I’ve lived six hours from Columbia, South Carolina all my life, but had never visited. Sure, I’d visited all around the surrounding area, picking up sheep for our farm, but had never spent time exploring. A recent “Girlfriend’s Getaway” with my friends, Karen Dawkins of Family Travels on a Budget and Liz Mays of Eat.Move.Make was the perfect chance to change the situation!
We started our day with a tour of the South Carolina State Museum. The four floors of this museum house permanent and changing exhibits, a digital dome planetarium, a 4D interactive theater and an observatory. When we arrived we were greeted by their mascot, Finn the Shark, a giant pre-historic megalodon shark replica, whose toothy smile beckoned us to enter.
The museum is an astronomer’s paradise, featuring the largest collection of American made telescopes in the world. From there, it’s a quick step into the Boeing Observatory, where a giant telescope offers views of the sky 24 hours a day.
As a history buff, my favorite exhibit was the walk through the past, showing the history of South Carolina from prehistoric times into the 20th century.
Our next stop was the Historic Downtown area. I recommend walking through the area to get a feel of the rich sense of history. We found hidden gems like the Mast General Store, which sells American Made Products like Fried Chicken Cookbooks, and Architectural wonders like this chain strung between two building. We never learned the reason for this!
Walking in 100 degree heat made us long for a cold treat so we stopped by Sweet Cream Company, a local shop which sells small batch ice cream. The flavors change often and contain unusual gourmet ingredients. We sampled the Lemon-Basil ice cream, a tart combo with an amazing flavor and I had a cup of Bourbon Brown Sugar. The ingredients are locally sourced and fresh. I could have sampled all their flavors!
From Downtown it’s a short walk to the South Carolina State House. After strolling around the grounds and admiring the statues, we went inside for a guided tour, which are held every 30 minutes. (Tip: Because this is a government building, expect to have your purse sent through an x-ray machine.) Our tour began with a short film explaining the history of the building. Construction on the present state house was completed in 1903 and includes beautiful architectural detail throughout the building.
The free tour encompasses the first and second floors of the building and includes peeks into both the Senate and the House chambers. My favorite feature was the false dome, rising majestically toward the sky. Because the outside dome was not centered inside the building, this dome was built to allow natural light from the outside dome.
To be near the center of the action, stay at Hyatt Place. Not only are the rooms spacious and comfortable and the employees friendly and professional, they include an extensive breakfast buffet and free wi-fi in their room rates. The only complaint I had about the Hyatt Place is the parking. If using a GPS, it will direct you to the front of the building. I spent twenty minutes trying to find the parking area before accidentally finding the parking lot, located on the street behind the main entrance. The parking lot is small, so there is additional parking (for a fee of $12 a day) located a block away in an indoor parking garage.
Have you been to Columbia, South Carolina? What are your favorite places to visit?
I’ve never been to South Carolina before. The only few places that I’ve visited in the US is Florida, Michigan and NY. Would love to visit some of these historical spots.
When I was a kid, every year we would go to SC for Summer vacation. I have so many good memories of Columbia and other places we stayed. So much fun!
I have been traveling much more lately and I am loving it. I have never been to South Carolina. Looks like a wonderful place to visit.
I have been visiting Columbia, South Carolina since I was a little girl. My Aunt & Uncle have been stationed their for many years. In all of my visits I’ve never done anything fun. This Sweet Cream Company sounds like my kind of spot.
I have to admit: Ice cream does it for me every time… But I am an old fool for historic cities and love to visit them. Thanks for sharing your experience and beautiful pictures: this is a place I would love to visit some day soon!
Wow, what a wonderful tour. I want to see Columbia in person with my hubby and son.
I’d love to see inside the State House. I love those kinds of visits. 🙂
I adore trips like these. It sounds like you had a great combination of interesting attractions, yummy treats, and quality time with your friends. I’d love to visit Columbia with my friends.
My family and I visited Columbia South Carolina years ago. We didn’t stay overnight though. We went to the zoo and then came home.
This looks like a good agenda list for this trip.
This seems like a fun destination.
This looks like a great place to visit! Maybe someday we will get to stop and visit in SC instead of just passing through 🙂
I’ve never gotten to go to South Carolina before but would absolutely love to! The spot you went to looks gorgeous!
These are all amazing places to visit in Columbia South Carolina. We would definitely see the museums there because we all love history. Hyatt Place is indeed a great place to stay it seems. Thanks for sharing the sites.
I am hoping to be in the Columbia, South Carolina area next year. I will have to check out a few of these places.
I love Charleston, South Carolina. However that’s the only place I have been in SC. I think I need to venture on to columbia,
I’ve only passed through South Carolina. It’s definitely a place I want to visit someday.
Looks like an interesting city. Maybe i can put this in my list “where to” for the next summer. Thanks for your post and the photos as well!
Whenever we’re in a new place, I always make sure we try to visit the museum if they have one. It’s a great way to learn more about the place and its history. Thanks for sharing the sites in Columbia!
I’ve driven through/by Columbia many times but never stopped. The next time though, I think we are going to have to stop, at least for a day or two.
I would love to visit this city! I love citiies with deep history to explore and sounds like so many things to see.
I had no idea what Columbia had to offer at all. My husband and I were just talking about how much there is to see here in the US, as we’ve been fortunate enough to travel around the world. It looks like you had an amazing time-thanks for sharing
My husband is the only one in our family that has been to Columbia. He kept talking about how pretty it was. I need to visit there.
What a nice place for a family trip. I really liked that museum and our hotel was great!
Looks like a fabulous place to visit, so much to see and take a look at. I am glad you shared this, will have to look into visiting!
Oh this looks like such a beautiful place to visit! This sounds like a great city, my kids would probably love to visit there too.
Looks and sounds like a beautiful city, I would love to check it out next time we are in that area.
South Carolina is really such a beautiful place. I typically go to visit Charleston, but I will definitely check out Columbia the next time I am down south.
Columbia is such a short drive for our family. I really need to make a trip over there soon.
These are great ideas on what to check out here, I will have to find a way to get over to the states some day to see all of these fantastic sights!
This is such a lovely town with so much to see and do. I think my whole family would love to check out that museum. It looks like it has so many great exhibits.
South Carolina is in our bucket list of places to visit someday. The State house looks like something my kids would love to explore.
I have never been to SC, but it’s on my list of places to visit. Your pictures are gorgeous and enticing…I need to schedule a visit out there sooner rather than later from the looks of it! Isn’t it funny how sometimes we don’t really stop to see all the great places and things that are not too far from where we live?
We have ever been to South Carolina. But I have a friend who is from the south ad I went home with her during our college year – wow – just wow – so beautiful in this area. So much different than the midwest
What a gorgeous city! I’ve never been to the US really, but your posts make me want to go explore everything I can. So much to see and do!
Columbia is a beautiful city. We’ve driven through, but we’ve never had the chance to stop and really take it in. Thanks for sharing this!
I love the capital building, it’s beautiful. You can also see from the outside, where the stars hang are where cannons struck during the Civil War.