GeorgetownSouth Carolina's third-oldest city — a 1729 working colonial port at the convergence of five rivers, Hobcaw Barony's 16,000-acre research preserve, and DeBordieu Colony's private oceanfront gates twelve miles north

Georgetown is the Lowcountry's most-historic working port — founded 1729 at the convergence of five rivers (the Sampit, Black, Pee Dee, Waccamaw, and Great Pee Dee), the third-oldest incorporated city in South Carolina, and the colonial-era harbor that exported nearly half the world's rice in the late 1800s. The Front Street historic district runs a half-mile along the Sampit River — the Harborwalk boardwalk fronts the original 1840s-era brick warehouses (now the Rice Museum at the 1842 Old Market, the Kaminski House Museum at the 1769 William Doyle Kaminski residence, and the 1750 Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church). The 1801 Georgetown Lighthouse on North Island — the oldest still-active lighthouse in South Carolina — is reachable only by boat or kayak through the salt-marsh estuary.

Most of Georgetown's bookable vacation-rental inventory sits twelve miles north at DeBordieu Colony — a private oceanfront gated community on a maritime-forest barrier just south of Pawleys Island. DeBordieu (pronounced "DEB-uh-doo") was developed in the 1980s on a former Lowcountry rice plantation; the entire community sits behind a single gated entrance with a private 24-hour security guard, a Pete Dye golf course, Har-Tru clay tennis courts, two pools and a dining room at the Beach Club, and a 6.5-mile undeveloped strand. Hopsewee Plantation (1740, National Historic Landmark) sits ten minutes south of the city; Hobcaw Barony's 16,000-acre research preserve is across the Waccamaw River bridge.