Georgetown

  Fuel lines were checked to obstructions and sources for air to enter the system.  Nothing seemed to get the engine running properly.  It would run at 2700 rpm and periodically slowly drop to 2200 rpm and then slowly return to 2700 rpm.  Same at 2200 rpm – drop to 1700 rpm and return to 2200.  Ran the engine for 2 ½ hours under load trying to determine the source of the problem without success.   At least, the engine kept running albeit with the occasional drop of 500 rpm.  Calls were made and emails sent out to others to solicit their suggestions.  We’ll decide on what to do tomorrow.

We went to the Rice Museum in Georgetown and learned about the production of rice in the region.  At one time over 150 plantations in the county were producing almost half the rice in the United States.  Georgetown shipped rice all over the world from its port.  The profitability of growing rice declined with the elimination of slavery and the introduction of machinery to replace labor in other rice growing states.  The rice fields of Georgetown were too wet to support heavy machinery in rice production and labor costs were high enough to make it impossible to continue to profitably grow rice.  By the 1930s the last of the plantations ceased to grow rice.

One of the artifact in the rice museum was a vessel which was found in a nearby river and dates from the early 1700s.  A model of the boat is on display as well as some of the artifacts recovered by marine archaeologists.