Georgetown is a leading seaport of 10,000 people on Winyah Bay.

The Spanish attempted to establish North America’s first settlement on Winyah Bay in 1526, but it failed because of a hurricane and Indian attacks. The English arrived in 1726 and named the settlement after George II. It was occupied by British forces during the Revolutionary War. Once an important international port serving the area’s rice plantations, it features a beautiful waterfront where the old docks have been converted into an array of restaurants and shops.

The town’s historic district is full of attractive eighteenth- and nineteenth-century homes and churches and has a very pleasant main street. Walking, driving, tram and horse-drawn carriage tours as well as water excursions are available. Historic buildings include Harold Kaminiski House (1760s) and Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church, established in 1721.

The latter’s grounds contain the graves of soldiers from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. On the northern side of town is the Belle W. Baruch Plantation, which retains the wooden shacks that served as slave quarters. The main home was once owned by influential financier and statesman Bernard Baruch who advised presidents Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower.

A walking tour of the historic district is available from the visitor center. Next door, in the old market building (1842), the Rice Museum uses dioramas, tools and maps to examine the history of rice cultivation that flourished here with the expertise and labor of African slaves. For a time Georgetown was the world’s biggest exporter of rice.

Twelve miles south of Georgetown is the Hopsewee Plantation, which retains the large 1740 mansion where Thomas Lynch Jr was born in 1749. A signatory of the Declaration of Independence, he served in the state’s first General Assembly and Second Continental Congress. The perfectly manicured grounds feature an abundance of Spanish moss; mosquitoes from the nearby river are in plague proportions in summer—leading one to contemplate what the working conditions were for slaves on this former rice plantation.

A further 5 miles south is Hampton Plantation State Park which is based around an exceptional Neoclassical mansion erected by Huguenots during the mid-eighteenth century. It was visited by President George Washington in 1791. The park is located within Francis Marion National Forest.

This area is largely African-American and is quite famous for traditional African sweet-grass baskets.

At the northeastern corner of the forest, off US-17, is the Santee Coastal Reserve, which incorporates 11 miles of beach. This reserve is home to waterfowl, wading birds, deer, alligators, snakes, and raccoons. There are nature trails for walks, and also canoe and bike trails. Further south along the coast is the wilderness terrain of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses a stretch of barrier islands and also salt marshes.

Georgetown is located at the intersection of US-521 and US-17, 56 miles north of Charleston. It is serviced by Georgetown county airport and Myrtle Beach International Airport.