GEORGETOWN - State House Speaker David Wilkins helped kick off the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce's $350,000 capital campaign Tuesday.

Wilkins made brief, nonpolitical remarks at a party under the trees outside the chamber's planned headquarters, Harper House, on the waterfront on Front Street.

The campaign hopes to gather $250,000 to finish the Harper House project, and the rest will go toward economic development and promotion programs, said chamber President Steve Jones.

Wilkins, R-Greenville, was available because he was vacationing at his house on Pawleys Island. It didn't hurt that he and Jones are old pals and Clemson University classmates, either.

Harper House, named for the last owner, was built on Screven Street as a residence sometime in the 1800s. Jones said the chamber is trying to get more precise historical information on the building.

It later served as a doctor's office, then the offices of surveyor Sam Harper. After his death, his family gave the building to the chamber, which paid to move it to the Front Street site.

A visitors center and maritime museum will take the space on the first floor of the building; chamber offices will be located upstairs.

It will be the first time the chamber will be in its own quarters. It always has rented space.

Wilkins said he was a history major and is a history buff. He owns one of Pawleys Island's historical houses.

"I got to thinking about this old house and all the people that have walked across the threshhold," he said of the Harper House.

Those people "went from candlelight to electricity," and they lived through two world wars and a depression, Wilkins said.

By keeping its doors open, "you're keeping the doors unlocked to our past," he said. "This is really your gift to the future."

In his only political remarks, Wilkins encouraged chamber members to call or write.

"We do our job better in the S.C. House when people like you let us hear from you," he said.

Jones said it will take two more years to finish the Harper House, with work being done as money is available. The project also includes demolishing an old metal warehouse on the site and installing a parking lot with trees and sitting areas.