Along a quiet street that is part of Georgetown's historic district, this marker stands in front of…read morea church and points out some of the Colonial-era history. It is a wide street so there's plenty of room to pull over to read the marker. This is marker 22-15 and was erected by the Congregation to honor Elizabeth J. Ashford. It reads, "William Wayne, nephew of Revolutionary General Anthony Wayne, was converted here by Bishop Francis Asbury on February 24, 1785, and a Methodist congregation was formed later that year. Woolman Hickson was appointed minister. This is the site of an early cemetery, parsonage, and church (c. 1833), in use until 1903 when the present nearby structure, Duncan Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church was dedicated." [Review 19428 overall - 1002 in South Carolina - 398 of 2023.]

This marker is along Georgetown's Front Street and is in front of the Rice Museum. It points out…read moresome Civil War history. Keep in mind, South Carolina was one of the first states to secede and was part of the Confederacy. There's a lot of text so it's on both sides. On the front, "In early 1865 the USS Harvest Moon, a 193-foot, 5-gun side-wheel steamer, was the flagship of Adm. John A. Dahlgren of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, U.S. Navy. It arrived off Georgetown and anchored nearby on February 26th. Confederate Capt. Thomas W. Daggett, in charge of coastal defenses from Little River to Georgetown, made plans to sink the Harvest Moon with a "torpedo," or mine." And on the reverse, "Daggett, working on the 2nd floor of S.W. Rouquie's store here at 633 Front Street, built a keg torpedo and floated it out as the Harvest Moon steamed down the bay early on March 1, 1865. The blast blew a hole in the starboard quarter and main deck, and the ship sank in five minutes, with only one sailor killed. The smokestack of the Harvest Moon can still be seen at low tide in Winyah Bay, near Battery White." There is plenty of street parking nearby and restaurants and even a bar. Cheers! [Review 19427 overall - 1001 in South Carolina - 397 of 2023.]

Marker number 22-26 was erected in 1975 by the Waccamaw Garden Club and today stands in front of…read morethe Old Town Hall. There is some space to pull over and read the marker, which is nice. On the front, it reads, "This island, located about 1/2 mile east, was used by plantation householders who lived on the seashore from May to November to escape malaria, or "summer fever." A number of houses built about 1850, and the summer academy and rectory of All Saints' Parish remain. The hurricane of 1822 destroyed most earlier homes." And on the reverse, "Narrow Strip of land from Atlantic Ocean to Waccamaw River. Rice plantations flourished by 1740. Remaining are c. 1790 houses, Litchfield and Prospect Hill, and one slave chapel. All Saints Parish est. 1767. Area furnished salt for Revolutionary War. Visitors included Lafayette 1777, Washington 1791, J. Monroe 1819, Churchill 1932, F. Roosevelt 1944." [Review 19409 overall - 983 in South Carolina - 379 of 2023.]

I just spent four days in this beautiful area. After a day at the beach, I found this historical…read moremarker just outside of the smallest Town Hall building I have ever seen. Here is the full text ( front) PAWLEY'S ISLAND-This island located about 1/2 mile east, was used by plantation householders who lived on the seashore from May to November to escape the malaria, or "summer fever." A number of houses built about 1850, and the summer academy and rectory of All Saints' Parish remain. The hurricane of 1822 destroyed most earlier homes. (reverse) WACCAMAW NECK-Narrow strip of land from Atlantic Ocean to Waccamaw River. Rice plantations flourished by 1740. Remaining are c. 1790 houses Litchfield and Prospect Hill, and one slave chapel. All Saints Parish est. 1767. Area furnished salt for Revolutionary War. Visitors include Lafayette 1777, Washington 1791, J. Monroe 1819, Churchill 1932, E. Roosevelt 1944. Erected by Waccamaw Garden Club-1975.

Along one of Georgetown's side streets that passes through a residential neighborhood, not far from…read morethe courthouse, this marker stands in front of a beautiful home. The road is wide enough here that you can stop to read the sign and admire the home from the outside. As near as I was able to tell, it is not open for interior tours. The marker reads, "This house, one of Georgetown's earliest, was built ca. 1737 by John and Mary Perry Cleland. Mrs. Cleland inherited the property from her father John Perry, who had been granted a large tract in 1705 including the site of present-day Georgetown. This house is a raised tidewater residence with its main entrance facing the Sampit River. It features elements of the Georgian and Federal styles." And on the reverse, "In 1753 the house was purchased by the Cleland's nephew Archibald Baird. He made small additions to each end of the house and relocated the main entrance to Front Street. A porch was added there ca. 1780. Later prominent owners of the house included John Withers, Jr., Francis Withers, Dr. Joseph Blythe, and Robert F.W. Allston." It is marker 22-48 and was erected by the Georgetown County Historical Society in 1997. [Review 19417 overall - 991 in South Carolina - 387 of 2023.]

This marker along US-17 between Georgetown and Charleston points out some of the earliest…read moresettlements in the area. The front of the marker reads, "Thomas Pinckney, 1750-1828. Distinguished planter-diplomat Thomas Pinckney owned nearby Fairfield and Eldorado Plantations. A national figure, he was Governor of South Carolina, Minister to England, Envoy Extraordinary to Spain where he negotiated the "Pinckney Treaty," and major general in the War of 1812." Thomas Pinckney was not only a statesman but also a central figure in the transformation of South Carolina's Lowcountry into a rice empire. His connection to those plantations came through marriage to Elizabeth Motte, daughter of Jacob Motte Jr. and Rebecca Brewton Motte, a Revolutionary War heroine. Pinckney named Eldorado Plantation after the golden buttercups that bloomed on the land, a nod to his diplomatic service in Spain and the Spanish term El Dorado, meaning "the golden." And the reverse*, "St. James, Santee. One of the earliest settlements in South Carolina and refuge for French Huguenots, St. James, Santee, Parish was a major agricultural area containing a number of large-scale rice plantations. At nearby Peach Tree Plantation, Jonathan Lucas, Sr. introduced a water mill for beating rice around 1787, which gave an impetus to rice culture in this area." The Huguenots were French Protestants--followers of Calvinist theology--who faced brutal persecution in Catholic France, especially after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. That edict had once granted them limited religious freedom, but its repeal triggered waves of violence and forced conversions. Lucas's innovation transformed rice processing and helped make South Carolina a global leader in rice exports. It is marker number 10-19 and it was erected in 1989 by the St. James Santee Parish Historical Society. [Review 1404 of 2025 - 1348 in South Carolina - 24956 overall] * Yelp renamed this! It was "Thomas Pinckney / St. James, Santee Historical Marker" when I added it.

On the corner in front of Georgetown's City Hall (looks like it used to be a bank), this marker…read morepoints out some important history of the Revolutionary War. The marker reads, "Here Sgt. McDonald bayoneted the fleeing Maj. Gainey, following the defeat of the Tories under Major Gainey by the Americans under Col. Peter Horry. This bloody skirmish took place, January, 1781, between the Sampit and the Black River roads." It is marker 22-12 and was erected in 1938 by Georgetown County. There is parking in the City Hall building if you wish to stop and read the marker. It was originally erected at the corner of Indigo Avenue, but Indigo Avenue was later rerouted one block south. Sergeant McDonald was killed at the siege of Fort Motte, May 12, 1781. [Review 19432 overall - 1006 in South Carolina - 402 of 2023.]

Unfortunately, this marker is pretty far back from the road so we were not able to see the subject…read more But maybe you'll have better luck. It's quite rural and there was no cell coverage out here. Note that the property is privately owned so no trespassing! The front of the marker reads, "This plantation, with its origins in several grants to John Allson in 1732, 1734, and later, was in the hands of his grandson Benjamin, Jr., of Brookgreen, by 1806. The property passed first to Benjamin's widow Charlotte and then after her death in 1824 to her son Robert F.W. Allston (1801-1864), rice planter, state representative and senator 1828-56, and governor 1856-58." And the reverse, "This house was completed in 1838 by Robert F.W. Allston and his wife Adele Petigru. Their daughter Elizabeth Allston Pringle (1845-1921) continued to plant rice here for 40 years after her father died in 1864 and wrote of life at Chicora Wood in A Woman Rice Planter (1913) and Chronicles of Chicora Wood (1922). She died here in 1921." Originally known as Matanzas, the plantation's name was changed to Chicora Wood in 1853, likely in homage to the Chicora people, a Native American tribe once native to the region. The property's architectural footprint is more complex than the marker suggests. Evidence from architectural archaeology indicates that a smaller wing on the north side of the house may have been part of a mid-1700s structure that burned around 1798. That surviving wing was later incorporated into the new Greek Revival house completed before 1809, with the final form emerging in 1838 under Robert F.W. Allston. It is marker number 22-53 and it was erected in 2001 by the Georgetown Committee of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of South Carolina. [Review 1396 of 2025 - 1340 in South Carolina - 24948 overall]

This historical marker along US-17 is in front of the Hampton Plantation Historic site and provides…read morea brief overview of the history. This is old Charleston, dating back to Colonial times, and even in condensed form the place carries more weight than the marker can hold. It notes the Horry and Rutledge families and the plantation's early eighteenth century origins, but it leaves out the deeper story of the rice economy built through the labor and agricultural knowledge of enslaved Africans whose work shaped every field along the Santee. The front of the marker reads, "Hampton Plantation, 2 mi. N.W., was established by 1730 and was one of the earliest rice plantations on the Santee River, in an area settled by Huguenots and often called "French Santee." The house, built in the 1730's for Elias Horry, later passed to his granddaughter Harriott Horry, who married Frederick Rutledge in 1797. The plantation remained in the Rutledge family until 1971." And the reverse, "One of Hampton's best-known owners was Archibald Rutledge (1883-1973), educator, man of letters, and first poet laureate of S.C. He wrote of life there in Home by the River (1941), calling it "the mother plantation of this old plantation country." Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970, it has been Hampton Plantation State Park since the state acquired it in 1971." The limited space on the marker omits much. Including the near‑loss of the house in the twentieth century and Archibald Rutledge's role in reviving interest, as well as the long‑loved Washington Oak that tradition links to George Washington's 1791 visit. Today the unfurnished house and quiet grounds at Hampton Plantation State Park offer a clearer sense of the layered past than the roadside text suggests, inviting visitors to step beyond the marker and into a landscape where memory, myth, and history still mingle. It is marker number 1040 and it was erected in 2001 by the St. James-Santee Parish Historical Society. [Review 107 of 2026 - 1377 in South Carolina - 25297 overall]

The site is still in the process of improvement, but even just walking the grounds is a memorable…read moreexperience. A history trail has been added with some visually and intellectually stimulating exhibits. The mansion is rarely if ever open but offers some interesting views. And a walk through the abandoned rice fields yields both wildlife sightings and hints of the place's past. There is a charge to get in, but they waived it for me as I stopped in just at the end of the day to take a quick walk. There are a variety of more developed areas that give private plantation tours, but this outdoor setting is an entirely worthy state park.