Overview
Georgetown, with a growing population of 8,951, has beautifully combined its small town charm with all the conveniences of larger cities. It has everything, from white-sand beaches, championship golf and natural beauty to history and culture. Georgetown provides a truly exceptional quality of life, with excellent medical care facilities such as the Georgetown Hospital Systems, Grand Strand Hospital Systems, and The Medical University Hospital of South Carolina in Charleston. Also, within sixty miles are Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach and The Citadel (The Military University of South Carolina), The College of Charleston, The South Carolina School of Law, and Charleston Southern University all located in the Charleston area. Airports in Myrtle Beach and Charleston are readily accessible. Georgetown is an unbeatable place to live and work and play.

Location
Georgetown is located in Georgetown County, South Carolina, and is the county seat of Georgetown County. As part of Georgetown County, it is situated in northeastern

South Carolina on the Atlantic Ocean, between Myrtle Beach and Charleston.  Georgetown is a seaport on Winyah Bay at the confluence of the Great Pee Dee River, Waccamaw River, and Sampit River.

Map

Geography
Georgetown covers a total area of 7.2 square miles, 6.5 square miles of which is land and 0.6 square miles, or 8.79%, of which is water. Winyah Bay was formed from a submergent or drowned coastline. Either the ocean rose or the land sank, which changed the landform and created a good location for a city.



Jobs
The main employers in Georgetown County are Georgetown County Schools, International Paper Company, Georgetown Hospital System, Georgetown County, the City of Georgetown, and the Tourism Industry

Recreation
Georgetown has programs and facilities for all ages and recreational needs. The city has 35 miles of beaches, 5 rivers, 13 marinas and boat landings, 5 public parks, and 17 golf courses, with 100 others nearby.

The city was recently featured in National Geographic Adventure Magazine as one of the "Ten U.S. Adrenaline Outposts" because of its outstanding fishing, boating and outdoor recreational opportunities.

Georgetown lies where four rivers converge on the Intracoastal Waterway, providing abundant areas for recreational activities, particularly if you include the swamps at the mouth of the Santee, a few miles southwest, and the sheltered bays between the coast, and the string of barrier islands forested with live oak and red cedar.


Marine and wildlife sight-seeing eco-tours or visits to nature preserves are also available. With the wealth of natural ecology and environment here, many species of wildlife make their home in Georgetown area, and migrating birds and fish stop by to visit.

Special Attractions/Events
Georgetown has experienced something of a revival. The city’s Front Street has been redeveloped with restaurants, galleries, and antique and specialty shops. You can take a walking tour past scores of ante-bellum buildings.



Some of the lively arts and cultural events held throughout the year.  These events include:

Art Festival at Atalaya 
Annual Harborwalk Art Show
Made in the Shade Concert Series
Indigo Choral Society Annual Concert
Murrells Inlet Boat Parade
"Artists Under the Arcade" at Brookgreen Gardens
Atalaya Arts & Crafts Festival
Georgetown Watercolor Society Annual Art Show
Coastal Chorale Christmas Concert
Historic Homes of Pawleys Island
An American Treasure: Hopsewee Plantation c. 1740
Strand Theater: Home of the Swamp Fox Players

For some history, you can take the Cemetery Tour at Hobcaw Barony. These cemeteries hold the clues of former plantation owners, slaves and their descendants, hunting guides and employees. The tour gives insight into the burial customs, grave markers and regional history of the area.

Also available are plantation tours. Most of the plantations and houses are privately owned and graciously shared for the annual tour of pre-Revolutionary and antebellum churches, town houses, and plantations held in the spring by Prince George Episcopal Church.

Interesting Facts/Historic Buildings and Place
England's Prince George, after whom it was named. The town was first occupied by the Spanish in the early 1500's. English planters and merchants settled in what is now Georgetown's Historic District, a five-by-seven block area. For over a hundred years after its founding in 1729, the port was busy shipping the rice and indigo grown on the nearby plantations. By the mid-1800's Georgetown supplied more than half of the rice grown in the United States.

Georgetown has been a port city since 1732, and is the oldest open seaport on the Eastern Seaboard. It was an important port during the Revolution, receiving supplies from Philadelphia, but British troops destroyed much of the city in 1781.

Georgetown County, located between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina, is steeped in tales of dynamic men and women who once lived and prospered here. Though these men and women have now passed away, many of their spirits still remain. There are rumored to be over a hundred ghosts in the area, making Georgetown County one of the nation's most haunted locations.

Georgetown is the birthplace of Chris Rock, comedian; Lorenzo Bromell, a NFL player for the New York Giants; Robert Geathers, a NFL player for the Cincinnati Bengals; and Matt Morris, a college basketball player for the Clemson Tigers.

Georgetown was the filming location for the 2000 movie, "The Patriot".

National Geographic recently named Georgetown County one of the nation's top 10 places for summer adventure. Authors Gerald Sweitzer and Kathy Fields have selected Georgetown as one of their "50 Best Small Southern Towns”, based on criteria such as economic viability, cultural scene, recreational attractions, health care and adult educational opportunities.