George Town is classified as a historic town, for it was built by convicts on the site where Europeans first landed in northern Van Diemen's Land in 1804. It is now the commercial and service centre of the East Tamar, supporting the Bell Bay deepwater port and industrial area south of the township. You're spoilt for choice in accommodation and dining options in award-winning establishments, plus optional BBQs with a new pump track and adventure playground catering for all ages in close proximity.
An easy shared pathway winds its way around York Cove and along the scenic river's edge out to the Low Head Lighthouse, complementing the more recent MTB Trails at Mount George and soon to be completed, Tippogoree Hills. While many of George Town's earliest buildings are long gone, some remain and the history lives on in the old 1855 Watch House, the Bass and Flinders [Maritime] Museum, the Community Quilts in the Memorial Hall and in Regent Square. A self-guided Heritage Trail flyer takes you around the town to the Paterson Monument and Windmill Pt at the end of Macquarie St where you will often see huge vessels passing the point as they negotiate the meandering channel between Low Head and Bell Bay.
Macrocarpa tree trunks from the hedge that once sheltered the old Cable Station from prevailing North Westerlies have been carved by chainsaw artist Eddie Freeman to depict the early colonial history of the site, and there are more of these at the East Beach caravan park at Low Head.
This is an ideal central base from which to explore the coastal villages and the surrounding vineyards, wineries, distilleries and agricultural areas in the Pipers River Valley and the Hillwood area and take in a nocturnal Penguin Tour.