Timeline: How the Bucksport Marina became an industrial park
The Bucksport area of Horry County could be home to boat building companies in a matter of years.
That’s because Horry County officials have transformed the longtime marina into a marine industrial park that is set to win final approvals in the coming weeks.
Sandy Davis, the head of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation, said she’s working to lure companies to the new site and hopes to have new industry open up shop there soon.
Here’s how the marina got this point:
Prior to 1820 - The Bucksport area was primarily forest, and slave plantations existed nearby
1828 - Maine native Henry Buck moves to the area to open timber mills. Buck wanted to take advantage of the area’s cypress and hardwood trees to make lumber. Some of that lumber was used to build the Brooklyn Bridge, according to a history published by the Bucksport Marina.
1850 - Buck’s mills are producing three million board feet of lumber each year. He has 133 enslaved people working for him.
1860 - Buck has 312 enslaved people working for him, according to historical records published online. He operated three mills the Bucksport area.
1863 - President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation.
1930s - The timber industry in the Bucksport area begins to decline, according to a history published by the group Roots and Recall. Farming became a dominant industry in the Bucksport area, residents have told The Sun News.
World War II - The U.S. Coast Guard takes control of the docks and houses soldiers nearby.
Mid-twentieth century - The tourism industry begins to grow in Myrtle Beach. This growth would accelerate rapidly after Ashby Ward took over the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of the Commerce in the 1970s.
2013 - The Grand Strand Water & Sewer Authority begins pursuing state and federal permits to dredge the Waccamaw River and build a marine industrial park in Bucksport.
2014 - The state Department of Health and Environmental Control holds a public hearing on the project.
2016 - DHEC issues state permits for dredging the Waccamaw River and building the industrial park
2017 - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issues permits for dredging the river and building the park.
2018 - Grand Strand Water & Sewer begins construction of the industrial marine park.
2020 - COVID-19 pandemic begins, causing delays for the industrial park.
2022 - Grand Strand Water & Sewer completes industrial park.
2023 and beyond - The Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation has said they’re beginning to recruit boat manufacturers and other industries to the park, with hopes they’ll open for business in coming years.
