Carolina Forest Genealogy Records
Carolina Forest genealogy research draws on Horry County records, as Carolina Forest is an unincorporated community within Horry County near Myrtle Beach. Carolina Forest developed as a planned residential community beginning in the late 1980s. Because it is unincorporated, all official records are maintained at the Horry County level. Families who lived in this area before residential development are documented in Horry County records going back to the county's 1801 formation. The Horry County Probate Court and Register of Deeds in Conway hold all official genealogy records for the Carolina Forest area.
Carolina Forest Quick Facts
Horry County Resources for Carolina Forest Genealogy
The Horry County Memorial Library at 1008 Fifth Avenue, Conway, SC 29526 is the primary genealogy resource for all of Horry County including the Carolina Forest area. Phone: (843) 248-1520. The library holds local history materials, compiled family histories, local newspapers on microfilm, and genealogy reference resources that help researchers trace Horry County families from the county's founding period through the modern era. Because Carolina Forest is a relatively recent development, researchers looking for earlier records of families from the area will find the county-level resources in Conway more useful than anything specific to the Carolina Forest community itself.
The Horry County Museum at 428 Main Street, Conway, SC 29526 holds the primary historical collections for Horry County. The museum documents the agricultural, timber, and turpentine economy that supported families in the Horry County interior before tourism and residential development transformed the landscape. The land records and family histories in the museum's collections cover the area that became Carolina Forest as part of the broader Horry County story. Coastal Carolina University in Conway maintains library resources and supports historical research on the Pee Dee and Grand Strand region. The university's collections include materials on Horry County families and communities that can supplement the official county records for genealogy research in the Carolina Forest area.
The Chapin Memorial Library at 400 14th Avenue N, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 is the closest full-service library to Carolina Forest and provides access to genealogy resources for the Myrtle Beach area. Phone: (843) 918-1275. The library holds local history materials specific to the coastal Horry County area that can be relevant for Carolina Forest researchers.
The Online Records Index is a useful starting point for Carolina Forest area genealogy because the pre-development land history of this part of Horry County is documented in the county's land plat records accessible through SCDAH.
Horry County Official Records for Carolina Forest Genealogy
The Horry County Probate Court at 1301 2nd Avenue, Conway, SC 29526 holds marriage licenses from July 1, 1911 through June 30, 1950 and estate records from the county's 1801 formation. Phone: (843) 915-5370. For Carolina Forest marriages from July 1950 onward, contact the South Carolina Department of Public Health at 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29201. Phone: 803-898-3630. All genealogy records for Carolina Forest residents are maintained at the Horry County level because the community is unincorporated.
The Horry County Register of Deeds at 1301 2nd Avenue, Conway maintains land records for the Carolina Forest area and all of Horry County. Phone: (843) 915-5408. Property records for the Carolina Forest community document the recent residential development as well as the earlier agricultural land use that preceded it. The SCDAH Online Records Index includes early land plats for the Horry County interior that cover the area before residential development began.
Carolina Forest Area Vital Records
South Carolina required birth and death registration starting January 1, 1915. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History holds Horry County birth records for 1915 to 1918 online and death records for 1915 to 1963. The South Carolina Department of Public Health holds vital records from 1915 to present at 2600 Bull Street, Columbia. Phone: 803-898-3630.
The free South Carolina death index for genealogy covers Horry County deaths from 1915 through 1967. Records for Carolina Forest residents are filed under Horry County. For genealogy before 1915 in the Carolina Forest area, census data and church records from the surrounding Horry County communities are the primary sources. The interior portions of Horry County were served by Baptist and Methodist congregations from the early nineteenth century, and their records document vital events for the farming and timber families who occupied the land before the modern residential era.
The State Library guide helps Carolina Forest researchers understand the Horry County and state record system, which holds all official genealogy records for this unincorporated community.
Nearby Cities
Carolina Forest is an unincorporated community in Horry County near Myrtle Beach. All Horry County genealogy records are held at the county probate court and register of deeds in Conway.