Final Expense Insurance in Georgetown County, SC

Funeral and Cremation Costs in Georgetown County, SC

Funeral costs in Georgetown County track close to the South Carolina average, with choices ranging from a simple direct cremation for under $2,000 to a full traditional service with burial running well past $8,000. The figures below are drawn from the National Funeral Directors Association’s 2024 General Price List Study and South Carolina pricing data from Funeralocity, Ever Loved, and DFS Memorials. Actual prices vary by funeral home, so families are always entitled to request a General Price List under the FTC Funeral Rule.

Beyond the funeral home bill, burial adds cemetery and marker costs that are billed separately. South Carolina is one of the lower-cost states in the country for cemetery plots, but the total still adds up quickly:

• Cemetery plot in South Carolina: $1,100 – $3,782 average, with coastal and private cemeteries near Pawleys Island and Murrells Inlet often pricing on the higher end
• Opening and closing fee (grave): $300 – $1,500
• Outer burial container or vault: $900 – $7,000
• Headstone or grave marker: $1,000 – $3,000
• Cremation urn: $100 – $500 typical range

For a Georgetown County family choosing a traditional funeral with burial at a local cemetery, the all-in cost — funeral home services, casket, plot, vault, marker, and opening/closing — commonly lands between $10,000 and $14,000. Cremation with a simple memorial typically runs $3,500 to $7,000 all-in. This is exactly the gap that burial insurance is designed to close. A $10,000 to $15,000 final expense policy, sized to local costs, keeps the funeral bill from landing on adult children or a surviving spouse on a fixed Social Security income.

Veterans buried in Georgetown County have an additional option worth knowing. Eligible veterans and their spouses qualify for free burial at a VA national cemetery — the closest being Beaufort National Cemetery and Florence National Cemetery — which covers the plot, opening and closing, a government headstone, and perpetual care. Funeral life insurance can then be sized smaller, covering only the service and transportation costs rather than the full burial package.

Funeral Homes Serving Georgetown County, SC

Georgetown County is served by a compact set of funeral homes concentrated along US 17 through the Waccamaw Neck, in downtown Georgetown near the Harborwalk, and in Andrews on the western side of the county. The providers below are all verified as currently operating and include a mix of long-standing family-owned firms and newer chapels handling cremation and traditional burial. Name only is listed here — families should contact any provider directly for a General Price List, which is required by the FTC Funeral Rule.

Georgetown and downtown area

• Mayer-Ethridge Funeral Home & Crematorium — Downtown Chapel (St. James Street) and Maryville Chapel across the Sampit River
• Graham Funeral Home (South Fraser Street)
• Ridgeway Funeral Home (Highmarket Street, serving the Lincoln and Whites Bridge communities)
• Wilds Funeral Home — serving Georgetown since 1911, the oldest operating funeral home in the county
• McKenzie Funeral Home — Georgetown Chapel (North Fraser Street)

Andrews and the western county

• McKenzie Funeral Home — Andrews Chapel (South Rosemary Avenue)
• McKnight-Fraser Funeral Homes (West Ashland Street, family-owned since 1956, with locations in both Andrews and Georgetown)

Waccamaw Neck — Pawleys Island and Murrells Inlet

• Burroughs Funeral Home & Cremation Services — Murrells Inlet (Old Kings Highway) with a Pawleys Island location
• Goldfinch Funeral Home — Beach Chapel on US 17 Bypass in Murrells Inlet, with an additional chapel on Hinnant Lane in Pawleys Island

Most Georgetown County funeral homes offer both traditional burial and cremation, and many now provide green cremation, memorial livestreaming, and pre-planning services. Several also operate their own crematoriums on-site, including Mayer-Ethridge and Burroughs, which can reduce transportation costs for cremation packages. For final expense insurance purposes, the specific funeral home a family chooses matters less than the overall price range in the county — policy benefits pay out as cash to the named beneficiary, who is then free to use any funeral home they prefer.

Cemeteries and Burial Grounds in Georgetown County, SC

Georgetown County’s cemetery landscape is as layered as its history — historic parish churchyards dating to the colonial era, perpetual-care memorial gardens serving modern families, and dozens of small church and family cemeteries scattered along the rural corridors between Andrews, Hemingway, and the Santee River. For families planning a traditional burial, the two main perpetual-care options sit in or near the city of Georgetown, while the Waccamaw Neck, Andrews, and the inland communities are served primarily by long-established church cemeteries.

Perpetual-care and memorial gardens

• Pennyroyal Memorial Gardens (Pennyroyal Road, Georgetown) — a full perpetual-care cemetery established in 1962, offering ground burials, mausoleum entombment, cremation niches, and pre-need planning
• Morning Glory Cemetery (Front Street, Georgetown)

Historic parish churchyards

• Prince George Winyah Cemetery — one of the oldest continuously used churchyards in South Carolina, with burials including Paul Trapier of the Second Continental Congress and South Carolina Governor Robert F.W. Allston
• All Saints Episcopal Church Cemetery (Kings River Road, Pawleys Island) — established in the 1820s, known for its live oaks, historic brick fence, and the legendary grave of Alice Flagg
• Old Baptist Cemetery (Georgetown)
• Georgetown Hebrew Cemetery

Church burial grounds across the inland county

Dozens of active church cemeteries serve the rural communities along US 521, US 701, and the farm roads between Andrews, Hemingway, Sampit, and Choppee. These are where most Georgetown County families with deep local roots still choose to be buried. Verified active church cemeteries include:

• Good Hope United Methodist Church Cemetery
• Indiantown Presbyterian Church Cemetery
• Black Mingo Baptist Church Cemetery
• Union United Methodist Church Cemetery
• Ebenezer United Methodist Church Cemetery
• Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery
• Poplar Hill Free Will Baptist Church Cemetery
• Old Johnsonville United Methodist Church Cemetery
• New Good Hope United Methodist Church Cemetery
• Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Cemetery
• Nesmith Baptist Church Cemetery
• Bethany Cemetery
• Lake Chapel Cemetery
• Midway Cemetery
• Outland Church of God Cemetery
• Lawrimore Memorial Cemetery
• Taylor Memorial Cemetery
• Trinity A.M.E. Cemetery
• Tisdale Cemetery
• Spring Gulley Baptist Church Cemetery

Veterans buried outside Georgetown County

Georgetown County has no VA national cemetery within its borders, but eligible veterans and their spouses can be buried at no cost at Beaufort National Cemetery or Florence National Cemetery, both within driving distance. Funeral life insurance is still worth considering even for veterans using a national cemetery, because VA benefits cover the plot, opening and closing, and headstone — but not the funeral home services, transportation, or viewing costs that still run several thousand dollars.

Plot costs at Georgetown County’s private cemeteries vary widely. Pennyroyal Memorial Gardens and other perpetual-care grounds near the city of Georgetown generally price in line with the South Carolina average of $1,100 to $3,800, while plots in the historic Waccamaw Neck churchyards and near Pawleys Island often run higher. Small church cemeteries in the rural communities are frequently the most affordable option for members, with some congregations offering plots to longtime members at little or no cost.

Communities We Serve in Georgetown County, SC

Palmetto Mutual works with families across every corner of Georgetown County — from the beachfront condos and retirement communities of the Waccamaw Neck to the tight-knit rural congregations along US 521 and NC-bordering farmland near the Santee River. The county spans four distinct regions, each with its own character and its own reasons families think about burial insurance differently. The Grand Strand communities tend to plan for cremation and memorial services. Inland, traditional burial at a home church cemetery is still the norm. Our funeral life insurance policies work the same way everywhere — the cash goes to your beneficiary, who decides how it’s spent.

Incorporated municipalities

• City of Georgetown — county seat, home to the historic Harborwalk, Front Street, Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital, and neighborhoods like Maryville, Rosemont, Richmond Heights, Lincoln, and Whites Bridge
• Town of Andrews — on the western side of the county along US 521, serving the inland farming communities
• Town of Pawleys Island — one of the oldest summer resorts on the East Coast, along US 17 on the Waccamaw Neck

Unincorporated communities and census-designated places

• Murrells Inlet — the “Seafood Capital of South Carolina,” split with Horry County and home to the Marshwalk, Brookgreen Gardens, and Huntington Beach State Park
• Litchfield Beach and North Litchfield — beachfront communities along US 17 just north of Pawleys Island
• Garden City (the southern portion in Georgetown County)
• DeBordieu Colony — private beachfront community south of Pawleys Island
• Hemingway area (the Georgetown County portion along the Williamsburg County line)
• Nesmith — rural community on the western edge, partially in Williamsburg County
• Plantersville — along US 701 north of Georgetown
• Yauhannah — northern Georgetown County, home to the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge visitor center
• Choppee, Sampit, Pleasant Hill, and Browns Ferry — rural communities across the inland county
• Allentown, Good Hope, Midway, and Outland — smaller crossroad communities scattered along the farm roads

Major roads and highways serving Georgetown County

US 17 is the spine of the Waccamaw Neck, running from Murrells Inlet south through Litchfield, Pawleys Island, and into the city of Georgetown before continuing toward Charleston. US 521 (Highmarket Street in the city) connects Georgetown west through Andrews to the Williamsburg County line. US 701 runs north from Georgetown through Yauhannah toward Conway. SC 51, SC 261, and SC 41 connect the rural communities on the western side of the county. The Intracoastal Waterway and the Sampit, Black, Waccamaw, Great Pee Dee, and Santee Rivers define much of the county’s geography and still shape how communities are grouped today.

ZIP codes served

Final expense insurance from Palmetto Mutual is available to residents in every ZIP code in Georgetown County:

Wherever you live in the county — whether your family has been buried at Prince George Winyah for six generations or you retired to a condo in Litchfield last year — burial insurance works the same way. You pay a small monthly premium, and when the time comes, your family gets a tax-free check to cover the funeral, the cemetery plot, final medical bills, or whatever else needs to be paid. That’s the whole product.