Who we are
Born on the blackwater.
Signatures from S.C. Audited Account No. 6031 (Frances Port’s ferry, Great Pee Dee, 1779–82). Originals held by the S.C. Department of Archives & History.
The Waccamaw runs dark as sweet tea, stained by the cypress and pines it winds through on its way past Conway, Bucksport and Longs down to Winyah Bay. If you grew up here, you know the cypress knees and Spanish moss, the gators on the sandbar, and the sun going down over that black water.
Our family has been on this river since the 1700s. During the Revolution, Capt. Benjamin Garrell, a 4th great-grandfather, signed for his company's crossings of the Great Pee Dee in 1779 and later served as a captain in Lt. Col. Peter Horry's 4th Regiment of South Carolina State Dragoons, part of Francis Marion's brigade. Capt. John Graham, a 6th great-uncle, signed for his own crossing there that same spring. On September 4, 1780, Horry led a division of Marion's Men across the Waccamaw at Grier's Ferry, later Cox's Ferry, just a few miles up the river from home. No surviving roll names every man who rode that day, but Benjamin's father, James Garrell, was already supplying the Patriot cause from Kingston, and it's very possible Benjamin was riding with Horry's men well before his captaincy was written down. This water has been home for a long time.
We’re still here and still on the water, and proud to be veteran-owned. Every shirt is a club: Fishing, Wildlife, Hunting, Yacht and Drinking, and the Coffee Club lives on the mug. There are no dues and no meetings. Put one on and you carry a little of the river with you wherever you go. Everything is printed when you order, so nothing goes to waste.
