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Spotlight
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Columbia offers a wide range of recreation; exciting attractions and spectator sports; and top-notch meeting facilities.
Attractions
Columbia, South Carolina area attractions are easy to find lying at the confluence of three rivers just downstream from a 50,000-acre recreational lake. Enjoying more than 300 days of sunshine per year, visitors can expect Columbia and the surrounding communities to offer an exciting variety of year-round attractions to explore. You'll find fascinating historical and cultural attractions, a world-class zoo, outdoor recreation, festivals, parks and sporting events. Browse over 80 Columbia attractions below, sortable by type and location.
South Carolina State Museum
- 301 Gervais Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 898-4921
- Region: Columbia City Center
The South Carolina State Museum is a comprehensive museum, with extensive exhibits in the disciplines of art, science and technology, cultural history and natural history. In one stop it encompasses...More
Adluh Flour Mills
- 804 1/2 Gervais Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 779-2460
- Region: Columbia City Center
Adluh Flour Mills grinds South Carolina grown wheat and corn into flour, cornmeal, grits, and mixes. Adluh Flour Mills has been operating in Columbia’s Historic Congaree Vista since 1900. Adluh’s...More
African American History Monument
- South Carolina State House Grounds at Main and Gervais Streets
- Main & Gervais Streets
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 734-2430
- Region: Columbia City Center
The African American History Monument, the first of its kind on any of the nation's statehouse grounds, was designed to recapture the rich history of African Americans and their contributions to the...More
Allen University
- 1530 Harden Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 376-5700
- Region: Columbia City Center
Founded in 1870 by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Allen University is the first institution of higher education in South Carolina founded by African Americans for the express purpose...More
Arsenal Hill - Self-Guided Walking Tour
- 1601 Richland Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 252-7742
- Region: Columbia City Center
Named for the military academy established here in 1842, Arsenal Hill rests within the northwest section of Columbia's original two-mile-by-two-mile city limits. As highest point within the capital...More
Benedict College
- 1600 Harden Street
- Columbia, SC 29204
- Phone: (803) 253-5000
- Region: Columbia City Center
AboutBenedict College was founded in 1870 on an 80-acre plantation in Columbia, South Carolina by the American Baptist Home Mission Society. This new school was established for the recently...More
Big Apple
- 1000 Hampton Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 252-7742
- Region: Columbia City Center
Built as the House of Peace synagogue around 1907, the building was located originally at 1318 Park Street. After its congregation outgrew the building, the structure was sold with the stipulation...More
Booker T. Washington High School
- Blossom, Wheat & Marion on USC Campus
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 777-0169
- Region: Columbia City Center
Opened in 1916 as the second public school for African Americans, this building was a cultural and social center. The property is now part of the University of South Carolina.
Chesnut Cottage Bed & Breakfast
- 1718 Hampton Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 256-1718
- Region: Columbia City Center
The war-time home of Mary Boykin Chesnut, author of "Diary from Dixie". President Jefferson Davis visited in 1864 and gave a speech from the front porch of the Cottage.
Columbia Fire Museum
- 1800 Laurel Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 545-3701
- Region: Columbia City Center
The Columbia Fire Museum celebrates the rich history of South Carolina's largest fire department. Located downtown at Fire Department Headquarters, 1800 Laurel Street, it is near the historic Robert...More
Congaree Vista: A Self-Guided Walking Tour
- 1601 Richland Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 252-7742
- Region: Columbia City Center
Historically a residential, light industrial, mercantile, and transportation district, the Congaree Vista compromises almost 800 acres. Bounded by the Congaree River to the west and Assembly street to...More
Ebenezer Lutheran Church
- 1301 Richland Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 765-9430
- Region: Columbia City Center
Dedicated as Columbia's first Lutheran Church in 1830, the original church burned in 1865. Quiet communion is held in the chapel, built in 1840, at 7:15 am Wednesday mornings. Please call...More
Elmwood Cemetery & Gardens
- 501 Elmwood Avenue
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 252-2133
- Region: Columbia City Center
Founded in 1854, Elmwood Cemetery has been the metropolitan area's most prestigious cemetery. The grounds selected, a sloping tract that overlooked the Broad River, were part of the original Taylor...More
Ensor Keenan House
- 801 Wildwood Avenue
- Columbia, SC 29203
- Phone: (803) 733-8510
- Region: Columbia North
Ensor Keenan House was built in 1868 by Dr. Joshua Fulton Ensor, a major in the Union Army during the Civil War who was sent to Columbia to treat wounded Union soldiers. The house was purchased in the...More
Equitable Arcade Building
- 1332 Main Street/1216 Washington Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Region: Columbia City Center
Historical Overview (source: Historic Columbia Foundation) Located within the 1300 block of Main Street, the Arcade Mall was Columbia's first indoor shopping center. The Equitable Real Estate Company,...More
First Baptist Church
- 1306 Hampton Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 256-4251
- Region: Columbia City Center
First Baptist Church is the site of the first Secession Convention in December 1860. The church was constructed in 1859 for a congregation dating from 1807 and is listed on the National Register of...More
First Presbyterian Church
- 1324 Marion Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 799-9062
- Region: Columbia City Center
Presbyterians organized their first congregation in Columbia in 1795. The present building was constructed in 1853 and enlarged in 1925. The 188-foot steeple was once Columbia's tallest structure....More
Fort Jackson National Cemetery
- 4170 Percival Road
- Columbia, SC 29229
- Phone: (803) 699-2246
- Region: Richland NE & Ft. Jackson
The 585-acre national cemetery in Richland County, South Carolina, will serve veterans' needs well into the next century. The cemetery is located about a quarter of a mile off Interstate 20 on...More
General Sherman's March on Columbia, South Carolina - Self-Guided Walking Tour
- ,
- Phone: fknapp@knappagency.com
- Region: Columbia City Center
VIEW THE BROCHURE “The truth is, the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate, but feel that she deserves all that seems...More
Governor's Green
- 800 Richland Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 737-1710
- Region: Columbia City Center
A nine-acre complex consisting of the South Carolina Governor's Mansion, built in 1855; the Lace House, built in 1854 and the Caldwell-Boyleston House, built in 1830.
Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens
- 1615 Blanding Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 252-1770
- Region: Columbia City Center
Ainsley Hall, a wealthy Columbia merchant, and his wife Sarah, lived here for five years after they had the house built in 1818. Several years after buying the property in 1823, its second owner, Wade...More
Historic Columbia Foundation
- 1601 Richland Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 252-7742
- Region: Columbia City Center
The mission of the Historic Columbia Foundation is to nurture, support and protect the historical and cultural heritage of Columbia and its environs through programs of advocacy, education and...More
Historic Waverly Neighborhood: Self Guided Walking Tour
- Roughly bounded by Hampton, Heidt,
- Gervais and Harden Streets
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Region: Columbia City Center
Columbia's first suburb, Waverly, evolved into a community of black artisans, professionals and social reformers. Many of the residents made important contributions to Columbia and across the state....More
Kensington Mansion
- Hwy 601 South
- Eastover, SC 29044
- Phone: (803) 353-0456
- Region: Columbia SE & Ft. Jackson
Kensington Mansion is an Italianate Revival mansion completed in 1854 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Located on Highway 601 in lower Richland county near Eastover,SC,...More
Ladson Presbyterian Church
- 1720 Sumter Street
- Columbia, SC 29201
- Phone: (803) 765-9192
- Region: Columbia City Center
One of the oldest black congregations in Columbia, Ladson Presbyterian Church organized as a separate but affiliated congregation of First Presbyterian Church in 1838. In 1895, a tragic fire destroyed...More
