Georgetown was officially founded in 1729, but its roots reach back far before then.
Prior to that, in July 1526, Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón of Santo Domingo brought six ships and 600 colonists to Winyah Bay, but no settlements were established. (Read more about the Winyah Native Americans.)
The city started to take shape in 1721, when a petition to establish Prince George Winyah Parish was granted. The parish was based at the Prince George Winyah Church along the Black River, just north of modern-day Georgetown. In 1734, the parish split and the Prince Frederick Parish was created, taking over the initial position on the Black River. As a result, Prince George Parish relocated to the modern Georgetown location along the Sampit River.
Shortly before the relocation, in 1729, Georgetown’s roads and street names were laid out by Elisha Screven, who is considered the town’s founder. Within Screven’s initial plan (see Georgetown’s Historic Plan), areas were reserved for Anglican, Presbyterian, and Baptist churches. The four-by-eight block grid is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is flanked by Wood, Church, Meeting, and Front Streets, with Front Street running parallel to the Sampit River.
During South Carolina’s colonial era, cargo ships would dock here importing goods from Europe and exporting trade products from the Lowcountry — indigo in the mid 1700s, and then later rice, cotton, and lumber.