Spend the day visiting Georgetown’s five celebrated museums and checking out the 66 homes and buildings on the National Historic Register that are within walking distance of one another in the city of Georgetown.
Start your day by taking a self-guided tour along the Live Oak-lined streets of Georgetown’s Historic District, by using the free Hammock Coast app or pick up a copy of the Georgetown National Register Historic District brochure/map, available at the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center at 531 Front St., which is itself a historic building known as the Harper House (circa 1850). Other sites of interest are the Winyah Indigo Society Hall, which is an elegant two-story dance hall and event venue that was used as a hospital during the Civil War, and the Red Store Warehouse where Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of Aaron Burr and wife of Gov. Joseph Alston, boarded a ship called the Patriot in 1812 and was lost at sea. (Mysteries and even ghost stories still surround the disappearance of Theodosia. She’s also the subject of a favorite song, “Dear Theodosia,” in the musical Hamilton. Listen to it here.) You can also enjoy a second self-guided tour of historic Georgetown: Georgetown African-American Heritage Tour. It’s also available on the Hammock Coast app or you can pick up a copy of a free brochure at the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center and dive into more rich history of our beautiful historic city.
As an alternative, or in addition to your self-guided tour, you can sign up for a walking tour with Strolling on the Sampit Walking Tours ($8 for adults, children under 16 are free) or a trolley tour with Swamp Fox Tours ($15 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-12 and 5 and under are free).In the afternoon, you can visit the five museums in Georgetown: the Georgetown County Museum, the Gullah Museum, the South Carolina Maritime Museum, the Rice Museum and the Kaminski House Museum. Each of these museums share a unique aspect of Georgetown’s history with visitors. There is no admission charge at the Georgetown County Museum, the Maritime Museum, or the Gullah Museum, but there are charges for tours of the Kaminski House Museum ($12 for adults, $10 for seniors, $6 for students ages 6-17, free for children 5 and under) and the Rice Museum ($12 for adults, $9 for seniors, $6 for students ages 6-21, free for children under 6, groups over 10 people, $8 per person.).
While visiting Georgetown, take the opportunity to board one or more of three tour boats to get a different perspective on the city and its history.
Cap’n Rod’s Lowcountry Tours, which offers a Lighthouse Shell Tour (Adults are $49; children ages 4-12 are $40; and children ages 3 and under are free), a Plantation River Tour (same rates as above) and a Sunset Eco Cruise (adults are $33; children ages 4-12 are $15; and children ages 3 and under are free). Another choice is the Carolina Rover Boat Tours which offer a Seashell and Lighthouse Cruise ($38 for adults age 12 and over, $30 for children 11 and under) or a Historic Hobcaw Barony Cruise and Hobcaw House Tour ($38 for adults age 12 and over, $30 for children 11 and under). Make reservations in advance to find exact tour times.
In addition to these tours, you and your group can paddle kayaks down the river on a guided tour, through wooded areas near the city, with Black River Outdoors Kayak Tours. You will travel through the pristine rivers, swamps, creeks, and marshes of the area, giving outdoors-enthusiasts the chance for a rare experience. For more information about all of these tours, see the Tours section of the website.
For those who enjoy fishing, there are many fishing charters in the area. Black River Outdoors also offers kayak fishing adventures.
Don’t miss visiting the historic estates near Georgetown and be sure to visit the specialty shops and restaurants in and around Georgetown. You can venture out of the city to visit Hopsewee Plantation, the birthplace of Thomas Lycnh Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Learn about the decades when rice was king but slavery was still a part of Southern life on the many plantations that were established before the American Revolutionary War and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Experience the amazing Hobcaw Barony, just north of the city limits of Georgetown. A 16,000-acre research reserve today, Hobcaw Barony is one of the extraordinary undeveloped tracts on the Hammock Coast. The Native Americans called it “hobcaw,” meaning between the waters. In 1718, the land became a colonial land grant known as a barony. Sold and subdivided into plantations, the land was used for rice production until the beginning of the 20th century. Hobcaw Barony’s 16,000 acres encompass a rich diversity of every common ecosystem found on the South Carolina coast, making this an unparalleled site for research in the environmental sciences. In addition, more than 70 cultural sites on the plantation including cemeteries, slave cabins. In the 20th-century, Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch’ purchased, in 1905, Hobcaw Barony in Georgetown in 1905, as a sportsman’s retreat in his native South Carolina. The Baruch family, which included wife Annie and children Belle, Bernard Junior, and Renée, began spending November through April there. Guests were always coming and going, eager to enjoy the family’s hospitality and the duck hunting—both legendary. The guest roster included such luminaries as businessman Solomon R. Guggenheim; President Wilson’s widow, Edith Bolling Wilson; publisher Joseph Pulitzer; General George C. Marshall; Winston Churchill; popular composer Irving Berlin; and writers Jack London and Edna Ferber.
Although all the Baruchs enjoyed their winters at Hobcaw, it was the oldest, Belle, who developed an attachment to the land that would ultimately define her legacy.
When America entered World War I in 1917, Baruch was named chairman of the War Industries Board, and then served as a member of the delegation advising his friend President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference. In Paris he struck up a warmhearted, life-long friendship with Winston Churchill. Belle accompanied her father on this mission to France. Through her formative years at Hobcaw Barony, Belle’s enthusiasm for the outdoors was encouraged; she was accordingly proficient in all aspects of the sporting life: hunting, fishing, sailing, and riding. Once World War I concluded, Belle returned to France to further develop her equestrian skills, settling in Pau, a horse enclave near the Pyrenees Mountains. During her years there she achieved international acclaim, competing against the finest cavalry officers in Europe and even winning France’s highest equestrian honor, the President’s Cup.
The rising fear of war in Europe and an irresistible offer from her father to sell her a portion of Hobcaw Barony brought Belle home in 1937. She built her home and stables, called Bellefield, not far from Mr. Baruch’s Hobcaw House.
The Second World War came, and Bernard Baruch once again served his country as a counselor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, troubleshooting war preparedness problems as special advisor to the director of the Office of War Mobilization.
By now he was not only a recognized major figure in the world political scene but also very well known in the United States. He often walked in Washington D.C. and New York City, pausing to rest on benches in Lafayette Square and Central Park. That practice led FDR to dub him the Park Bench Statesman due to the casual conversations he would strike up with people he met while taking a breather. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declining health concerned his doctors early in 1944, they ordered him to rest. The president accepted his friend’s invitation to do so in South Carolina and stayed nearly a month. Baruch turned over Hobcaw House to FDR and his people, opting to stay with Belle in Bellefield. The exhausted president fished and enjoyed the grounds and sites. His wife Eleanor wrote, “Hobcaw was just the right place for Franklin, who loved the country and the life there.”
Belle’s life at Hobcaw Barony was just as active as her days on the European show-jumping circuit. She participated in the coastal watch program, assisting in the capture of a German spy operating out of Pawleys Island. She earned her pilot’s license, building a hangar and airstrip at Hobcaw for her planes and often piloting her father to and from New York for visits, and she developed a deep, abiding interest in conservation and ecology. She was a woman who accepted no limits and blazed an early trail for others into roles and responsibilities not previously open to women.
In 1946, thirty years after Mr. Baruch’s first appointment in public service, President Truman asked Mr. Baruch to represent the United States on the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. Although the Soviets rejected the Baruch Plan — essentially the American plan for the control of atomic energy — its effects on the shaping of nuclear arms policy are felt to this day.
Belle died from cancer in 1964, one year before her father. In her will, her estate established a private foundation “for the purpose of teaching and/or research in forestry, marine biology, and the care and propagation of wildlife and flora and fauna in South Carolina, in connection with colleges and/or universities in the state of South Carolina.” She named the foundation after her father, but he demurred and requested the trustees honor his daughter. Therefore, it is the Belle W. Baruch Foundation that now holds Hobcaw Barony. Her dedication to the land and her desire to preserve it led to her extraordinary gift of Hobcaw Barony to the people of South Carolina, and, indeed, to the world.
Hopsewee Plantation, built circa 1740, was one of the South’s major rice plantations and the birthplace of Thomas Lynch Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Now a private residence, Hopsewee Plantation is open to the public with tours on the hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturdays. Explore the home from top to bottom, room to room, including the two original slave cabins that still stand on the grounds. Enjoy a presentation and tour by noted historian Zenobia Harper about the African-American and Gullah-Geechee cultures that helped create and define the estate and the region, in general. Dining is available Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.at River Oak Cottage, ranked as one of the state’s top tea rooms. The plantation closes for weddings and other special events, so be sure to check the online calendar for availability.
Want a sample of history and a true taste of Georgetown? Then, sign up for a three-hour culinary tour. Corina Jones Whitehead leads the Historic Georgetown Food Tour, by calling 843-687-2312 for an appointment. The tour offers stops at four different Georgetown restaurants – first for a snack, then an appetizer, followed by a small main course and, finally, a tempting dessert at the last schedule location.
Spend the remainder of your day shopping along the city’s historic Front Street, which offers a variety of privately owned businesses ranging from bakeries and ice-cream shops to clothing boutiques and antique dealers. Also during your stay, dine in a variety of restaurants in the city, which offer Southern cuisine, seafood, Mexican food and more. In the evening, you can enjoy a movie or live theater production at the Strand Theater on Front Street. There are also walking ghost tours if you enjoy a little spooky fun, by appointment only: Walking Shadows Tours (call 843-543-5321 for reservations) and Lantern Tours (call 843-543-5777 for reservations).
