Since the completion of the Main Street USA project in the 1980s, Conway's downtown has been revitalized with shops and bistros.

The town was founded in 1732 as part of Royal Governor Robert Johnson's Township Scheme.

By the 1770s, the region of South Carolina in which Kingston was located was overwhelmingly English, though there were also small numbers of Huguenots and Scots-Irish people.

When the Royal Governor Lord William Campbell fled Charleston, the people of Kingston celebrated.

The name "Kingston" was later changed to "Conwayborough", to honor local hero General Robert Conway.

Conway is situated on the South Carolina Coastal Plain on the western banks of the Waccamaw River, and is approximately 14 miles (23 km) from the Atlantic Ocean.

[4] The downtown is sited on the west bank of the Waccamaw River where it is joined by a creek called Kingston Lake.

The Waccamaw flows south to the Pee Dee River and ultimately Winyah Bay at Georgetown.

The local climate allows plants like kale to survive deep into the winter months, despite the lower amount of light.

Comparable major metro areas for this climate of Conway include Montgomery, Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi.

Employers located in the Conway area include: Grainger Generating Station was a coal-fired power plant operated by Santee Cooper.

[20] Conway is the home of Kimbel Library and the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery at Coastal Carolina University.

[21] HTC Center is a 3,370-seat multi-purpose arena located on the campus of Coastal Carolina University in Conway.

[23] The 6 council members are Amanda Butler, Julie Hardwick, Beth Helms, William Goldfinch IV, Justin Jordan, and Larry White.

Conway is home to two major institutes of higher learning, Coastal Carolina University and Horry-Georgetown Technical College.