Roof Repair in Georgetown, SC

A new waterfront property with two culinary concepts is now open in the heart of Georgetown’s historic district

The George Hotel, the highly anticipated property from award-winning Indigo Road Hospitality Group and Winyah Hospitality, is now open and welcoming guests to stay starting Friday, March 1. Aiming to redefine luxury accommodations in the region, the design-forward waterfront property features 56 thoughtfully appointed rooms and suites alongside a full-service restaurant, marina bar, and private event spaces, making it the first of its kind on South Carolinas’ Hammock Coast.

A common stopover for boaters traveling the eastern coast, The George boasts prime marina access, allowing boaters the opportunity to enjoy the hotel’s amenities, while also providing a port for guests to enjoy excursions, such as fishing and sailing, in Winyah Bay. In addition to on-site activities and events, The George offers a variety of spaces that can be booked for semi-private and private events, including a dedicated meeting and event room, outdoor greenspace and bar, Eliza’s, and on-site restaurant, The Independent.

From Pier to Plate, Historically

Located within The George Hotel, The Independent is an ingredient-driven, seafood restaurant and raw bar showcasing the Lowcountry’s local fisherman, farmers, and purveyors. Led by Executive Chef Thomas Vance, The Independent pays homage to the community’s former, yet iconic seafood market by the same name, with a seasonal menu of Southern-inspired dishes guided by the region’s bounty of fresh seafood. Raw offerings, like little neck clams, peel & eat shrimp, and oysters on the half shell from, are complemented by prepared small plates, chef selections, and a la carte proteins and sides. Menu standouts include Crispy Grey Fox Farms Chicken Livers, Skillet Corn Bread, SC Red Snapper, showcasing ingredients from local Georgetown farmers and fisherman like Harrelson’s Seafood, Tiny Victory Farms, and more.

Outside, guests will find Eliza’s. Located on The George’s greenspace, the waterfront bar serves as a casual retreat along the picturesque Sampit Riverfront with a full bar, lounge seating, and outdoor games. Island-inspired cocktails, like frozen pain killers, are the focus complemented by a small menu of light bites, snacks, and full raw bar. The name serves as tribute to South Carolina’s own Eliza Lucas Pickney, who was largely responsible for the indigo crop hitting the map, and the first woman to be inducted into South Carolina’s Business Hall of Fame.

Bold and Bespoke Early American Design

With 56 rooms, 42 of them being water facing, the transportive space is inspired by both the surrounding 18th and 19th-century architecture and natural environment. The hotel, curated by Jenny Keenan Design, houses an eclectic collection of vintage European furnishings and custom pieces, such as a jewel-toned, fabric-skirted front desk and bespoke headboards in each guestroom. From historic fabrics and mural wallpapers to eclectic paintings and decor by local artists, such as local sweetgrass basket artisan Angela Manigault, each charming coastal detail was hand-selected. Anchoring both the property and the design, the lobby features two-toned hardwoods and lime-washed plank walls, providing a neutral canvas for the room’s collection of patterned sofas, wing backed chairs, and oriental rugs. An arched hallway covered in ‘Birds Tapestry’, a striking wallpaper by Iskel from Schumacher, calls in the natural surroundings and wildlife as guests pass through to the elevators. In that same corridor hangs a large whimsical painting of a mermaid and alligator painting by the artist David Boatwright of Charleston.

There are several room types, including two suite variations with living rooms and balconies, the largest being approximately 725 sq. ft. Each guestroom includes vintage seating and sideboards with custom fabric headboards ranging from detailed chintz to soft pastel stripes. Rooms vary in color scheme, whether it be greens, blues, slates, or creams, while cypress softwoods stripe the floors and walls of communal spaces. Each space is affixed with vintage ceramic and glass lighting fixtures, while cording and fringe details amplify the eclectic and high-touch design inspiration calling back to early American style.

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WCSC) - The city of Georgetown is recovering after a coastal storm brought flooding to the area on Sunday.

More than 12 inches of rain fell in Georgetown as the coastal storm made its way up the coast.

Georgetown Mayor Carol Jayroe says they received double the amount of rainfall they were anticipating.

She says about 60 people were pulled from cars Sunday by first responders, and that the City’s downtown fire station, holding their emergency operations center, was flooded.

“They were in the conference room and low and behold, water came under their feet unbeknownst to them, it came up that quickly,” Jayroe says.

She says Front Street was one of several areas hit the hardest.

Employees at Monkee’s of Georgetown, a clothing store on Front Street, worked all day Sunday to clean up flooding damage in their store.

“We had water rushing in through the front and through the back,” employee Streater Mitchum, says, “Every employee was here today helping clean up.”

She says thanks to their hard work, they’ll be able to reopen Tuesday to customers.

“It’s the holiday season so we had lots of people knocking on the door ready to shop today,” she says, “We’re a small town, and we appreciate all the transient business that comes through.”

Resident Len Kelpsh described Sunday’s flooding as the “absolute worst he’d ever seen.”

“There were cars floating in front of me,” Kelpsh says. “It’s just such an odd experience to have 13 inches of rain and I hope we don’t have it again but, what can we do?”

Jayroe says the city’s assessment teams have been out all day Monday gauging the damage. She says that business-wise, most of the cleanup efforts are finished.

She says anyone displaced from their home due to the storm should call Black River United Way at 843-546-6317.

She encourages any business that experienced extensive flooding to call the Georgetown County Economic Development Department with the South Carolina Department of Commerce.

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GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WPDE) — On Saturday, the Georgetown community came together to unveil a statue that gave a glimpse into our country’s past.

The sculpture is called “The Journey to Freedom.” It's around 2,400 lbs. made of bronze and stands at Joseph Hayne Rainey Park in Georgetown.

It shows Harriet Tubman, a former slave known for helping many others escape slavery, saving a child.

"Tubman dreamed of only one thing: freedom, liberty, emancipation," said Marilyn Hemingway, CEO of Gullah GeeChee Chamber of Commerce.

Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland but was able to escape to Philadelphia.

She vowed to rescue her family who were still enslaved.

"After learning about the pending sale of her niece Kessiah Bowley and her two children James and Araminta, Harriet devised a daring plan to rescue them from an auction block in Cambridge, Maryland," Hemingway said.

RELATED:Gullah Geechee community honors Harriet Tubman with series of events

Tubman succeeded and eventually returned to Maryland 13 times and rescued about 70 slaves.

"Harriet proclaimed ‘I was the conductor on the underground railroad for 8 years, and I can say what most conductors can not, “I never ran my train off the tracks, and I never lost a passenger," Hemingway said.

After Tubman rescued her great nephew James Bowley, he settled in Georgetown and eventually served as a state representative and educator.

Tubman’s great, great, great grand-niece Ernestine Martin Wyatt said her selflessness is still making an impact.

"You need people in this world like her," Wyatt said.

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Wyatt hopes when people see this statue, they remember to help each other.

"And that’s what we have to do for one another. We have to pull each other and lift up one another. And that’s what she does," Wyatt said.

This statue will be in Joseph Hayne Rainey Park until Oct. 31.

GEORGETOWN — Ebony Hughes, a successful business owner and community leader who runs a thriving nonprofit organization and an insurance agency, has a goal of helping to mold the future workforce of South Carolina.

She grew up in rural Georgetown County and attended Carver’s Bay High School in the early 2000s, performing near the top of her class. But the future was not very clear.

“I had my first child in high school and had to get over the people that said I was stupid and could not survive,” Hughes said. “So, I had to show them that I could. I already knew I could. I didn’t just want to succeed, it had to be in a big way.”

While attending Coastal Carolina University a few years later, her life changed overnight.

“I was engaged to be married while also expecting my second child, which was a miracle because they said I wouldn’t even be able to have another child because of health issues,” Hughes said. "Then my fiancé died a couple of weeks before our wedding.”

Hughes was slated to get her degree in health promotions and even participated in a graduation ceremony dressed in cap and gown, but after her fiancé drowned in an accident, she did not do well enough on a final exam.

“I failed it by three points,” Hughes said. “I walked across the stage, thinking I had passed the class, just to learn that following Monday that I did not.”

She could have given up, but the lessons she learned from her parents and grandparents prevented it.

“So after that happened, I delivered my son, and I just needed a different change in pace,” Hughes said. “I went on the internet back when it was just a little thumb drive thingy and I looked for some positions and found an agency in Atlanta, Ga., and became a marketing contractor for the Atlanta Braves.”

She packed up her life and moved with her two children 346 miles away from Georgetown County.

“That position taught me, then, a lot about sales, the word 'no,'" she said. "And I became friends with the owner of the company.”

Christina Vrsoso became a mentor and shared a story about her parents moving to the states from the Philippines and how she grew up in a small apartment in New York.

“I think that position was the beginning of teaching me about collaboration and business operations,” Hughes said.

In 2009, her grandfather suffered a massive stroke, so she moved back to Georgetown County to take care of him.

“I said I would never come back to the country, but I am home, which was supposed to be temporary,” Hughes said. The move helped her "realize that if there is a will, there is a way. It also made me realize how much of a slower place it is here. I could work half as hard as I did in Atlanta and still be able to flourish here.”

Black History

Shortly after moving back, she visited her mother. A man came to sell life insurance. Hughes sat at the table thinking she was protecting her mom.

“It dawned on me that this guy was able to control his time and his efforts because he is self-employed,” Hughes said. “I asked him if he was able to make a living doing that. He said yes, and I went on the internet once again and I researched and taught myself how to get my insurance license.”

Hughes said she gave herself a timetable of two weeks to get her insurance license because bills had to be paid.

“I had two kids, moving back to take care of my grandfather with no job,” Hughes said. “I studied for two weeks, and I said, hell over high water, whether I’m ready or not, I’m going to take the exam. And I passed it the first time.”

Hughes became affiliated with Aflac Insurance around 2010 and soon received a Rookie of the Year award for selling the highest amount of insurance policies in South Carolina. She credits Athena Hooker, who trained and mentored her.

“Being a single parent, I realized that there were so many people around me that helped out,” Hughes said. “It was sort of like my time to start giving back. Then I realized that I needed to start my own business.”

In 2014, Hughes founded Access Alliance Insurance Group.

“I began to recruit and teach agents the same things I have learned from the time I grew up on a farm up until then,” Hughes said.

She spent her childhood in rural Georgetown County, in Hemingway, near the Pee Dee region.

“Growing up on a farm, I think from the very beginning I learned the value of hard work,” Hughes said. “So that sort of filtered into when I was in Atlanta. All of these experiences molded and shaped what I am doing now."

She has strived to instill in her agents the values she prizes.

"If you take care of people and invest in people, you automatically win personally.”

As she visited her clients' homes, she noticed that too many clients were suffering from health issues and needed help obtaining social services.

“Being a single parent, I needed social services at one time myself,” Hughes said. "It dawned on me that a lot of the individuals I was helping didn’t understand how to apply for assistance. I realized that there were billions of dollars allocated to help people. So, I started getting paper applications and helping people apply for social services for free for probably about eight years.”

Hughes founded a nonprofit, 7 Dimensions Outreach, in 2020 to help people connect with resources. Now she has a bigger goal of shaping the workforce of Georgetown and beyond.

“We have a brand new initiative called MIP,” Hughes said. “That stands for Minority Business Incubator Solar and Disaster Resilience Hub.”

Slated to begin in March in her Georgetown headquarters on Highmarket Street, the initiative is dedicated to incubating minority businesses, collaborating with organizations that can provide resources and providing a workforce development program for solar energy.

Black History

“We plan to host individuals that are interested in learning about solar energy and for EV charging stations," she said. "They come here, instructors will teach them, and they will gain an OSHA certification, and they actually will help (with) installing solar panels and charging stations right here. Gov. (Henry) McMaster allocated billions of dollars to set up the infrastructure for more electric charging stations in South Carolina. The problem is they don’t have enough workers, and not even enough people are aware that it is a career path.”

Hughes, 40, said she never set out to be a leader, only to make a good imprint on the world.

“There is this old saying that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear, and that’s what has happened over time,” Hughes said. "I can learn how to do anything; I just need someone to show me. That is why the MIP program is so very important to me. It’s not just about giving out resources, but we are also showing people how to take care of themselves. You have to show people how to fish, otherwise you’d be feeding them their whole lives.”

While it certainly made someone's day to see the Ghostbusters star, seeing Murray along the South Carolina coast isn't as rare as seeing a ghost might be.

GEORGETOWN, S.C. — Beloved actor and comedian Bill Murray made quite the impression Monday night when he stopped into Root in Georgetown, South Carolina for dinner.

"The legend!!" a Facebook post from the restaurant reads. "We were super excited to have BILL MURRAY stop by for dinner tonight. Our sous chef Micah got an awesome picture with him. One of the funniest men on the planet is also one of the coolest!!"

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While it certainly made someone's day to see the Ghostbusters star, seeing Murray along the South Carolina coast isn't as rare as seeing a ghost might be. Murray owns a house in Charleston and co-owns the Charleston restaurant Harold’s Cabin.

Georgetown is about an hour north of Charleston.

The legend!! We were super excited to have BILL MURRAY stop by for dinner tonight. Our sous chef Micah got an awesome...

Posted by Root on Monday, October 23, 2023

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