Georgetown, SC

Georgetown, SC   …   Tuesday 30th April 2013

The rain finally stopped and this morning we went ashore and walked up to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. We are always interested to see what unusual items we can find (but not necessarily buy) and we weren't disappointed. We passed on the smoked pig jowls, pig tails, turkey necks, head cheese, liver loaf, gizzards for frying and chicken feet. However, we did buy ready chopped collard greens, which you can't get in Sudbury Farms. The staff at the shop couldn't have been more friendly. Somehow they figured out we were off a boat (actually we both had showers yesterday!) and asked if we needed a ride back to the marina with our groceries. I can't see that happening in Sudbury either. 

This afternoon we visited the Rice Museum and learned about the former rice industry in South Carolina. The six great rivers of the region provided vast areas of low lying lands that could be drained and flooded as the tides backed up the fresh water.  These made them ideal for rice cultivation using manual labour. At one point this industry made South Carolina the second richest state in America, after Massachusetts. There were many reasons why it fell into decline, not least of which is that the manual cultivation wasn't viable without slave labour. Other states where the land was more suitable to mechanized approaches stepped in and since the early 1900's really no rice has been grown in South Carolina. In the 1840's 90% of the population in the Georgetown area were slaves. Until relatively recently the majority of people living in the area were African American, but this has changed with the influx of retirees from the north. 

Whilst on the tour of the museum we met a lovely couple called Eddy and Linda who are living on their Grand Banks trawler "Spiritus". They are traveling the "Great Loop Route" - up the east coast to the Hudson River, through the Erie Canal to the Great Lakes and across to Chicago, down a number of rivers (Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee) to Mobile Alabama, then across the Gulf of Mexico to the west coast of Florida and finally across Lake Okachobee to the East Coast of Florida. It's a journey that takes about a year. We bumped into Eddy and Linda later in the afternoon at a bar / restaurant an then visited them aboard their boat this evening.  It was great to hear about their plans and adventures. 

Mike

Shrimp Boats docked in Georgetown