As some of you longer-term readers of this column may remember, my original column, several years ago, started with a description of a weekend trip my wife and I took to the Columbia Museum of Art in downtown Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina. We had been interested to see their exhibition on the Impressionist painters, mostly French, from 100 or so years ago.

It was a very interesting exhibit, and we were glad we made the trip.

Columbia is not that far from Savannah, about the same distance as Macon, GA, so it was an easy day trip. The Columbia Museum of Art is fairly easy to get to.

We have been there several times, since, and always enjoyed our visits.

Columbia is just north of the geographic center of the state, and is its largest city. The city population as of the 2020 census is only slightly less than the population of Savannah, at 136,000, but the larger metropolitan area has some 870,000 residents. It lies at the confluence of the Saluda and Broad Rivers, which merge at Columbia to form the Congaree River.

Downtown Columbia has a variety of interesting architecture, and Main Street, the north-south street that stretches north from the University of South Carolina campus, has a mix of businesses on it – and a center parking area that is similar to one in Augusta GA. It is a very walkable area.

Downtown is home to a number of restaurants and businesses, including an interesting MAST General Store; and the University of South Carolina is just a short distance south of downtown, along with the SC State House, their center of Government.

Growing up in my family’s wholesale hardware business, I learned a lot about South Carolina geography by the towns where our business had customers, starting across the Savannah River in Hardeeville and Ridgeland, going east to Beaufort and Charleston, up the coast to Myrtle Beach and Georgetown, then back west to Columbia and Aiken, just north of Augusta, and everywhere in between. (“North, SC” was always one of my favorites; a small farming community, south of Columbia. We had a long-time customer there, too.)

It seemed like we had customers “all over everywhere, in both small towns and bigger cities.” I got to know them first by working their orders, during my summers in the warehouse, in high school and college; and then when I was tasked with managing the credit and collections side of the business, when I got out of graduate school (“Go Dawgs!”) and came back home. I have written about some of those interesting people and experiences in that first series of columns.

In addition to its downtown Museum of Art, Columbia also has a small but amazing zoo, Riverbank Zoo and Garden, which opened in 1974 across some 170 acres, which my wife and I toured one weekend. It boasts some 2000 animals including over 350 species of mammals, reptiles, fish and birds from across the globe. Kids love it, and it is a major attraction.

One other nearby attraction is “Maurice’s Piggy Park,” just south of the city. It is famous not just for its barbecue, but also for its mustard-based BBQ sauce. We stopped in for lunch one trip, and were not disappointed. (Although neither of us cared much for the mustard-based BBQ sauce. It’s a local specialty.)

Folks likely tend to think more of Charleston and Myrtle Beach, when one mentions South Carolina, because they are more well-known. But many other parts of the state are also interesting, historical, and well worth a visit. I hope you go see for yourself! You will be glad you did.

Rafe Semmes is a proud graduate of (“the original”) Savannah High School and the University of Georgia. He and his wife are long-time Rotarians, and live in rural eastern Liberty County with their various orphan felines.

He writes on a variety of topics, and may be reached at rafe_semmes@ yahoo.com.