Conway, SC, Part II: Horry County courthouses

The seat of Horry County, S.C., is Conway, which technically happens to have not one but two courthouses, although after spending an afternoon photographing “both” (?) facilities, I think one could argue there are three or even four courthouse structures off Elm Street between 1st and 3rd avenues. 

It’s a little difficult to explain, but I’m sure local folk will tell you there are just two courthouses, and that they distinguish between the two by referring to either the “new” or “old” courthouse.

The least complicated courthouse is the old one, bounded by Beaty and Elm streets and 3rd and 2nd avenues. From what the locals (and signage on the grounds) tell me, this facility is used almost exclusively as a traffic court and a place to adjudicate domestic violence cases. A sign on the Elm Street side of the building also says the Horry County sheriff has an office there. 

What confuses me is that when you go online to look up the address for the sheriff's department, you get 1301 2nd Ave., which puts one inside the “new” courthouse. I wish that had been the least of my confusions while photographing the courthouses Tuesday. 

There is not one, or even two buildings constituting what appears to be the “new” county courthouse. I counted three. And the perplexing part is that the newest of these buildings doesn’t even show up on a Google aerial map of the city (yet). But what does show up on that map are two separate smaller buildings. See why I was confused?

What I was able to observe on the grounds of the “new” courthouse  — with the naked eye (and I write this sarcastically because it’s confounding to ascertain for a newbie like me who doesn’t know the history) —  is that there is 1) one structure that serves as the backside of the “new” courthouse (first photo below); 2) an older structure that serves as the front side (2nd Avenue) (see lead-off photo); and a spanking new bright orange brick structure, perpendicular to the first two structures, whose long side fronts Elm Street and shorter side fronts 2nd and 1st avenues. I’ll present a photo of this in the second photo below. 

Not to be overlooked is that old courthouse, which is across 2nd Avenue from the new courthouse grounds. I’ll show this structure in pictures immediately below. 

Although the courthouses are across 2nd Avenue from each other, the old courthouse is slightly more to the north than the newer courthouse. It is, however, almost directly across 2nd Avenue from the new bright orange brick structure, which I understand will be used largely for probate matters. There was some kind of construction-related work going on at this building while I was trying to shoot photos, so I really wasn’t able to get optimum shots. 

To complicate matters, I understand that yet a third multi-use county facility, Central Coast Complex, which includes courtrooms, opened this spring in Carolina Forest, a community adjacent to Myrtle Beach. 

Back to the “new” courthouse. In addition to the old-style architecture you see in the lead-off photo, there is a north-facing entrance — hidden for the most part until you’re almost right up on it — whose architecture is very contemporary, as shown in the photos below. 

This entrance serves as a connector of the back and front sections (shown in the first two photos of this post.

And this was another place I encountered the city’s water tower — both in the window reflection (see second photo below) and, after turning around from facing the door, off in the distance as shown in the third photo below. 

If you were wondering, the county, established in 1801, is named for South Carolina Revolutionary War Brigadier General Peter Horry.

As always, to view a larger and sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. To view galleries of all my photos of the Horry County courthouses and grounds, click on the link in this sentence.

Near the new courthouse contemporary entrance shown two photos above is the county's Law Enforcement Memorial shown above and below. And off to either side of the memorial are benches, one of which is shown in the second photo below. And on the grounds of the old courthouse is the bench immediately below the first one. 

  

Also on the grounds of the old courthouse is the tree shown above, with the curved Vietnam Veterans Memorial left of the tree in the background by the street. That memorial is shown in closer detail in the two photos below.  

Coming tomorrow:

Part III — Conway, SC: Trees and Downtown

Previously in the series:

Part I: The Riverwalk