Society Hill is a town in Darlington County, South Carolina, United States alongside the Pee Dee River. It is the oldest community in Darlington County and one of the first towns founded in South Carolina. The town was once the intellectual center of the Pee Dee region. However, the town's fortunes declined in the 19th century after rivers became less important as means of transportation. It is part of the Florence Metropolitan Statistical Area.
In the 2020 census, the population of Society Hill was 438, down from 563 in 2010, 700 in 2000 and 848 in 1980. Society Hill was originally settled in the 18th century by a colony of Baptists, who named the community after their "St. David's Society," the predecessor to the Society Hill Library Society.
History
Welsh settlers came to the Society Hill area from Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1736. It was the first settlement in Darlington County. The Welsh settlers were Baptists and named the community after St. David's Society. The town was a center of intellectual life in the Pee Dee region in the 18th and early 19th century. St. David's Society educated leading men like James Lide Coker, founder of Sonoco and Coker University.
Society Hill began to decline as rivers became less important as means of transportation.
In 2017, Preservation South Carolina, a nonprofit organization, began a plan to sell eight historic buildings to preservation-minded purchasers within Society Hill. It was the organization's largest preservation effort at that time.
2020 census
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Society Hill town, South Carolina – Racial and ethnic composition<br><small></small>
!Race / Ethnicity <small>(NH = Non-Hispanic)</small>
!Pop 2000
!Pop 2010
!
!% 2000
!% 2010
!
|-
|White alone (NH)
|311
|248
|style='background: #ffffe6; |200
|44.43%
|44.05%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |45.66%
|-
|Black or African American alone (NH)
|376
|288
|style='background: #ffffe6; |207
|53.71%
|51.15%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |47.26%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)
|1
|4
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2
|0.14%
|0.71%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.46%
|-
|Asian alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|Other race alone (NH)
|5
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.71%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)
|3
|11
|style='background: #ffffe6; |20
|0.43%
|1.95%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |4.57%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|4
|12
|style='background: #ffffe6; |9
|0.57%
|2.13%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.05%
|-
|Total
|700
|563
|style='background: #ffffe6; |438
|100.00%
|100.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%
|}
2000 census
As of the census
Former Governor David Beasley was from Society Hill and represented the area in the South Carolina House of Representatives for almost twenty years.