Grier’s/Cox’s Ferry

In the 1700s and 1800s, a ferry at this site was a key crossing point on the Waccamaw River. On Sept. 4, 1780, Lt. Col. Peter Horry, Horry County’s namesake, and a division of Marion’s Men crossed the river here at Grier’s Ferry. A receipt records that Horry received from James Grier a sheep, five pints of rum, breakfast for nine officers, and ferriage for fifty-eight horses and fifty men for the use of the division of Marion’s Regiment under Horry’s command. Sometime after the American Revolutionary War and before 1802, the ferry became known as Cox’s Ferry. A Nov. 17, 1828, petition to the S.C. Legislature from Herman Cox requested a renewal of the charter of Cox’s Ferry on the Waccamaw River. On May 22, 1851, Herman Cox’s widow, Frances P. Cox, then the occupant of the plantation and ferry, requested rights to the same. Around 1918, as steamboat traffic ended, bridges were constructed and Cox’s Ferry closed.

South Carolina · United States