Walterboro
The hometown nurse who now leads USC Salkehatchie as dean.
Dr. April Cone
"Commencement every year is the big reminder of my 'why.'"Read her story →
The Front Porch of the Lowcountry — an hour from Charleston and Savannah, with a 600-acre blackwater swamp sanctuary inside the city limits and two I-95 exits into a historic downtown.
The short answer: Walterboro is a town of about 5,500 in Colleton County, South Carolina, roughly 50 miles west of Charleston. The median home value is $183,500 in the city and $162,500 countywide — about 60% of the South Carolina median. It has a 135-bed hospital, a University of South Carolina campus, a National Register historic downtown, and a 600-acre wildlife sanctuary you can walk to.
This page is background research. Applications, ambassadors and the Walterboro program itself live on projecthometownwalterboro.com — that's the official site, run by the local Walterboro team.
| County | Colleton County (Walterboro is the county seat) |
|---|---|
| Population | ~5,480 city · 38,783 county (ACS 2024 5-year) |
| Median home value | $183,500 city · $162,500 county (ACS 2024 5-year) |
| Median household income | $56,457 city (ACS 2024 5-year) |
| Average commute | 26.3 minutes |
| Charleston airport (CHS) | 50 miles · 116 daily flights (City of Walterboro) |
| Savannah, GA | ~68 miles · about 1 hr 7 min |
| Beaufort, SC | ~48 miles · about 1 hr |
| Interstates | I-95 adjacent with two exits into downtown; I-26 less than 29 miles north |
| Hospital | Colleton Medical Center — 135 beds, HCA Healthcare |
| Schools | Colleton County School District — 4,539 students, 9 schools, 13:1 ratio (NCES 2024-25) |
| Higher education | USC Salkehatchie (Walterboro campus) |
Sources: U.S. Census / ACS via Census Reporter, City of Walterboro, NCES, Colleton Medical Center.
Walterboro sits at the center of a triangle formed by Charleston, Savannah and Columbia. Charleston International Airport is 50 miles away and serves 116 daily flights; the Port of Charleston is the same distance, and the Port of Savannah about 70. I-95 runs alongside town with two exits directly into downtown, and I-26 is under 29 miles north. That means weekend Charleston without Charleston housing costs — the county's median home value is roughly 60% of the state median.
The Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary is 600+ acres of black-water bottomland — boardwalks, hiking, biking and canoe trails through cypress knees, hardwood flats, and live oaks draped in Spanish moss — and it is three minutes from I-95. The city describes it as possibly the only "braided creek" swamp accessible to the public. One trail follows the Colonial-era Charleston-to-Savannah stagecoach road, where cypress remnants of the historic bridges are still visible. It's on the South Carolina Birding Trail.
Beyond town, Walterboro sits at the edge of the ACE Basin — the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto rivers meeting at St. Helena Sound, about 350,000 acres and one of the largest undeveloped wetland ecosystems left on the Atlantic Coast. The Edisto is the longest free-flowing blackwater river in the United States, and nearby Colleton State Park is the official start of the 62-mile Edisto River Canoe & Kayak Trail, South Carolina's first designated paddling trail.
Sources: City of Walterboro, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, SC State Parks.
The Walterboro Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, with a boundary increase in 1993. It contains 33 buildings of particular historical or architectural significance plus 142 supporting buildings — early-19th-century planters' summer homes, late-Victorian houses, and early-20th-century bungalows. The city counts roughly 55 historic sites across two districts spanning more than 200 years. The 1822 courthouse was designed by Robert Mills, the architect of the Washington Monument.
Downtown today runs on antiques shops along East Washington Street and a monthly First Thursday street closing with shopping, dining and live music. Red rocking chairs are the town's signature.
The South Carolina Artisans Center was designated by the state legislature as the official folk art and craft center of South Carolina — signed into law in May 2000. It represents work by more than 300 South Carolina master craft artists, all handmade by SC residents, from Gullah sweetgrass baskets to Southern face jugs, in a restored Victorian cottage on Wichman Street.
More than 500 of the Tuskegee Airmen trained at Walterboro Army Airfield between April 1944 and October 1945, receiving advanced combat training as replacement pilots for the all-Black 332nd Fighter Group — while segregated in every aspect of daily life on the base. A Tuskegee Airmen Monument stands at Highway 17A near the airport, and the site is part of Walterboro Army Airfield Memorial Park and listed on the Green Book of South Carolina.
Note: the original monument was damaged in 2022 and replacement was planned — check current status before visiting. Sources: Green Book of SC, City of Walterboro.
Colleton County School District serves about 4,539 students across 9 schools with a 13-to-1 student-teacher ratio (NCES, 2024-25). Schools include Colleton County High School, Colleton County Middle School, elementary schools at Bells, Cottageville, Forest Hills, Hendersonville and Northside, plus the Black Street Early Childhood Center and the Thunderbolt Career & Technology Center. For current accountability ratings, see the state's school report cards.
Colleton Medical Center is a 135-bed hospital in Walterboro, part of HCA Healthcare, at 501 Robertson Boulevard. It offers 24/7 emergency care for adults and children, surgery, orthopedics, women's care and obstetrics, pediatrics, wound care, rehabilitation, intensive care, and imaging including CT and MRI.
USC Salkehatchie — a University of South Carolina regional campus — has a Walterboro location offering Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees that carry into nearly every USC major, on-campus bachelor's programs including nursing (BSN) in partnership with USC Beaufort, and 17 online bachelor's degrees through Palmetto College. Class sizes run around 20 rather than 200.
Colleton County's manufacturing base includes Floralife, Gehl Food & Beverage Southeast, Boise Cascade, Pioneer Boats and Meter Bearings Group, alongside the school district, Colleton Medical Center and county government. Because of the I-95/I-26 position, the county's economic development office counts a labor pool of over 2 million people within a 60-minute drive.
For remote workers the pitch is simpler: a sub-30-minute commute to anywhere in town, a major airport an hour away, and housing at roughly 60% of the state median.
Source: SouthernCarolina Alliance (JobsEQ, July 2025).
Six Walterboro residents on why they stayed, came back, or moved their business here.
"Commencement every year is the big reminder of my 'why.'"Read her story →
"I would put our design crew up against any design crew."Read his story →
He sized up the town at a high school football game — then moved operations here.Read his story →
About 50 miles to Charleston International Airport and roughly 48 miles west of Charleston itself — about an hour. I-95 runs alongside town with two exits into downtown, and I-26 is less than 29 miles north. Savannah is about 68 miles, Beaufort about 48.
The median owner-occupied home value is $183,500 in the city and $162,500 across Colleton County (U.S. Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates) — roughly 60% of the South Carolina median. Current-market listing prices from real-estate aggregators run higher and disagree with each other, so treat those as a separate, faster-moving number.
Yes — Colleton Medical Center, a 135-bed HCA Healthcare hospital at 501 Robertson Boulevard, with 24/7 emergency care for adults and children, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, ICU and imaging.
The 600-acre Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary is inside the city limits, three minutes from I-95, with boardwalks and hiking, biking and canoe trails. Beyond it lies the ACE Basin (~350,000 acres), the Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge (~11,815 acres), and the 62-mile Edisto River Canoe & Kayak Trail starting at Colleton State Park.
The case for it: housing at roughly 60% of the state median, an average commute of 26 minutes, a major international airport 50 miles away with 116 daily flights, and two I-95 exits. One thing to verify yourself: we could not find citable broadband-availability data for Walterboro, so if you work remotely, confirm internet service at any specific address before committing.
It's the City of Walterboro's official motto, used across its visitor materials. The idea is that the town is the welcoming entry point to the Lowcountry — sitting between Charleston, Savannah, Beaufort and Columbia. Red rocking chairs are the downtown signature.
The Colleton County Rice Festival, founded in 1975 and held downtown each spring — 2026 was the 51st annual. Free admission, 100+ street vendors, 20+ food trucks, live music, a parade, an antique car show, and a 5K rated among the state's best races.
That's what Project Hometown SC is for. Apply on the Walterboro community site and a resident ambassador will reach out for a real conversation — no pitch, just questions and answers. If it feels right, they'll host you for a visit.
The Walterboro community site is where you apply and meet your ambassador. It's run by the local Project Hometown SC team.