State Capitol Visit: South Carolina State House
The occasion of a surprise birthday party found me in Columbia, South Carolina on November 13, 2010. But with the big reveal not coming until 2pm, I had plenty of time to head for the South Carolina State House, making it stop #9 in my 50 States, 50 Capitols Tour.
The day was bright and crisp as I arrived at the corner of Gervais and Assembly Streets to start of the visit. Columbia, in addition to being the state capital, is also home to the Other USC – the University of South Carolina. A proper southern university with a fusion of antebellum and modern architecture, USC was abuzz with energy for the USC/University of Florida SEC matchup that was slated for later in the day.
After a brief stroll up Gervais St, I arrived underneath the State House’s most infamous object – a Confederate flag that once flew atop the State House dome but now waves near a monument to South Carolina’s war dead from the Civil War.
The State House grounds are replete with monuments and memorials of all types, ranging from a monument recalling the heroism of a regiment Spanish-American War veterans from South Carolinians who volunteered to test a yellow fever vaccine to a shrine in honor of Strom Thurmond, the deceased U.S. Senator whose resume was as thick as it was controversial.
The State House itself was an impressive building, though it lacked the grandiosity that I’ve seen in some of the other state capitals around the country. Pressed for time, I wasn’t able to head inside and check out the guts of the building but a stroll through the grounds was well worth the visit nonetheless.
Connecticut’s State Capitol was first on my 50 States, 50 Capitols Tour. Next came the New Hampshire State House in Concord, New Hampshire, which I visited on September 3, 2007 and the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on November 27, 2007. I walked to the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota on August 29, 2008 before the 2008 Republican National Convention.
A September 13, 2009 trip brought me to the Massachusetts State House in Boston, Massachusetts and I pulled off the feat of two State Capitols in one day on August 3, 2010, starting in the morning with the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne and then hitting the Colorado State Capitol in Denver in the afternoon. Stop #8 at the Rhode Island State House in Providence, Rhode Island, came on August 14, 2010.
