Port Royal is a town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,950 at the 2000 census. Largely because of annexation, the population of the Port Royal town limits has more than doubled since 2000 . As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Port Royal is included within the Beaufort Urban Cluster and the larger Hilton Head Island–Beaufort Micropolitan Statistical Area. Frenchman Jean Ribault explored the Port Royal Sound waterways and harbours in 1562, and founded a short-lived colony. The area later became the site of a Spanish and still later Scottish colony during the 17th century. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was first read at Christmas under the Proclamation tree in Port Royal. Port Royal hosts the Soft Shell Crab Festival every year in late April during the short soft shell crab season. The famous hurricane scene from Forrest Gump was filmed in the town's dock area.