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, world-class dining and shopping. Georgetown provides a truly exceptional quality of life, with excellent medical care facilities, airports, and universities, all 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 and surrounded by Berkley, Charleston, Marion, Horry and Williamsburg Counties. Georgetown is an important seaport on Winyah Bay at the confluence of the Great Pee Dee River, Waccamaw River, and Sampit River.

Georgetown is located 32 miles south of Myrtle Beach, 55 miles north of Charleston, SC and 116 miles north of Hilton Head Island. It is situated midway between New York and Miami. It is 120 miles from Columbia, SC, 190 miles from Charlotte, NC, and 320 miles from Atlanta, GA.

Myrtle Beach International Airport is only 25 minutes north on the Highway 17 By-Pass.

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 harbor.

Jobs
Georgetown County offers a quality of life and economic opportunities that draw many new residents and businesses to the area. It's the best of "business casual" having the resources to power business growth, yet with a relaxed lifestyle.

This area holds a superior location for business, with easy access to port and rail service, an available, trainable work force, tax advantages and economic incentives. The Georgetown County Commerce Center offers established businesses at three industrial parks.

Some of the main companies located in Georgetown county are: Agru/America, Inc., Coastal Wire Co. Inc., ISG, International Paper Co., Florian Greenhouses, Screen Tight, Southeastern Wire Fabricators, Inc., Pawleys Island Hammocks, Southeastern Fly Ash Company, A&L Apparel, Andrews Metal Works, Andrews Wire Products, Spiral Fittings, Amatec, Con-Serv, Low Country Forest Products, and 3V Chemical, Inc.

Some of the main employers in Georgetown County are Georgetown County Schools, International Paper Company, Georgetown Hospital System, Georgetown County, and the City of Georgetown.

The median family income in Georgetown is $37,403 and the average time to travel to work in the city is 21.5 minutes. The unemployment rate in Georgetown is 7.8%.

Housing
Georgetown’s city builders are developing beautiful waterfront lots and sub-divisions, and many other areas of Georgetown are growing. The recent availability of the Winyah Bay Golf Course and the ongoing development of new homes will strengthen the housing market.

Along the Grand Strand, sales volume is increasing, and the median home price has increased to $172,000.

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.

Georgetown boasts world-class golf, and more, to entice sports enthusiasts of all kinds. Baseball, auto racing, and fishing are just a few of the other sporting options available in the area.

For fishermen, there are bass, bream and crappie in the freshwater of the five river systems and countless ponds, flounder, black drum and winter trout in the tidal creeks, and whiting, spots, pompano and channel bass in the surf. Offshore, dolphin, wahoo, snapper, grouper, sea bass, mackerel, tuna and perhaps a blue marlin abound. You can take a boat from Murrells Inlet or Georgetown to the Gulf Stream or the nearby offshore reefs, or try your luck at the Black River in Andrews.
 
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.

Georgetown has a wealth of culture to offer including three public museums, three public libraries, more than 50 antebellum buildings, five restored Rice Plantations, Brookgreen Gardens (the world's largest collection of outdoor sculpture), Georgetown Historical district, and Murrells Inlet Historical district.

Georgetown is known for the lively arts and cultural events held throughout the year.  These events include:

The music festival in Andrews
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
"Southern Nites" music and art by the riverside on Front Street
"Plantation Jubilee" at De Bordieu Colony
Pawleys Island Pops Symphony Orchestra
Georgia and Sea Island Singers
Atalaya Arts & Crafts Festival
Georgetown Watercolor Society Annual Art Show
Coastal Chorale Christmas Concert

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.

Interesting Facts/Historic Buildings and Places
Georgetown is the state's third oldest city, and was declared a royal province by 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 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