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“W” is for Williamsburg County

“W” is for Williamsburg County (947 square miles; 2020 population 29,825). Williamsburg County, located in the outer coastal plain and in the southern tip of the Pee Dee area, dates from the 1730s settlement plan which included Williamsburg Township on the Black River. Named for King William III of England, the township became a part of Prince Frederick Parish. Williamsburg became a district in 1804 and a county in 1868. Since its creation, a majority of the county’s population has been African American. The county’s economy has always depended heavily upon agriculture. However, with the demise of tobacco production, there are fewer acres farmed today than at the turn of the twenty-first century. Like many other counties in the region, it has suffered a steady decline in population. The county seat of Williamsburg County is Kingstree.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.