Columbia, South Carolina

We spent a couple of days visiting downtown Columbia and while we'd been there before, it had been years and it was a nice refresher course.

First stop was the University of South Carolina.  

 Of course it was tough to park so we really just drove through.

But we did find our way to an off campus book/fan store.

I just can't get past the name of the mascot.

In 1900, the football team was first referred to as the "Gamecocks" in reference to the fighting tactics of General Thomas Sumter, the Revolutionary War hero known as the Fighting Gamecock.  Given that garnet and black were already in use and also the dominant colors on a gamecock, the university gradually adopted "Gamecocks" and garnet/black as the official nickname and colors for its athletic teams.

We then moved on to the State House.

The old State House was constructed between 1786 and 1790.  James Hoban, a young Irishman who emigrated to Charleston shortly after the Revolution, was the architect.  He was then engaged by President Washington to design the executive mansion in Washington.  Old pictures of the two buildings show architectural similarities.  The Old State House,, which was a small wooden building just west of the current State House, was destroyed during the burning of Columbia in 1865.

Construction on the current State House began in 1855 and exterior walls were almost complete when work was suspended in 1863 during the Civil War.  In February, 1865 Union troops burned the Old State House, shelled the unfinished "new" State House, and raised the United States flag over it.

We walked around this beautiful building.

We went inside to look around.  There was some sort of media event going on.  

They seemed to be waiting for the Governor but no sign of him emerging while we were there.

I love seeing the different chambers.

House of Representatives

Senate

Meeting area

From there we headed back to the truck and saw this beautiful church along the way.

Trinity Episcopal Church, now known as Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, is the oldest surviving sanctuary in Columbia.  It is a Gothic Revival church modeled after York Minister in York, England.  It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

At various times in the history of the parish, three live oak trees were planted in the churchyard.  The Sire Oak was planted in 1841 after the first church was built.  The second was planted in 1900 after finishing the church and the third was planted in 1925 when the Parish House was finished.

The churchyard is the burial site for many noted South Carolinians - American Revolutionary War soldiers, a veteran of the War of 1812, Confederate generals, six South Carolina governors, and eight bishops.

With that we moved on to the South Carolina State Museum - coming up in my next post.