History of Georgetown, SC

Following the American Revolution, rice surpassed indigo as the staple crop. It was cultivated on the swampy lowlands along the rivers, where enslaved labor built large earthworks: the dams, gates and canals to irrigate and drain the rice fields during cultivation. Large rice plantations were established around Georgetown on its five rivers.

By 1840, the Georgetown District (later County) produced nearly one-half of the total rice crop of the United States, and became the largest rice-exporting port in the world. Wealth from the rice created an elite European-American planter class; they built stately plantation manor houses, bought elegant furniture, and extended generous hospitality to others of their class. Their relatively leisured lifestyle for a select few, built of the labor of thousands of slaves, lasted until 1860. The profits from Georgetown's rice trade reached nearby Charleston, where a thriving mercantile economy developed. Rice also supported Charleston artisans: fine furniture makers, jewelers and silversmiths, to satisfy the tastes of the planters for refined goods. Joshua John Ward, who owned the most slaves in the US - eventually more than 1,000 slaves on several plantations, lived in Georgetown. Many of the old plantations are still standing today, including Mansfield Plantation on the banks of the Black River. Joshua Ward's main Brookgreen Plantation is now the center and namesake of the Brookgreen Gardens park.

The town's thriving economy long attracted settlers from elsewhere, including numerous planters and shipowners who migrated to Georgetown from Virginia. These included the Shackelford family, whose migrant ancestor John Shackelford moved to Georgetown in the eighteenth century after serving in the Virginia forces of the Continental Army. His descendants became prominent planters, lawyers, judges and Georgetown and Charleston businessmen.

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