Moving Forward!

The Kershaw County Historical Society has been ON THE MOVE—literally.

The historic Bonds Conway House, which has served for 42 years as the Society’s headquarters at 811 Fair Street, Camden, was moved with great excitement on March 30 to a more visitor-accessible setting on the grounds of Historic Camden, which is at 222 Broad Street beside the new Kershaw County Revolutionary War Visitor Center, 212 Broad.

On the Historic Camden campus, the House will sit with other period buildings in a village setting, east of the Craven House and west of the McCaa Tavern, as seen in photos here. (More photos of the move process will be posted soon, and other photos will appear in weeks ahead as the house continues its transition to reopening.)

The Society has donated the House and its collected antique furnishings to the Historic Camden Foundation to become part of the interpretative history of the area. KCHS will continue use of the House’s office and upstairs storage for Society purposes, and will work with HCF, the Camden Archives, and Conway family researchers on developing related historical presentations.

Take a look at the history of Bonds Conway as presented in a popular KCHS-distributed account and recently updated on its webpage.

In 1977 the Society purchased the then-unnamed house under condemnation at 411 York Street, saving it from demolition, and then purchased the Fair Street property on which to renovate and use the house while continuing to research its history. The Society retains ownership of the 811 Fair Street property.

Over the years, as interest in the Bonds Conway house and its history increased, the concept of moving the house to Historic Camden was talked about at other intervals for the same visitor-accessible reasons, but the pieces finally came together after specific planning which began before and continued in the long months of Covid.

Read here about some of the Society’s other recent and ongoing activities. The Kershaw County Historical Society is excited to continue MOVING AHEAD!