Harborwalk Marina, Georgetrown

Our goal for today is to make Georgetown, the largest town between Myrtle Beach and Charleston. Perhaps 35 miles south, it was a center for rice commerce in the heyday of the Plantation economy. In the early 20th century, it re-invented itself as a manufactirung center for paper and steel. Indeed, I remember stopping in Georgetown over 20 years ago on my way to Charleston; it was a grungy place whose skyline was dominated by a dirty steel mill and the smell of the paper mill was everywhere.

Smoke from the Papermill

The guidebooks all said that Georgetown had again re-invented itself -- the steel company went bankrupt, its mill closed; the paper mill still  operated and the smell was still there "if the wind was in the wrong direction". However, the waterfront district had been transformed into a tourist attraction with a "harborwalk" along the waterfornt, many shops and boutiques along the adjacent main street and a "Rice Museum" -- had the potential for an interesting visit.

The day was sunny and "heat-advisory" hot, heat indexes were expected to be in the 105-110 area, but we had a nice cool SW breeze as we motored our way down the Wacamaw river. We caught a friendly current and were able to do over 6 knots all the way. Eventually we arrived at the junction of the Wacamaw and Pee Dee rivers, where Georgtown is located and where both rivers flow into Wynah Bay and the Ocean.

Scenes along the Wacamaw River:

Then river is wide and navigable leading to some surprising sights so far inland

An osprey resting after breakfast (or perhaps looking for lunch)

Cedars with another empty next

Tree and sign; topiary eagle in profile

Driftwood in the making

Spanish moss is everywhere in the low country

Given the heat, we chose to take a slip so we could use the A/C and escape it for an evening. Oh, and being in town means "grocery run exercise" :-)

 The 1.5 mile walk to the Piggly Wiggly confirmed the guidebooks; the waterfornt area was thriving -- shops everywhere with very few "empty" storefronts -- much larger and healthier than either Elizabeth City or Belhaven seemed to us. Situated a few blocks awy from the waterfront, the town had cleverly built a very high (15-20') fence around the abandoned steel mill, rendering it largely "invisible" for a pedestrian. There was a light paper mill smell in the air, not at all unpleasant. Of course, not all was rosy -- on the way back we walked through a neighborhood adjacent to the harbor district with some large, neglected homes -- the tourist trade hadn't yet revived the real estate market away from the waterfront, but all in all, the town had a positive feel to it.

Georgetown remembers a police chief -- the last line says it all

We weren't in a mood to do much touring (too hot), so we passed on the rice museum (although we did stop at a furniture store to look at some different "lanai" furniture and had the "mandatory" ice cream on a hot day). We also contributed to the revival of the town by having dinner at a waterfront restaurant, including trying some local specialities: a Black-eyed Pea cake appetizer and Collard Greens veggie with our Seafood Casserole -- all were very tasty.

Our dinner restaurant