Come wish the Georgetown County Library a Happy 225th Birthday this summer! Library services were established in Georgetown back in 1799—one year before the founding of the Library of Congress. To celebrate this momentous occasion, the library system will offer an exciting series of free public programs all about Georgetown County, past and present. These programs will explore a wide range of topics, including the area’s settlement, ethnic diversity, freedom and civil rights struggles, religious life, foodways, literature and arts, wildlife and ecology, and, of course, library history.
Starting in mid-June, the freshly expanded and renovated Georgetown Library—with its new state-of-the-art auditorium—will host anniversary presentations through the summer and fall. The library is located at 405 Cleland St.
To inspire a productive exchange of perspectives, the series will intertwine presentations by regional scholars with those by local experts, all accompanied by lively audience Q&A sessions. The theme for the Library's 225th Anniversary Celebration is “Time Machine, 1799-2024” and the motto is “Learning Springs Eternal.”
The first set of presentations is scheduled for this summer and will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 p.m., beginning on Tuesday, June 14, and ending on Thursday, August 29. All programs will be in the Georgetown Library Auditorium, are free and open to the public, thanks to a major grant provided by South Carolina Humanities. Presentations in this set of programming will include:
- On Tuesday, June 11, Dr. Zackary Vernon, Associate Professor of English at Appalachian State University, kicks off the 225th Anniversary Celebration by returning home to his native Georgetown County to talk about his newly published novel set in Pawleys Island.
- On Thursday, June 13, ever-popular local historian and prolific author Steve Williams will delve into some of the major contributions made by African-American Georgetonians in our area’s rich history.
- On Tuesday, June 18, Library Director Dwight McInvaill, who wrote his M.L.S. thesis at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on the history of the Georgetown Library Society, will explain fascinating aspects of our Library’s history and its readership.
- On Thursday, June 20, another Georgetown native returns home to share his wealth of expertise. Highly accomplished visual artist Charles Edward Williams, now Sun Trust Endowed Professor of Art at North Carolina Central University, will explore the central importance of discovering one’s homeland through art.
- On Tuesday, June 25, the Rev. Dr. Betty Deas Clark, pastor of Historic Bethel AME Church, will discuss Georgetown’s deep spiritual tradition.
- On Thursday, July 25, Pamela L. Martin, Ph.D., professor of politics at Coastal Carolina University, will talk about United Nations sustainability goals in Georgetown County. Martin is Executive Director and Founder of Georgetown RISE and her CCU student interns will also be available to discuss their work on implementing UN sustainability goals in our region. Their program is sponsored in partnership with the Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation and Georgetown RISE UN Youth Corps Center.
- On Tuesday, Aug. 13, Kevin Kokomoor, Ph.D., a history lecturer at Coastal Carolina University, will continue our celebration of public learning by exploring Spanish historical influences in our area.
- On Wednesday, Aug. 14, preeminent ecological author John Lane, who served as founding director of Wofford College’s Goodall Environmental Studies Center, will give a presentation on alligators.
- Lane, who is also an avid kayaker, will return on Thursday, Aug. 15, at 10 a.m. for a second program in conjunction with River Reading Kayaking of Murrells Inlet. He will help guide a two-hour kayak paddle along a section of the Waccamaw River, alongside Master Naturalist Hastings Hensel. Lane is the author of "My Paddle to the Sea: Eleven Days on the Rivers of the Carolinas" (Georgia, 2012) and "Still Upright & Headed Downstream: Collected River Writing" (Mercer, 2022). River Reader Kayaking and Lane are generously providing this kayak tour for free. However, spots are limited, so registration is required. To register, please email Daniel Cross Turner at: dturner@gtcounty.org
- On Tuesday, Aug. 27, Madison W. Cates, Ph. D., assistant professor of history at Coastal Carolina University, will discuss the important history of the long Black freedom struggle on the former plantations that made up what is now Hobcaw Barony.
- The finale of our initial set of summer programs will take place on Thursday, Aug. 29, with a special talk and cooking demonstration by chef Altor Smith of the Daniel Island Club. Smith, another Georgetown County native, will focus on foods distinct to our area.
Additional 225th Anniversary Celebration presentations will pick up again in September and continue throughout the fall. A schedule detailing these programs will be released later this year.
The Library's 225th Anniversary Celebration presentation series is generously supported by South Carolina Humanities, whose mission is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. This not-for-profit organization helps present literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos, and other humanities-based experiences that reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation, and individual donors. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders throughout the state.
The Georgetown County Library was established Jan. 31, 1799. At the time, the Georgetown Library functioned as an exclusive library joint-stock company serving an elite group of 50 rice planters and merchants. Together they owned 5,000 to 10,000 books bought by a Committee of Correspondence and Purchase — mainly from London, Edinburgh, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston. Donations were also presented to the society by the likes of Vice President Aaron Burr, whose daughter Theodosia married Joseph Alston of the Georgetown District in 1801. In the 1850s, ownership of the library was transferred from the Library Society to the Winyah Indigo Society. Today, the library proudly serves as a valuable resource to all, regardless of race or economic status. The Georgetown County Library circulates more than 200,000 items per year.