Since the early eighteenth century the port of Georgetown has been a busy center of trade for the South Carolina low country.
The history of Georgetown began in the early 1700s. Land grants in what is now Georgetown County were given to colonists by the British Crown as early as 1705.
By the early 1730’s, the port community of Georgetown had been laid out in proper town lots and had become an official port of entry for the colony of South Carolina.
In the years that followed, great harvests of lumber and indigo floated through the fertile, green low country, down the Waccamaw, Black, Pee Dee, and Sampit rivers, to the burgeoning port town. Georgetown’s location on Winyah Bay, at the convergence of these four rivers, made it a commercial center for the entire area.
After long sea journeys, great tall-masted ships sailed into Winyah Bay and the port of Georgetown loaded with commercial goods from Europe. They left the port with their cargo holds full of the raw materials that were so abundant in the New World.
During the Revolutionary War, the British occupied Georgetown and used it as a base for their operations in the area.
After the war, Georgetown’s economy flourished as rice, grown on local plantations, became the city’s chief export. Rice plantations prospered along the rivers that meet at Georgetown. The North and South Santee rivers, which run into the Atlantic ten miles south of Winyah Bay and form the Santee Delta, were perfect areas for rice cultivation.
In the early 1800s, a lighthouse was strategically placed on the shore of Winyah Bay near the entrance to the city. The lighthouse improved navigation through the port, and caused another boom in trade. As the port of Georgetown flourished, the planters, whose exquisite homes graced the county’s rivers, grew increasingly wealthy and influential.
However, Georgetown’s antebellum way of life changed drastically after the Civil War. Stripped of their fortunes and vast labor force, many plantation owners were forced to give up rice planting, while others persevered in making a meager living from their fields. A series of hurricanes in the early 1900s permanently ended profitable rice planting in Georgetown County. The abandoned rice fields were left as lonely havens for waterfowl.
Fishing, shrimping, lumbering, and other non-agricultural ways of life began to replace the rice culture, and Georgetown remained an active port.
During Georgetown’s history, many of the unique and colorful characters who lived in the area created lasting impressions on the town and the surrounding countryside. Some of these individuals left details of their lives carved in stone or written in historical volumes. Others, however, left impressions of a more ethereal nature.
Georgetown County is reputed to be one of the nation’s most haunted places. There are rumored to be over a hundred known ghosts in the area.
Although many of these hauntings are suppressed by descendants or those concerned that a home’s historical value will be overshadowed by a ghost, many Georgetown residents delight in describing the habits and background of their ghosts.
Ghosts do have habits. They repeat the same action over and over, and with few exceptions, are usually more predictable than frightening.
It is not known for certain why this county has so many hauntings, but several theories exist.
A place near the water which makes it prone to dampness is often more subject to spirit activity than drier areas. Not only is Georgetown County located next to the ocean, it is virtually filled with the waters of the rivers that flow through its moist and fertile lands.
In the last two-and-a-half centuries, many individuals have died suddenly and unexpectedly here. It is believed that such a death causes a certain amount of energy to remain in the vicinity where the spirit left the body.
Many believe the type of personality most apt to leave a deep, lasting, and distinct impression is that of a person who was obsessive or possessive. The immeasurably wealthy seventeenth- and eighteenth-century planters, and their progeny, were individuals known for extraordinarily dynamic personal traits and tremendous strength of will. Georgetown County rice barons and their children were often quite obsessive and possessive, and these long-gone personalities account for many of the hauntings in the region.
Whatever the reason for the concentration of spirit activity in the region, almost all of the ghosts of Georgetown have a thrilling story to tell.