pine forest that dominated the area. Sap bled from the trees produces turpentine, pitch, and tar, all of which were transported down the Pee Dee River to Georgetown to be used on the hulls of wooden boats to prevent marine worm infestation. By 1865, J. W. Holliday's business was destroyed by the Civil War, and he moved to Galivants Ferry. In 1869 he opened a store on the banks of the Little Pee Dee River that grew to become the major source of farm supplies in Western Horry County. An innovative farmer, J.W. Holliday perhaps is best remembered for introducing the flue-cured type of tobacco raised in Horry County. Thereafter, he and his descendants at Galivants Ferry have been associated with economic progress and public service in South Carolina. George J. Holliday, the son of J.W. Holliday and the grandson of Senator R. G. W. Grissette, graduated from Harvard University and returned to S.C. He expanded his father's mercantile business, opening stores in Aynor and Jordanville. While the rest of the state and region suffered the consequences of the boll weevil plague on the cotton crop, Holliday experimented with tobacco in 1900, expanding its cultivation throughout the area by the 1920s. Horry County soon came to be recognized as the largest tobacco producer in South Carolina and George Holliday, the largest tobacco grower in America. Throughout the Great Depression, George Holliday continued to supply a population from which money had all but vanished. To deal with this problem, Holliday produced a form of money called "scrip" which the locals could barter form goods at the Holliday stores. Back then, the majority of agriculture output was produced by farmers living on the land with their families and agreeing to "share the crop" with the land owner generally on a 50/50 basis, thus the term "sharecropper". At its peak, 1200 to 1500 people were supported by the Holliday farms in western Horry County. In 1876, the now famous, longest-running political gathering was held in the Galivants Ferry district featuring General Wade Hampton, former Civil War hero, in his run for governor. Campaign speeches were referred to as "Stump Speakings". In 2004, Galivants Ferry celebrated 128 years as the longest-running Democratic campaign speech site in America. During its heyday in the early 20th century, Galivants Ferry formulated the basis for Horry County's tobacco heritage as well as maintained The Old Democratic Primary campaign