Between 1890 and 1920, Georgetown was the biggest lumber port in the Southeast.

To celebrate this area’s maritime history, the South Carolina Maritime Museum will present its first temporary exhibit: Lumber Schooners.

The exhibit, which features a photographic display of lumber schooners that visited the port of Georgetown at the beginning of the 20th century, will open with a reception on Thursday, February 9, 2012 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Opening its doors in December of last year, the Maritime Museum’s first exhibit tells the story of sailing ships and steamships that transported millions of feet of pine and cypress lumber from South Carolina forests to cities in the northeastern United States.

“People are amazed with how much maritime history there is in South Carolina,” said Susan Sanders, the director of the museum.

“We would love to have everybody who can stop in to see our new museum.”

The new Lumber Schooners exhibit is a series of 26 enlarged photographs, charts, and maps that have been reproduced, courtesy of the Maine Maritime Museum and the Georgetown County Digital Library.

Robert McAlister, who is on the board of directors for the museum and the chair of the exhibits committee, created the exhibit with the help of his wife, Mary, an artist and interior designer.

“This was the golden age of Georgetown,” McAlister said.

“Hundreds of sailing and steam ships came in and out of Georgetown Harbor, more than ever before or since.

City of Georgetown

Much of the exhibit is devoted to the a four-masted sailing schooner chartered by the Atlantic Coast Lumber Company called the City of Georgetown.

“That part of the exhibit begins with the various steps of the ship’s construction, then onto the ship as made its maiden voyage, and finally its final voyage,” McAlister said.

The Atlantic Coast Lumber Company’s mill in Georgetown was one of the largest lumber operations in America at the time.

The construction of the vessel was financed by a group of 49 investors, nine of whom were Georgetown people.

The black-and-white and sepia photo enlargements in the exhibit depict the life story of the City of Georgetown.

The 168-foot vessel was built at the William Rogers Shipyard in Bath, Maine. She had a short but busy life.

Her maiden voyage was to Georgetown in 1902. Eleven years later, in 1913, after many voyages delivering lumber to New England shipyards, she was rammed and sunk off the Atlantic coast by the German ocean liner Prinz Oskar, though all hands were saved.

Upcoming exhibits

Other exhibits of South Carolina maritime history will follow.

It is the purpose of the South Carolina Maritime Museum to offer a variety of experiences to young people and adults by collecting, preserving and interpreting items of historical interest for educational purposes and to recount South Carolina maritime history through artifacts, documents and other materials of antique or historical value.

The exhibits will further the public interest, knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the seagoing heritage of South Carolina.

The South Carolina Maritime Museum has been a 16-year-old vision of the Harbor Historical Association, the sponsoring organization of the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show.

“People are all very enthusiastic about us getting the museum underway,” Sanders said. “They seem to be pleased with our humble start.”

The Harbor Historical Association is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) group which began in 1996 with a mission to preserve and promote the maritime history of Georgetown County and South Carolina.

Through community support of the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show and related events, the association has accumulated the initial funding for its waterfront museum home.

The museum is located on the waterfront at 729 Front Street in downtown Georgetown.

For more information about the Lumber Schooners exhibit or to learn about opportunities for supporting the South Carolina Maritime Museum visit scmaritime museum.org, call (843)520-0111, or e-mail ssanders.scmm@gmail.com.

By Clayton Stairs

cstairs@gtowntimes.com