Georgetown, South Carolina

 

“Water is the driving force of all nature."

Leonardo da Vinci

On our drive home from our Myrtle Beach, South Carolina after a long fun filled weekend, we decided to take the scenic route and drive along South Carolina's beautiful coast. We headed south to the charming and historic town of Georgetown, South Carolina. Georgetown.  It is located in the Low country of South Carolina and is located on Winyah Bay where the Black, Great Pee Dee, Waccamaw, and Sampit Rivers all meet. Georgetown is the county seat of Georgetown County and is the third oldest city in South Carolina.

When we drove into town, we headed down Front Street which was a gorgeous tree lined attractive street and parked. Our first impressions of this charming, coastal town was what a beautiful, quaint town it was that was nicely laid out with lots of southern flare and character. The large stately trees in town were draped with Spanish Moss that gently blew in the sea breeze. We strolled over to the Harbor Walk, which is a well built boardwalk that runs four blocks long and was a great area for a leisurely walk along the tidal river. There were shops and restaurants accessible along the boardwalk on one side and fishing boats lined up, ready to take people deep sea fishing or on a sight seeing trip on the other side. We stopped along the way to take in the gorgeous views of the river and to watch the wee alligators and turtles swimming by under the boardwalk. They were active that day and put on quite a show for us swimming happily around this tidal basin.

As we were walking, we came up to the restaurant called Buzz’s Roost which had a two story waterfront deck that looked inviting.   We decided to go in and get a bite to eat.  The food was great and we enjoyed the casual atmosphere.  It was a great stop. 

After our lunch, we were well entertained and fed, we headed further down the Harbor Walk to see the large mansion at the end. We passed a lovely three tier water fountain just before the mansion and then walked up to see the Kaminski House. It is a beautiful white plantation home with large white pillars around the front and was set way back in a lovely landscaped yard. They had it nicely decorated with red, white, and blue banners to celebrate the Fourth of July. We saw a large family dressed in white, getting family pictures in front of the house and marveled on what a grand background that would be. We caught up to them a little later near the river and took more pictures for them.

The Kaminski home was stunning to see with all its charm and was built by Paul Trapier in the 18th Century Georgian Style Manor. Paul was known locally as “The King of Georgetown” because he had been so successful with opening stores both here and Charleston that he became quite wealthy. He gave the home and land to his daughter hoping to attract a husband for her, which it did. She later passed the estate on to her niece and then in later years through many other owners. It was last purchased in 1931 by Harold and Julia Kaminski. Harold ended up serving as Mayor of Georgetown. He also served as an officer in WWI, WWII, and was on active duty in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 when it was bombed. After he and Julia passed, the home and land was deeded to the city of Georgetown to be used as a museum. This was truly a magnificent property.

We came upon this unique brick building on Front Street and we just struck by how unusual it looked. The building is called the Rice Museum  was built between 1832 – 1835. It stands out since it is a skinny brick building with a tower house and a four sided clock that was later added to the building in 1842. The museum is located in what was the historic Old Market Building and was built in a classical revival style. The arched area was used as an open air market but was later enclosed in the early 20th century. We found this building very attractive, fascinating, and beautiful. It is used as a museum  about the local history and also has an area for displaying art.

Georgetown is not just a pretty town but also has an interesting history to make it even more appealing. Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon, a Spanish explorer, founded this colony in 1526 and called it San Miguel de Guadalupe. The first settlers to this region included enslaved Africans and this area had the distinction of being the first European settlement in North American with African Slaves. This area was great for growing rice and Indigo. With the help of the African Slaves, they learned how to grown rice like in Africa and succeeded in having great crops.

That initial settlement failed because of a fever epidemic and the slaves revolted, escaped, and ended up joining the Cofitachequi Indians, a local tribe who lived nearby. The Spanish that survived, built a ship out of local lumber and sailed away to the Spice Islands. The English settlers came in next after they settled Charles Town in 1670. Elisha Screven, the founder of Georgetown, designed the city in four by eight block grids in 1729. 

Later, rice become the main crop here which helped to make South Carolina the second richest state after Massachusetts in the original 13 states. In 1840, the area produced half of the total crop for the United States and was the largest rice exporting port of the world. These wealthy people who owned these farms built beautiful huge plantation homes in this area, with many still to be seen. This area is now a touristy area and a great place to stop and visit.

This town has made it through lots of trials and tribulations including hurricanes, floods, and fires. Hurricane Hugo hit here in September 1989 and did a lot of damage. Also a fire hit the 700 block of Front Street on September 25, 2013 and destroyed seven historic buildings. The Buzz's Roost was one of the buildings that sustained severe damage. But the people of Georgetown, have persevered and have built their town back up and made it whole again and again a destination worthy of a stop.

We loved this little town and wished we had more time to spend here and explore. We will come back when things start opening up more after COVID 19. We recommend visiting this small picturesque town.

                                                           Until next time. Bye for now.