village of Long Bluff was eventually abandoned in favor of the new village on the hill, which soon changed its name to Society Hill obviously in honor of the Academy of St. David’s Society which dominated the hill. Society Hill, with its old, respected and influential Baptist Church; its Academy boasting tutors of the highest caliber; and its Library Society soon became the unchallenged cultural center of the Pee Dee Region, a title it held for generations.