Co-Working Space in Georgetown, SC

An updated vaccine is recommended for adults and most children. Statewide, 7% of vaccinations did not specify a home county.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: The hospitals map shows the average I.C.U. occupancy at nearby hospitals in the most recent week with data reported. The data is self-reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by individual hospitals. It excludes counts from hospitals operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Numbers for hospitalized patients are based on inpatient beds and include I.C.U. beds. Hospitalized Covid-19 patients include both confirmed and suspected Covid-19 patients. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023.

How trends have changed in Georgetown County

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: Weekly county death data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. Hospitalization data is a weekly average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Georgetown County. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government.

Historical trends in Georgetown County

The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated. Weekly county case data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023. Test positivity data is based only on test results reported to the federal government and is a seven-day average.

Prince Frederick’s Chapel looks spooky these days, but it began with a bout of optimism. In November 1859, Reverend Joseph Hunter laid the first stones of a church that he hoped would become a central point in the local community. This was in the community of Plantersville, in the modern-day town of Georgetown, an hour’s drive south of Myrtle Beach. This was also a year and a half before the Civil War broke out, and changed not just Reverend Hunter’s plans but the future of the community.

The church was designed in the Gothic revival style, and construction began and continued with the hopes that the local rice industry, which depended on enslaved labor, and its accompanying plantation society would flourish despite the outcome of the war and the efforts of Abraham Lincoln. Named for Prince Frederick of Wales, the son of King George II, the church took 17 years to build, and was finished in 1876. By this point, the Civil War was long over, and the local economy had tanked; many potential congregants moved away from the area, and the project was abandoned to history and the wild hunger of nature.

In 1974, almost a century after its completion, the chapel was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which is why today you’ll see a chain link fence surrounding it and a nearby plaque explaining it. You might also find some visitors here to investigate an alleged haunting.

Local lore—believed by some—goes that two brothers, Philip and Edward Gunn, were hired to build the church. One, though it’s unclear which, fell to his death from the roof of the church. People claim to have heard voices screaming near the site, bells ringing, or curious lights near the tower’s peak. If gothic stories and/or gothic architecture interest you, this beautiful though crumbling chapel is a must-see.

Know Before You Go

The ruins are free to visit. Parking is minimal.

This post is sponsored by Visit Myrtle Beach. Click here to explore more.

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GEORGETOWN — An Australian firm plans to purchase Georgetown’s downtown steel mill, potentially preserving one of the coastal city’s longtime factories and dozens of jobs.

InfraBuild, which is run by the parent company of the mill’s current owner, announced May 29 that the company had closed on a $350 million loan to buy GFG Alliance’s American-based steel industry assets, which includes Liberty Steel USA’s plant. No date was released on when the sale could be completed.

James Sanderson, president of United Steelworkers Local 7898, said that after speaking with the potential new owners that the mill, a mainstay of Front and South Fraser streets for over half a century, is in Georgetown to stay.

“We’re just very excited about this transition,” Sanderson said.

InfraBuild did not respond to a request for comment May 31. GFG Alliance declined to comment.

Georgetown’s economy relied heavily on the lumber industry in the early 20th century before the arrival of International Paper’s plant in 1936. Georgetown Steel helped further diversify the community’s industrial base in the late 1960s, but the mill cycled through various owners and changes in the industry that reduced its workforce before it was purchased by Liberty Steel in 2017.

The plant that makes steel wire used in tires and bridge cables closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic but started operating again in January 2022 with about 65 workers, well below the hundreds of employees that made the plant one of the city’s largest employers.

The reopening, however, was challenged under a city ordinance that would rezone the plant site if operations ceased for a year. The mill is near Georgetown’s main business district and the 50-acre plant site is considered a prime spot for tourism development. But Liberty and its supporters defeated rezoning efforts.

The mill’s owner recently announced a workforce expansion of more than 50 percent.

Sanderson said he has met with InfraBuild in the past, but he had not spoken with the company’s interim CEO, Dak Patel, since the May 29 announcement. Sanderson said he’s confident company representatives will visit the city and mill soon.

“They will be looking at it and examining and looking at all the capital improvements that could be done at our facility here in Georgetown,” Sanderson said.

Patel said in a May 29 statement that the new financing will allow Infrabuild “to continue to grow our business and service a customer base which spans the infrastructure, commercial and residential construction, agriculture and mining markets.”

InfraBuild’s presence in the United States consists of a pair of recycling sites in LaPlace, La., and Tampa, Fla.

Other GFG-owned businesses that could be involved in the acquisition are manufacturer Keystone Consolidated Industries and Pennsylvania-based Johnstown Wire Technologies.

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that the company buying the Georgetown steel mill is run by the parent company of the mill’s current owner.

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GEORGETOWN — A line of vehicles more than a dozen deep backed up around the corner of Dozier and Prince streets with Hurricane Idalia making its approach to American shores.

The city of Georgetown began distributing free sandbags with a 10-bag limit on the site of the former city hall at 3 p.m. Aug. 29. According to Laurie Cipolla of the Georgetown public works department, that load of more than 300 bags ran out within 38 minutes. The city soon sent out an email that it would provide “sand, shovels, and bags” at the site beginning after 5 p.m.

After a city truck dumped hundreds of pounds of sand in a lot at the site just before the stroke of 5, those lined up in their vehicles quickly got to work with shovels and bags. There was enough sand for about another 300 bags, bringing the city’s total to more than 600 distributed in one day.

And it would indeed be one day, as Aug. 29 was the only day the city could give out sandbags. As residents leaned their shovels into the pile, it was 85 degrees. Clouds began to approach from the southwest but it remained humid, the sort of South Carolina afternoon in which sweat is inevitable and fast-acting.

Area jurisdictions increased action as the storm approached. Georgetown County declared a state of emergency the same day, as did Conway and Horry County.

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Earlier in the day, the Georgetown County School District announced it will switch to eLearning on Aug. 31. Horry County Schools did the same.

“The county is bracing for heavy rainfall, strong winds, coastal flooding and the possibility of isolated tornados beginning on Wednesday and into Thursday,” according to an Aug. 29 county statement. “Georgetown County Emergency Management – in conjunction with S.C. Emergency Management and the National Weather Service – is monitoring the storm’s track closely and encourages residents to do the same.”

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — Using the backdrop of a customer and worker appreciation day, Liberty Steel USA officials announced plans to expand operations at the Liberty Georgetown Steel Mill.

The announcements come roughly a year after the city leadership issued an order for the mill to close claiming executives let the mill remain shuttered for too long during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mill and city manager had worked out an agreement that the mill could remain in a shuttered, but maintenance-focused capacity until February 2022.

When that deadline was reached and mill workers returned as did production, the outgoing city zoning administrator declared that the mill violated a local ordinance and should lose its special zoning status grandfathering it into the area where the city has made an effort to reduce heavy industrial activity in favor of more tourist-focused business.

In the summer, the Georgetown Board of Zoning Appeals decided the mill was justified to remain open citing that agreement between executives and the city administrator.

Friday, the city's mayor among other public officials joined mill and union leadership.

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"We have a very good relationship with the executives of the steel mill at this point," said Mayor Carol Jayroe. "Currently Liberty Steel and the city are partnering to beautify the perimeter along South Fraser Street. We are looking forward to working with Liberty on this project."

Mill executives say the landscaping and the efforts to expand are part of a broader plan to show the mill is trying to be a good steward of the community given its roughly 50-year history being a symbol of Georgetown.

"We want our colleagues to have pride in the place they work when they come in," said Executive VP of US Operations Axel Ampolini. "We want this steel mill to be an asset to this community."

Ampolini says the business has slowed some given the economic headwinds consumers face with inflated prices on construction and automotive products. Those are the main industries for the mill's wire rod supply sources. He however says the mill is turning a profit even with its smaller output compared to larger operations like the Peoria, Illinois sister plant. Friday, he announced that they plan to increase production from 120,000 tons of wire rods to 300,000 tons.

"We're going to be expanding from one shift to two shifts so that we can work around the clock," Ampolini said. "We will reach triple digits with this expansion that we are announcing today we will be right around 100 folks."

It's welcomed news for union workers and union leaders who have told ABC 15 News that the contract between the united steelworkers and Liberty Steel calls for roughly 125 full-time workers at the Georgetown Mill by 2025. This expansion and the addition of downstream integration, meaning Liberty will buy its own product from the mill for separate operations, will bring the mill's labor force closer to that threshold.

"Up to 40 additional employees will be coming up here to our plant site and I think that's going to be a win-win situation for everybody involved," said Georgetown branch president James Sanderson with the United Steelworkers.

A spokesperson for Liberty Steel USA says the work to hire new plant workers and staff for the integration will begin in the coming months with a goal to have the expansion efforts complete by the end of the year.

"This is a great day in Georgetown," Sanderson said. "There's no doubt in my mind that I think everybody needs to come together, work together, and start looking out for the best interests of Georgetown and I do believe that we are on the right path now."