A long day of travel from Charleston to Georgetown. Traveled approximately 54 NM along a slow and narrow stretch of the ICW. We enjoyed beautiful waterfront homes and wildlife preserves. We caught up with our friends on 'Mighty Fine' and 'Horizon Chaser' joined their flotilla through the preserves.
The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge is a cable stayed bridge over the Cooper River running from Charleston to Mount Pleasant in South Carolina. At 2.5 miles long, it is the longest cable stay bridge in the Western Hemisphere.
Historic Downtown Charleston, SC
USS Yorktown is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is named after the Battle of Yorktown of the American Revolutionary War, and is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name.
Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry sea fort located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots that started the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861.
Flotilla with 'Mighty Fine' and 'Horizon Chaser'
Long piers
Garmin is alert and on watch (for a few minutes)
At port, Georgetown, South Carolina.
Who knew?!
The earliest residents of Georgetown County were Native American tribes, which are responsible for many of the names assigned to natural features throughout the Lowcountry region of South Carolina. The Wee Nee (black-water or dark-water people), Pee Dee (coming and going), Waccamaw, Winyah and Santee were among the tribes that called this area home. (The Waccamaw still have tribal grounds nearby.)
In 1526, Europeans arrived under the Spanish explorer Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon. The mid-1600s saw English and French settlements appearing along the dark rivers, creating trade with the natives. It wasn’t long until the natives were dominated — in many instances enslaved — and eventually very nearly disappeared from the region.
The influx of people and trading created immense wealth for Georgetown County. By 1729 the area around the City of Georgetown, which would later become Georgetown County, was already home to a busy seaport. Georgetown, which is the county seat, is the state’s third oldest city.
The area attracted so much wealth that it in turn became an attraction for pirates, who lurked in hidden bays and around barrier islands, watching for merchant ships weighed down with cargo. It is said that at one point there were more than 2,000 pirates in the area. The infamous Blackbeard, along with Anne Bonney, Mary Read and Calico Jack Rackham, are among those who once lurked along Georgetown County’s coastline.
Rice and indigo are the two most important exports in the county’s history. Indigo was highly coveted worldwide in the mid-18th century and the blue dye gave the local economy enough of a boost that the county had leverage to cut ties with England. Plantation owners became aristocrats, which led to the formation of the “Winyah Indigo Society.”
The global market for indigo became saturated by the end of the century due to mass production in India and the East Indies. As the price fell, Georgetown planters began turning to rice cultivation. Two centuries after the crop was abandoned, indigo crops can still be spotted blooming in the spring along roadsides in Georgetown County.
By the late 1700s, rice was king. More than 40,000 acres were cleared and 780 miles of canals were dug by slaves, and the second largest rice culture in history was born.
In its heyday, rice was essentially another form of currency, sustaining the economy of Georgetown County for well over a century. The county flourished and luxurious living was commonplace. Graceful plantation mansions with expansive lawns, ceremonial tea gardens and strips of oak trees called “allées” were the mark of the Southern upper class — all built on the backs of slaves, as rice harvests and upkeep of the plantation lifestyle required extensive human labor to make it all possible.
Enslaved Africans from various ethnic groups of west and central Africa were brought to the colonies to work on plantations in coastal South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Their descendants gave birth to the Gullah culture that still exists in those states.
Even after the abolishment of slavery, rice was harvested commercially until 1919. It was at that point that the golden age of the rice empire was over, making way for Reconstruction.
