Hemingway, South Carolina
Encyclopedia
Hemingway is a town in Williamsburg County, South Carolina
. The population was 573 at the 2000 census.
, which was to run from Mullins
to Andrews
. Land owned by Dr. Hemingway was surveyed and the lots auction
ed off. Subsequently the railroad established a Hemingway depot, and the post office
name was changed to Hemingway.
With rail access, Hemingway grew into a market town
for local agricultural
products. Cotton
declined after 1921, when the boll weevil
arrived, but was already being replaced by flue cured tobacco
as the primary money crop for farmer
s. Other local products were naval stores
from the pine
forests (later replaced by timbering
), corn
, soybean
s, wheat
, and vegetable
s.
Hemingway is near the Pee Dee River
, which was the main commercial route for the area until the coming of the railroad. Snows Lake is a lake near Hemingway. This is also a site in the Revolutionary War
camp of US war hero, General Francis Marion
. The river was named by early explorers after the Pee Dee
tribe
. A major tributary is the Waccamaw River
likewise named.
s has been important in the past, with numerous sewing factories, but most of these have closed. Talous, where insect
proof suits for sportsmen are sewed, and Hemingway Apparel, are exceptions. Important industries today are Tupperware (plastic kitchenware), House of Raeford (meat products), C-V Unlimited (remanufactured auto parts), Don's Scrap Iron and Metal Co., Southeastern Wire Fabricators, Inc. (manufactured wire products) and Palmetto Paper Tube. Some people commute to Wellman Industries in Johnsonville, South Carolina
or to International Paper Company or Georgetown Steel in Georgetown, South Carolina
. Williamsburg County runs bus service for workers who commute to nearby Myrtle Beach, which offers jobs in the hospitality industry and construction.
Hemingway has always been associated with Johnsonville, which, though divided by a county line, is only 4 miles north, and are sometimes referred to locally as the twin cities. Hemingway recently completed a new industrial park midway between the two cities, with a deep well and sewer service.
barbecue
, and dancing of the official state dance
- the Shag
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the town has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²), all of it land.
of 2000, there were 573 people, 259 households, and 182 families residing in the town. The population density
was 653.2 people per square mile (251.4/km²). There were 278 housing units at an average density of 316.9 per square mile (122.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 80.80% White, 18.50% African American, 0.35% Native American, 0.17% from other races
, and 0.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.17% of the population. (The Hispanic population of the area is growing rapidly, and the statistics are probably much lower than present reality.)
There were 259 households out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.4% were married couples
living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.7% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.71.
In the town the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 23.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 82.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.2 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $28,250, and the median income for a family was $50,179. Males had a median income of $28,125 versus $20,987 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $17,888. About 9.9% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.2% of those under age 18 and 15.6% of those age 65 or over.
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. The population was 573 at the 2000 census.
Historical Sketch
Hemingway was created from a crossroads community named Lamberts in 1911 by Dr. W. C. Hemingway, in an effort to secure a depot for the proposed Seaboard Air Line RailroadSeaboard Air Line Railroad
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad whose corporate existence extended from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line...
, which was to run from Mullins
Mullins, South Carolina
Mullins is a city in Marion County, South Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 5,029.Incorporated on March 4, 1872, Mullins was named after Col. William S...
to Andrews
Andrews, South Carolina
Andrews is a town in Georgetown and Williamsburg counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 3,068 at the 2000 census, and center of a slightly larger urban cluster of 4,204. Musician Chubby Checker and comedian Chris Rock were born in Andrews. Outside of Andrews is the Robert F...
. Land owned by Dr. Hemingway was surveyed and the lots auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
ed off. Subsequently the railroad established a Hemingway depot, and the post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
name was changed to Hemingway.
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
for local agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
products. Cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
declined after 1921, when the boll weevil
Boll weevil
The boll weevil is a beetle measuring an average length of six millimeters, which feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central America, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s,...
arrived, but was already being replaced by flue cured tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
as the primary money crop for farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s. Other local products were naval stores
Naval stores
Naval Stores is a broad term which originally applied to the resin-based components used in building and maintaining wooden sailing ships, a category which includes cordage, mask, turpentine, rosin, pitch and tar...
from the pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
forests (later replaced by timbering
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
), corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, soybean
Soybean
The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
s, wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, and vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s.
Hemingway is near the Pee Dee River
Pee Dee River
The Pee Dee River, also known as the Great Pee Dee River, is a river in North Carolina and South Carolina. It originates in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, where its upper course above the mouth of the Uwharrie River is known as the Yadkin River. It is extensively dammed for flood...
, which was the main commercial route for the area until the coming of the railroad. Snows Lake is a lake near Hemingway. This is also a site in the Revolutionary War
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
camp of US war hero, General Francis Marion
Francis Marion
Francis Marion was a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Acting with Continental Army and South Carolina militia commissions, he was a persistent adversary of the British in their occupation of South Carolina in 1780 and 1781, even after the Continental Army was driven...
. The river was named by early explorers after the Pee Dee
Pee Dee
The Pee Dee region of South Carolina is the northeastern corner of the state. It is the area of the lower watershed of the Pee Dee River, named after the Pee Dee Native American tribe. Its center is Florence...
tribe
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. A major tributary is the Waccamaw River
Waccamaw River
The Waccamaw River is a river, approximately 140 miles long, in southeastern North Carolina and eastern South Carolina in the United States. It drains an area of approximately 1110 square miles in the coastal plain along the eastern border between the two states into the Atlantic Ocean...
likewise named.
Jobs
Besides agriculture, the manufacture of textileTextile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
s has been important in the past, with numerous sewing factories, but most of these have closed. Talous, where insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
proof suits for sportsmen are sewed, and Hemingway Apparel, are exceptions. Important industries today are Tupperware (plastic kitchenware), House of Raeford (meat products), C-V Unlimited (remanufactured auto parts), Don's Scrap Iron and Metal Co., Southeastern Wire Fabricators, Inc. (manufactured wire products) and Palmetto Paper Tube. Some people commute to Wellman Industries in Johnsonville, South Carolina
Johnsonville, South Carolina
Johnsonville is a city in Florence County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,418 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Florence Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Johnsonville is located at ....
or to International Paper Company or Georgetown Steel in Georgetown, South Carolina
Georgetown, South Carolina
Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, in the Low Country. Located on Winyah Bay at the confluence of the Great Pee Dee River, Waccamaw River, and Sampit River, Georgetown is the second largest seaport in South Carolina,...
. Williamsburg County runs bus service for workers who commute to nearby Myrtle Beach, which offers jobs in the hospitality industry and construction.
Hemingway has always been associated with Johnsonville, which, though divided by a county line, is only 4 miles north, and are sometimes referred to locally as the twin cities. Hemingway recently completed a new industrial park midway between the two cities, with a deep well and sewer service.
Barbecue Shag Festival
Hemingway is known for the Bar-B-Q Shag Festival held in the spring of each year. This features a cookoff of low country style porkPig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
, and dancing of the official state dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
- the Shag
Carolina shag
Carolina Shag is a six-count partner dance done mostly to moderate tempo music . During the dance the upper body and hips hardly move as the legs do convoluted kicks and fancy footwork. The lead is the center of attention, and the follow's steps either mirror the lead's or mark time while the lead...
.
Geography
Hemingway is located at 33°45′12"N 79°26′45"W (33.753422, -79.445767).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²), all of it land.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 573 people, 259 households, and 182 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 653.2 people per square mile (251.4/km²). There were 278 housing units at an average density of 316.9 per square mile (122.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 80.80% White, 18.50% African American, 0.35% Native American, 0.17% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.17% of the population. (The Hispanic population of the area is growing rapidly, and the statistics are probably much lower than present reality.)
There were 259 households out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.4% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.7% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.71.
In the town the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 23.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 82.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.2 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $28,250, and the median income for a family was $50,179. Males had a median income of $28,125 versus $20,987 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $17,888. About 9.9% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.2% of those under age 18 and 15.6% of those age 65 or over.