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  South Carolina Maritime Museum

  As the Palmetto State’s second-largest port, Georgetown has more than its share of nautical history. Check it out at the burgeoning South Carolina Maritime Museum (729 Front St., 843/520-0111, www.scmaritimemuseum.org, Mon.-Sat. 11am-5pm, free). The 2013 downtown fire caused a bit of damage to the building, but the museum is still humming. It sponsors the fun Wooden Boat Show each October on the waterfront.

  Georgetown County Museum

  For a more complete look at various aspects of local history, check out the Georgetown County Museum (632 Prince St., 843/545-7020, Tues.-Fri. 10am-5pm, Sat. 10am-3pm, $4 adults, $2 ages 6-18, free under age 6). The highlight is a recently discovered letter written by Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion.

  Georgetown’s historic district

  Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church

  It has seen better days—the British partially burned it during the Revolutionary War—but Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church (301 Broad St., 843/546-4358, www.pgwinyah.org, Mon.-Fri. 11:30am-4:30pm, services Sun. 8am, 9am, and 11am) is still a fine example of the Anglican tradition of the Lowcountry rice culture. First built in 1750 out of ballast stones (the parish itself dates from substantially earlier, 1721), the sanctuary features classic box pews, expert stained glass, and ornate woodwork on the inside. The bell tower dates from 1824.

  Hopsewee Plantation

  Beautiful in an understated way, Hopsewee Plantation (494 Hopsewee Rd., 843/546-7891, www.hopsewee.com, Feb.-Nov. Tues.-Fri. 10am-4pm, Sat. 11am-4pm, Dec.-Jan. by appointment only, $17.50 adults, $10.50 ages 12-17, $7.50 ages 5-11, free under age 5), on the Santee River 12 miles south of Georgetown, was the birthplace of Thomas Lynch Jr., one of South Carolina’s signers of the Declaration of Independence. Some key archaeological work is going on at the former slave village on this old indigo plantation; you can visit two of the original slave cabins on the tour. The 1740 main house is a masterpiece of colonial architecture, and all the more impressive because it’s very nearly original, with the black cypress exterior largely intact. The focus here is on preservation, not restoration. There’s a fairly active calendar of events throughout the year, including sweetgrass basket-weaving classes.

  Hopsewee Plantation

  S Hampton Plantation

  Tucked away three miles off U.S. 17 on the South Santee River is Hampton Plantation State Historic Site (1950 Rutledge Rd., 843/546-9361, www.southcarolinaparks.com, grounds daily 9am-5pm, free, house tours Sat.-Tues. 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm, $7.50 adults, $3.50 ages 6-15, free under age 6). This Georgian gem, one of the grandest of the antebellum Lowcountry homes, hosted George Washington in 1791. Supposedly the grand “Washington Oak” nearby provided shade for a picnic at which our first president dined. It was also the home of South Carolina poet laureate Archibald Rutledge, who sold it to the state in 1971. Because it’s now a state-run project, admission fees are significantly lower than at most of the private plantation homes in the area. The imposing antebellum main house, built in 1735 and expanded in 1757, is magnificent both inside and out. If you want to skip the house tour, visiting the scenic grounds is free. A two-mile nature trail takes you around one of the original rice fields on Wambaw Creek.

  Hampton Plantation

  The Swamp Fox and the Coming of Guerrilla Warfare

  I have it from good authority, that this great soldier, at his birth, was not larger than a New England lobster, and might easily enough have been put into a quart pot.

  Peter Horry, who fought with Francis Marion

  Short, bowlegged, and moody, Francis Marion was as far away from the template of the dashing war hero as his tactics were from the storybook exploits of military literature. The father of modern guerrilla warfare was born an unimpressively small and sickly baby, the youngest of seven, somewhere in Berkeley County, South Carolina, in 1732 to hardworking French Huguenot parents. Soon his family would move near Georgetown on the coast, and the teenage Marion became enamored with the sea. While his infatuation with maritime life lasted exactly one voyage—a whale rammed and sank his ship—a taste for adventure remained.

  During the French and Indian War, Marion fought local Cherokee people, and revisionist historians would later revile the enthusiasm he showed in this venture. But Marion’s own words show a more conflicted character, as shown by his reaction to an order to burn Cherokees out of their homes.

  Some of our men seemed to enjoy this cruel work, laughing very heartily at the curling flames, as they mounted loud crackling over the tops of the huts. But to me it appeared a shocking sight. Poor creatures! thought I, we surely need not grudge you such miserable habitations.

  While the irregular tactics Marion learned fighting the Cherokee would come in handy during the Revolutionary War, his first experience in that conflict was in more textbook engagements, such as the defenses of Fort Moultrie and Fort Sullivan and the siege of Savannah. But with the fall of Charleston in 1780, a vengeful Marion and his ragged band of volunteer fighters—who, unusual for the time, included African Americans—vanished into the bogs of the Pee Dee and took up a different way of warfare: ambush and retreat, harass and vanish. In a foreshadowing of the revolutionary movements of the 20th century, “Marion’s Men” provisioned themselves with food and supplies from a sympathetic local populace, offering receipts for reimbursement after the war.

  Astride small agile mounts called Marsh Tackies, descendants of horses originally left by the Spanish, the Patriots rode where bigger British cavalry horses balked. Marion’s nocturnal cunning and his superior intelligence network frustrated the British army and their Loyalist supporters to no end, leading to his nickname, “The Swamp Fox.”

  British Colonel Banastre Tarleton, himself known as “The Butcher” for atrocities on civilians, was dispatched to neutralize Marion. The savage cat-and-mouse game between the two formed the basis for the storyline of Mel Gibson’s The Patriot (Gibson’s character was reportedly a composite of Marion and several other South Carolina irregulars). Filmed entirely in South Carolina—including at Middleton Plantation, Cypress Gardens, and Historic Brattonsville—The Patriot is far from an exact chronicle, but it does accurately portray the nature of the war in the Southern theater, in which quarter was rarely asked or given, and little distinction was made between combatant and civilian.

  While certainly the most famous, the Swamp Fox was merely first among equals in a veritable menagerie of hit-and-run fighters. Thomas Sumter, a Virginian by birth, became known as “The Carolina Gamecock” for his ferocity on the battlefield. Andrew Pickens, “The Wizard Owl,” and his militiamen played a key role in the Battle of Cowpens in the Upstate.

  After the war, Marion served in elected office, married, and settled down at his Pine Bluff Plantation, now submerged under the lake that bears his name. He died in 1795 at the age of 63, peaceful at last.

  St. James-Santee Episcopal Church

  This redbrick church doesn’t look that old, but the sanctuary of St. James-Santee Episcopal Church (Old Georgetown Rd., 843/887-4386), south of Georgetown near Hampton Plantation State Historic Site, dates from before the Revolutionary War. Known locally as “The Old Brick Church,” this building dates from 1768, but the St. James-Santee parish it serves was actually the second in the colony after St. Michael’s in Charleston. The parish was notable for incorporating large numbers of French Huguenots. The interior is nearly as Spartan as the exterior, featuring the rare sight of old-fashioned family box pews. While the brick was imported from Britain, the columns are made of cypress. Today, only one official service is held each year in the old brick church, during Easter. You can have a look at the exterior and walk through the cemetery during daylight hours anytime, though. You get here by following the signs via a very long dirt road, not recommended in rainy weather unless you have a good four-wheel-drive vehicle.

  McClellanville

  The almost unbearably cute little fishing village of McClellanville is nestled among the woods of Francis Marion National
Forest and is known mostly for the annual Lowcountry Shrimp Festival and Blessing of the Fleet (http://lowcountryshrimpfestival.com), held on the waterfront in early May. This is the place to go for any kind of delectable fresh shrimp dish you might want, from fried shrimp to shrimp kebabs and shrimp tacos. The event culminates with the colorful and touching Blessing of the Fleet ceremony.

  Hobcaw Barony

  Once a plantation, then a winter home for a Wall Street investor, Hobcaw Barony (22 Hobcaw Rd., 843/546-4623, www.hobcawbarony.org, hours and prices vary) is now an environmental education center. Hobcaw entered its modern period when 11 of the former plantations were purchased en masse in 1905 by Wall Street investor Bernard Baruch, a South Carolina native who wanted a winter residence to escape the brutal Manhattan winters. Presidents and prime ministers came to hunt and relax on its nearly 18,000 acres. Fifty years later, Baruch died, and his progressive-minded daughter Belle took over, immediately wanting to open the grounds to universities for scientific research.

  Still privately owned by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation, much of Hobcaw Barony is open only to researchers, but the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center (843/546-4623, www.hobcawbarony.org, Mon.-Fri. 9am-5pm, free) has various exhibits on local history and culture, including Native American artifacts and a modest but fun aquarium with a touch tank. To experience the rest of Hobcaw Barony, you must take one of the various themed guided tours (call for days and times). The basic Hobcaw tour ($20) takes you on a three-hour van ride all around the grounds, including the main Hobcaw House, the historic stables, and the old slave quarters, with an emphasis on the natural as well as human history of the area. Other special tours include Birding on the Barony ($30), Christmas in the Quarters ($20), and a catch-and-release fly-fishing tour ($250) of local waters.

  Georgetown Lighthouse

  While you can’t access the state-owned Georgetown Lighthouse, you can indeed take a trip to the beach on North Island, where the lighthouse stands. The 1811 structure, repaired after heavy damage in the Civil War, is still an active beacon, now entirely automated.

  the Georgetown Lighthouse

  North Island was part of lands bequeathed to the state by former Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey; North Island is now part of a wildlife preserve bearing Yawkey’s name. In 2001, the Georgetown Lighthouse, on the National Register of Historic Places, was added to the preserve.

  Tours and Cruises

  One of the most sought-after tour tickets in the Georgetown area is for the annual Plantation Home Tour (843/545-8291). Sponsored by the Episcopal Church Women of Prince George Winyah Parish, this event, generally happening the first week in April, brings visitors onto many local private antebellum estates that are not open to the public at any other time. Each ticket is for either the Friday or Saturday tour, both of which feature a different set of homes. Tickets include tea at the Winyah Indigo Society Hall each afternoon.

  For a standard downtown tour, get on one of the blue-and-white trams of Swamp Fox Historic District Tours (1001 Front St., 843/527-6469, $10 pp), which leave daily on the hour starting at 10am near the Harborwalk.

  Broad Street to Wall Street: The Story of Bernard Baruch

  He became one of the country’s most influential men and a world-famous adviser to presidents during both world wars, but Bernard Baruch never strayed far in spirit from his South Carolina home.

  Born to German-Jewish parents in the town of Camden, near Columbia, Baruch was born a mere five years after the end of the Civil War. Ironically, his father emigrated from Prussia to avoid the draft, but soon after arriving in the United States, he found himself a surgeon on Robert E. Lee’s staff.

  Educated in New York City, Baruch gained a love of finance and a taste for the high life. By age 30 he had become so wealthy playing the market that he was able to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. It was during this phase of his life that he purchased the 18,000-acre Hobcaw Barony near Georgetown, a conglomeration of several former rice plantations that became his hunting retreat, a hallowed place of solitude where no phones were allowed.

  Baruch’s prowess in the realm of high finance led him to a post as adviser to President Woodrow Wilson; perhaps influencing the selection was the whopping $50,000 contribution Baruch gave to Wilson’s 1914 campaign, an enormous sum for that time. Required to divest his funds and give up his stock-exchange seat, Baruch turned his aggressive financier’s mind to a larger playing field. A sort of economic czar for the Wilson administration, he would play a key role in mobilizing American industry for the war effort, turning what had been a largely agrarian rural society into a modern manufacturing juggernaut.

  Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Baruch was a key member of the New Deal’s National Recovery Administration and favored a centralized (some said heavy-handed) approach to organizing the national economy. While this served him well during the New Deal and World War II, his often idealistic approach—which envisioned a key role of the United States as an enforcer of nuclear nonproliferation—fell out of favor with the Truman administration’s realpolitik. Still, Baruch would leave his mark on the postwar era as well: He was the first to coin the phrase Cold War, in a speech in 1947.

  Indeed, Baruch was always a colorful and succinct communicator, no doubt a legacy of his Southern boyhood. He is said to have originated the witticism “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Other great one-liners of his include “Millions saw the apple fall, but only Newton asked why,” and “Old age is always 15 years older than I am.”

  Baruch died in New York City in June 1965, but he spent all of that May down in South Carolina at Hobcaw Barony. By that time his daughter Belle had purchased most of Hobcaw; she would eventually deed it to a foundation in her name, administered by the University of South Carolina and Clemson University.

  Baruch’s boyhood home in Camden is no more, but it is commemorated with a marker on Broad Street. You can also enjoy the beauty and tranquility of Hobcaw Barony (22 Hobcaw Rd., 843/546-4623, www.hobcawbarony.org, hours and prices vary) for yourself.

  The best walking tour of Georgetown is Miss Nell’s Tours (843/546-3975, Tues. and Thurs. 10:30am and 2:30pm, other times by appointment, $7-24 depending on length of tour). Leaving from the Harborwalk Bookstore (723 Front St.), Miss Nell, who’s been doing this for over 20 years, takes you on a delightful trek through Georgetown’s charming downtown waterfront.

  One of the more interesting local waterborne tours is on board the Jolly Rover and Carolina Rover (735 Front St., 843/546-8822, www.rovertours.com, Mon.-Sat., times and prices vary). The Jolly Rover is an honest-to-goodness tall ship that takes you on a two-hour tour of beautiful Winyah Bay and the Intracoastal Waterway, all with a crew in period dress. The Carolina Rover takes you on a three-hour ecotour to nearby North Island, site of the historic Georgetown Lighthouse. You can’t tour the lighthouse itself, but you can get pretty darn close to it on this tour.

  ENTERTAINMENT AND EVENTS

  The Winyah Bay Heritage Festival (632 Prince St., 843/833-9919, www.winyahbay.org, free) happens each January at various venues and benefits the local historical society. The focus is on wooden decoys and waterfowl paintings, similar to Charleston’s well-known Southeast Wildlife Exposition.

  Each October brings the delightful Wooden Boat Show (843/545-0015, www.woodenboatshow.com, free) to the waterfront, a 20-year-old celebration of, you guessed it, wooden boats. These aren’t toys but the real thing—sleek, classic, and beautiful in the water. There are kids’ activities, canoe-making demonstrations, a boat contest, and the highlight, a boatbuilding challenge involving two teams working to build a skiff in four hours.

  SPORTS AND RECREATION

  Kayaking and Canoeing

  Kayakers and canoeists will find a lot to do in the Georgetown area, the confluence of five rivers and the Atlantic Ocean. A good trip for more advanced paddlers is to go out Winyah Bay to undeveloped North Island. With advance permission from the state’s Department of Natural Resource
s (803/734-3888), you can camp here. Any paddling in Winyah Bay is pleasant, whether you camp or not.

  Another long trip is on the nine-mile blackwater Wambaw Creek Wilderness Canoe Trail in the Francis Marion National Forest, which takes you through some beautiful cypress and tupelo habitats. Launch sites are at the Wambaw Creek Boat Ramp and a bridge landing. Other good trips in the national forest are on the Santee River and Echaw Creek.

  For rentals and guided tours, contact Nature Adventures Outfitters (800/673-0679), which runs daylong paddles (about $85 pp); and Black River Outdoors Center and Expeditions (21 Garden Ave., 843/546-4840, www.blackriveroutdoors.com), which runs a good half-day tour ($55 adults, $35 under age 13). For those who want to explore the intricate matrix of creeks and tidal canals that made up the Georgetown rice plantation empire, a guided tour is essential.

  Occasional kayak ecotours leave from the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center (22 Hobcaw Rd., 843/546-4623, www.hobcawbarony.org, Mon.-Fri. 9am-5pm, $50) under the auspices of the North Inlet Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (843/546-6219, www.northinlet.sc.edu).

  Hiking

  The Francis Marion National Forest (www.fs.fed.us) hosts a number of great hiking opportunities, chief among them the Swamp Fox passage of the Palmetto Trail (www.palmettoconservation.org). This 47-mile route winds through longleaf pine forests, cypress swamps, bottomland hardwood swamps, and various bogs, much of the way along an old logging rail bed. The main entrance to the trail is near Steed Creek Road off U.S. 17; the entrance is clearly marked on the west side of the highway.