The exit to historic Georgetown is easy to miss, due in part to the smog created by the International Paper mill that looms over the port city. As a result, many travelers are unaware of the magical experiences Georgetown has to offer. Brimming with stylish cafes, coffee shops, boutiques, art galleries and five cultural museums along Front Street, Georgetown also boasts … [Read more...]
Georgetown’s Yuletide Tour of Homes: Strolling Through Time
When Kevin Jayroe, local realtor and chairman of Georgetown’s Architectural Review Board, and Trudy Bazemore, associate director of the Georgetown County Library, sat down for lunch at the Rice Paddy restaurant 23 years ago, they hatched an idea to create a holiday tour of homes as an event to raise funds for the library’s children’s area and its programs. Jayroe and Bazemore … [Read more...]
Holiday Fun at Kaminski House Museum
Perched on a bluff overlooking the Sampit River behind Georgetown’s Front Street is the stately Kaminski House, built in the Georgian style sometime in the mid-to-late 1760s by successful merchant Paul Trapier. After Trapier gifted the home to his daughter, it traded hands many times until Harold and Julia Kaminski purchased the property in 1931. The son of a prominent … [Read more...]
History of Pawleys Island Chapel: Sermons by the Sea
Surrounded by picturesque views of marsh and creek, the charming one-room Pawleys Island Chapel, also known as Pawleys House of Worship, is an iconic structure that attracts locals and tourists of all denominations. Photographers and artists are also drawn to the chapel for its historical appeal and its juxtaposition against the idyllic sunsets for which the area is … [Read more...]
Get Carried Away: Flocking to Georgetown
For decades, Brian and Sassy Henry, their two children and extended family members have traveled to Pawleys Island. While constantly grocery shopping, cooking or cleaning up after the six little kids, the young parents rarely had the chance to relax and enjoy time at the beach. Still, the Henry family had fallen in love with the area and in 2022, they made a permanent move from … [Read more...]
Haints, Hags & Plat Eyes: Eerie Estates and Unexplained Encounters
Against this backdrop of our region’s checkered history, it is impossible to ignore that coastal South Carolina is a portal for hauntings. It all began with the arrival of early settlers and wealthy planters in the Lowcountry, the indigenous population was eliminated due to slavery and disease. Then Africans came ashore in droves, forced to work the land, often in dangerous … [Read more...]
Opening Batch: Georgetown Crafts First Brewery
A craft beer fan and teacher from Cincinnati, Chase Runyan started brewing in his house by tinkering with kits and learning how to bottle the beer after fermentation. After making five or six batches each year, Runyan built up a good-sized collection of equipment that he stashed in a storage unit when he moved to Georgetown in 2017. In the meantime, Runyan was enjoying a … [Read more...]
Revolutionized: Georgetown’s Downtown Makeover
When the port city of Georgetown was laid out in 1729, merchant-oriented businesses and homes lined the land side of Front Street, originally called Bay Street, overlooking the sparkling Sampit River, which by 1732 became a main point of entry for commercial trade. By the mid-18th century, property owners realized the capital that could be gained by selling their riverside … [Read more...]
Gold Standard: Georgetown’s Own Crowned Olympic Champion
When 23-year-old Nike athlete and Georgetown native Melissa Jefferson arrived at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in June, she was determined to secure her spot on the women’s track and field team rather than qualifying as an alternate as she did the year before. As a witness to Jefferson’s second-place win that earned her the … [Read more...]
North Meets South: Welcoming Northern Invasion II
As Southerners, many of us were bred with a deep resentment toward Northerners due to their victory in the “War of Northern Aggression” and the resulting stories that passed down for generations about how Union soldiers hijacked crops, animals and silver from the Confederates, looting and burning their houses, consequently leaving many of our ancestors destitute. Equally … [Read more...]