This Capitol City In South Carolina Has A Great Downtown Area

When was the last time you visited South Carolina's State Capitol? Columbia, SC is a great city, and the downtown area is one of my favorite places to visit. It is barely a 1-hour drive from Augusta; you can find almost anything here.

Downtown has excellent restaurants, a few bars, and many cool shops. One of my favorite places is the Mast General Store. Two stories of outdoor clothes, cookware, and even hard-to-find old-school candies. The old wooden floor creeks as you walk around, too, and that's a bonus!

Then there's the South Carolina State House on Gervais St., downtown. It covers 11 acres and was built in 1855.  When I was there last weekend, it was decorated for the holidays, and many people were walking around and looking at the beautiful old building and the Christmas decorations.

Soda City Market is happening downtown year-round on Saturdays from 9 AM til 1 PM, with over 150 vendors—live music throughout downtown and local goods for sale. I even found a locally made "You Serious Clark" piece just in time for Christmas!

You can easily spend a good half day downtown, have a lot of fun, and enjoy the history by touring the State House, open for tours each Saturday at 10:30 AM, 11:30 AM, 1:30 AM, and 2:30 PM. You can also tour on your own, which I did.

Fun Fact: Bronze stars mark the six locations where the State House was hit by artillery fire during the Civil War.