‘Culture of agriculture’: Horry County’s living farm carries on tobacco’s legacy in the region

In the days before hotels, shopping malls and housing developments, Horry County had tobacco.

Over the years tobacco demand has dropped as health concerns have risen, but for some locals growing tobacco is a part of their heritage.

That’s why Horry County Museum Director Walter Hill said Tobacco Day at the L. W. Paul Living Farm is so important: It lets folks reconnect with their history or learn more about the region they moved to.

“The whole purpose of doing this was recognizing there were so many changes taking place in Horry County history even over the just past 25 years,” Hill said. “As we urbanize, as we develop there is a museum here preserving the ways that were.”

Dozens of volunteers and visitors were up early Saturday to participate in the cultural celebration. Some were old timers who remember helping their grandparents; others were young kids learning more about what their parents did when they were young.

The living farm is modeled after what Horry County farms are believed to have looked like in the early 20th century. During that time tobacco was a major cash crop in rural South Carolina, Hill said.

Two mules pulled a cart through the field where folks cropped the tobacco and loaded the cart up. Folks then strung the leaves up with twine and hung them to dry.

Daron Lambert, who grew up working tobacco in western Horry County, said seeing people working the fields brought him back to when he was young. He volunteered at the living farm for the nostalgic value.

“It just drawled me back 25 years. It was a special moment, something I hadn’t felt in a long time,” Lambert said.

Lambert acknowledged that we now know using tobacco is bad for people’s health, but emphasized it’s what folks in Horry County made their living on. Residents needed to rely on each other and learn the meaning of hard work, and it took a whole family working together to get the job done.

“It was just a good way of life,” he said. “It bonded neighbors together, it bonded families together. It’s just special. It’s something you want to hold on to.”

Hill said the community aspect required folks to pull on each other’s strengths. That why the living farm has a blacksmith, mill and woodworking shop to show that it took people relying on others for the community to be self-sufficient.

“It’s the culture of agriculture,” Hill said.

The farm also has additional events to showcase other cultural elements of Horry County’s history. All the events are free.

Reporter note: Did you grow up on a farm or in rural Horry County? If so, I’d love to speak with you. Send me an email at tfleming@thesunnews.com

This story was originally published August 3, 2019 at 1:00 PM.