2020 Schedule of Events
9/14/20: This is a work in progress, so check back often for updated information.
Meet this year’s featured artist Cathy Turner – Poster Signing Events
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 | 1PM-4PM
LOCATION: South Carolina Maritime Museum
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2020 | 11AM-2PM
LOCATION: South Carolina Maritime Museum
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020 | 11AM-2PM
LOCATION: South Carolina Maritime Museum
Sponsor Appreciation Reception / Auction
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020 | 4PM-8PM.
LOCATION: Maritime Park and the South Carolina Maritime Museum
Because of the COVID-19 virus the City of Georgetown is not issuing any permits for public events. With that said, we are unable to hold our traditional Georgetown Wooden Boat Show (GWBS). The Georgetown Wooden Boat Show and the Goat Island Yacht Club (GIYC) Auction, held the night before the show, are the annual fundraisers for the South Carolina Maritime Museum. These fundraisers are critical to the museum’s continued success and future. Having the Mariner’s courage and perseverance, we are prepared to weather this storm, and we hope you will be onboard with us.
We are offering an appreciation reception for our sponsors this year—a four-hour voyage similar to The Wooden Boat Show Sponsor Tent and GIYC Auction, all in one. You will be receiving hats and masks and, of course, be required to follow the health guidelines.
Virtual Wooden Boat Exhibit
BEGINS OCTOBER 1, 2020
LOCATION: WoodenBoatShow.com and Facebook.com/GeorgetownWoodenBoatShow
This year’s Wooden Boat Exhibit is going virtual. Registration is free and dock space is unlimited!
We are asking exhibitors to send us pictures and/or a short video describing your boat, your passion for the water, your memories and experiences at the boat show, etc. We want to include these on our website and social media. Your stories and pictures will keep the GWBS alive this year.
Smithsonian’s Traveling Water/Ways Exhibit
SEPTEMBER 28 – NOVEMBER 8, 2020
LOCATION: South Carolina Maritime Museum. Free admission. Donations appreciated.
Water/Ways, an exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street, explores the relationship between people and water. It explores the centrality of water in our lives including its effect on the environment and climate, its practical role in agriculture and economic planning, and its impact on culture and spirituality. Water/Ways is part of Museum on Main Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), state humanities councils across the nation, and local host institutions.
North Inlet-Winyah Bay NERR, Coastal Carolina University, and Waccamaw ‘Riverkeepers, will have exhibits at the museum during Water/Ways. Photographs commemorating our fishing industry will be presented by Vennie Deas-Moore.
Water/Ways Events & Activities
GEORGETOWN ON THE WATER TRIVIA GAME (September 28-November 8)
Walk Georgetown’s beautiful Harborwalk and play SCMM’s water trivia game! Read through each of the interpretative panels to find the answers! Complete the game for a chance to win a gift certificate to one of Georgetown’s merchants! Stop by the museum to pick up the trivia questions and begin the game.
GEORGETOWN IS WATER SELF-GUIDED WALKING TOUR
Explore historic Front Street and learn about Georgetown’s relationship with water through the years. Look for panels displayed in Front Street businesses and enjoy Georgetown’s history!
HISTORY AT HOME ZOOM PRESENTATIONS
In celebration of hosting the Smithsonian’s Water/Ways exhibit, we hope you will join us via Zoom for these special History at Home presentations. There is a small fee for each presentation.
Wednesday, September 16 at 12pm
Georgetown Harbor in a Dynamic Coastal Environment – The Long Story of Keeping it Navigable
Presented by Till J.J. Hanebuth, Associate Professor, Department of Coastal & Marine Systems Sciences, Coastal Carolina University
Visit: Till Hanebuth CCU faculty profile
Wednesday, September 23 at 12pm
National Estuaries Week: Celebrating Georgetown’s Estuaries and National Estuarine Research Reserve
Presented by Erik Smith, Manager, North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve; Research Associate Professor, Baruch Institute for Marine & Coastal Sciences, University of South Carolina
Visit: North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Saturday, October 3 at 12pm
Thomas Jefferson talks Water! The commission of the 1st Atlantic coastal survey, colonial waterways as the nation’s highways, and Lewis and Clark’s water discoveries
Presented by Steve Edenbo as Thomas Jefferson – actor, historical interpreter, educational/inspirational/motivational speaker.
Visit: YourThomasJefferson.com
Friday, October 9 at 12pm
U.N. Sustainable Development, River Rights, and Local Water Issues
Presented by Pamela L. Martin, Professor of Politics & International Relations, Coastal Carolina University; Executive Director, Georgetown RISE
Visit: Pamela Martin CCU faculty profile and Georgetown Rise
Wednesday, October 21 at 12pm
The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
Presented by Brian Hicks, author and Senior Writer/Metro Columnist, Charleston Post & Courier
Visit: BrianHicksBooks.com
Model Day with Tom Boozer
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10 11am-5pm
LOCATION: South Carolina Maritime Museum. Free admission. Donations appreciated.
Tom has exhibited his model boats many times at the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show and several of his models and dioramas are on permanent display at the SC Maritime Museum. He is South Carolina’s most widely recognized and talented decoy carver actively working in this field since the 1970’s.
“Boozer is also known for museum-quality boat models, from tiny replicas of old market-hunting craft such as punt boats and battery boats to a series of sought-after replicas of Jenny, the shrimp boat of Forrest Gump fame. He’s working on models of the oyster sloops that plied South Carolina waters in the first half of the twentieth century, and he is an accomplished carver and maker of dioramas, having recently completed an installation of a Lowcountry cotton plantation at the Edisto Museum.” – Garden and Gun Magazine 2014
New Exhibits at the South Carolina Maritime Museum
A Tale of Two Shrimp Boats – Beaufort’s Miss Sherri and Forrest Gump’s Jenny
Did you know that the famous shrimp boat from the movie Forrest Gump, the Jenny, was actually a South Carolina boat named Miss Sherri? Learn the history of the Miss Sherri and how she was transformed into Forrest’s beloved shrimp boat. Accompanying the exhibit are two models of the Jenny built by South Carolina model maker Tom Boozer, as well as Jenny boat signs from the movie.
Where is the Jenny? Exhibit tells story of famed Beaufort shrimp boat from ‘Forrest Gump
by Stephen Fastenau , The Beaufort Gazette, September 04, 2020
Tom Boozer knows almost everything about the shrimp boat that was plucked from Beaufort waters more than 25 years ago and set on a course for Hollywood fame. Everything, that is, except where the vessel is now. His knowledge was poured into a current museum exhibit telling the boat’s story. The 55-foot trawler Miss Sherri, then owned by Beaufort shrimper Jimmie Stanley, became the Jenny as christened by actor Tom Hanks’ character in the smash hit “Forrest Gump,” filmed in Beaufort. After the movie hit theaters and piled up awards, Stanley asked Boozer to build him a model.
A Mighty Floating Fortress – The Battleship USS South Carolina (BB-26)