Columbia, South Carolina

            The drive through Georgia from Tallahassee was a pleasant one. For the majority of the ride, we managed to avoid the monotonous Interstate 95, taking the state highways instead. Our route took us through some areas that seemed especially hard-hit by the recent recession.  I wondered how much of the area had always been less well off. People that probably had barely enough to begin with now have even less, and it was apparent that many were just scraping by.

            As we drove through the countryside, I began researching some of South Carolina’s history, and some of the things that make it unique. South Carolina is an old state with a complex history. It was first discovered by French and Spanish explorers, but was quickly transformed into a British colony. During the Revolution, more battles and skirmishes happened in South Carolina than any other state. With the invention of the cotton gin in the early 1800s, South Carolina’s agriculture was widely dominated by King Cotton, like many other Southern states, contributing to its decision to secede. During the Civil War, the fires set by General Sherman’s men devastated South Carolina, and destroyed the majority of its capital city, Columbia. The state also lost nearly 20% of its white male population during the war, which definitely contributed to lingering resentments about the conflict. Despite the widespread destruction, one hundred years later, the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina was relatively peaceful compared to other Southern states like Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Although there were isolated incidences of violence, there wasn’t the same pervasive brutality that there was in other Southern states. In 1970, three African Americans were elected to the state legislature, and many more have served in the state government since.

            I arrived in Columbia late Thursday evening, checked in to the hotel, and muscled my belongings upstairs. I already had some supplies for dinner, so I ate and then worked on blog posts, editing photos, and planning for the next day. The following morning it was gloomy, chilly, and grey. As I drove to the Capitol, particularly eager for this visit due to an interesting story I had heard on an earlier stop. When I was taking the tour at the Kansas Capitol, I met two delightful couples that were traveling around the country and visiting historic sights. One of the ladies told me a story about when she and her husband toured the South Carolina Capitol several years previously. The group was just the two of them and the tour guide. In the Senate Chamber, there was a pair of enormous chandeliers, and it happened to be the day that they were getting cleaned. As the couple and guide entered, the chandelier was being raised back up to the ceiling, and the cord snapped, sending the enormous fixture crashing onto the desks. I wanted to see if anyone remembered the incident, and tell them about meeting the couple.

            When I first arrived at the Capitol Square, I had a hard time spotting the building. The grounds were so large and full of beautiful trees and other foliage that the building was mostly concealed. As I passed the front, I noticed that there was some sort of event happening on the front lawn involving large, flowery umbrellas. This was going to be interesting for sure.

            I parked on the side of the building and went inside. I only had time to retrieve a map of the building and get oriented before a large elementary school group entered the building with the tour guide in front. She was very friendly and had a welcoming smile, and I could see why she would be a great guide for a school group. As she passed by me, she looked at me over her shoulder and told me that I was more than welcome to join the group if I was interested in hearing the tour. Sometimes large tours make my research difficult, because I have to pause and take pictures of all the rooms, but this building wasn’t huge, so I figured that I could take photos after the tour. It began on the ground floor, where the guide asked the kids a few questions about South Carolina’s history. She also outlined a few facts about the building, including that construction began in 1855, but wasn’t completed until 1907 because of the Civil War. Afterwards, the group moved upstairs to see the chambers.

            We began in the Senate Chamber, where the guide told the group some of the facts about the legislature, such as how the Senators vote. One of the unique features that she pointed out was a sword resting in a case in front of the President of the Senate’s desk. She explained that at the beginning of the session, the sword was placed on hooks on the rostrum. As she did so, two lamps on either end of the desk lit up. The sword, once placed on its hooks, completed an electrical circuit that illuminated the lights. Not only is this a symbolic gesture to mark the start of the Senate’s session, but it has a very long history in the context of South Carolina’s history. This sword that we saw was not theoriginal. In 1941, the sergeant-at-arms, whose duty it is to carry and place the sword, could not find it for a joint session of the two houses. At first, the disappearance was believed to be a prank, but as time went on without it surfacing, they replaced it with the current version, which was donated by the former British ambassador to the US. To this day, it is a mystery what happened to the original blade.

            We went over to the House Chamber to see the larger of the two rooms. As usual, the House side is very similar to the Senate chamber. Just like the Senate has the Sword of State to serve its symbolic purpose, the House has a large, ornately decorated Mace, which had survived the test of time. It is the oldest legislative Mace in use in the United States. It has also gone missing, twice in the state’s history, but it was recovered both times and returned to its rightful home. The first time it went missing in 1819, Hon. Langdon Cheves of South Carolina discovered it in a bank vault when he went to Philadelphia as President of the Bank of the United States. In 1971, the Mace went missing yet again, but was later recovered from Gainesville, Florida. Similarly to the State Sword in the Senate, it is the Sergeant-at-Arm’s duty to place the Mace at the front of the chamber during session and also to carry it at the lead of the procession at state ceremonies. Both the State Sword and Legislative Mace are unique state symbols. Throughout my trip, I have not yet encountered a similar symbol at any other state Capitol. In this way, they are especially precious to South Carolina and the state government.

            The House chamber itself is very similar to the Senate chamber in style, decoration, and color scheme. Andrew Jackson and George Washington watch over the proceedings with each of their portraits hanging on either side of the chamber, although Jackson’s is significantly larger. The chandeliers in this chamber looked the same as on the Senate side, but I had not heard of either of these tumbling to their destruction. I decided to wait until the tour was over to inquire about the incident so the kids could get all of their questions in before it was time for them to go, so while the guide wrapped everything up, I took a look in the old library, which is now the Joint Legislative Conference Room. 

 

  As with many other states, South Carolina’s old law library is one of the most beautiful rooms in the building. When the collection outgrew the space, the library moved to a separate building, and the room in the Capitol became a joint conference room for both the House and the Senate. The two-story room has a gallery that wraps all the way around, giving it a very open feeling. The décor echoes a similar style to the rest of the building, which has a slight Victorian twist. Like many other Capitols that have one, the law library turned out to be my favorite room in the building.

            As I finished photographing the room, the group of kids returned to their buses and the floor fell silent, giving me the chance to photograph the main floor. Between the two chambers in the center of the main floor, there was a large statue of John Calhoun, a South Carolinian who served in the US House of Representatives, in the US Senate, as Secretary of Defense, as Secretary of State, and as Vice President under President James Monroe and President Andrew Jackson. When Jackson supported tariffs that benefited the industrial north, Calhoun resigned in 1832, becoming the first Vice President to do so. Throughout his career, he was an adamant defender of state’s rights and the idea of nullification, a state’s power to ‘veto’ any law that it considers to violate the constitution, which was fueled by his disagreement with Jackson on the issue of tariffs.  Despite Calhoun’s support of nullification, he wished to avoid an armed conflict with the north, making several attempts at compromise including suggesting a dual presidency. He eventually lost popularity in South Carolina due to his ‘northern sympathies’ as the tensions between the north and south intensified. John Calhoun died in 1850 of tuberculosis. Despite the fact that his positions may have inflamed the issues rather than reducing them during this period of immense national turmoil, it seems Calhoun always tried to do the right thing for South Carolina in his four decades of public service. I understood why the state would choose to honor him with a statue right beneath the dome.

After musing about Calhoun’s contributions to the state, I wanted to find someone who could tell me about the time the Senate chandelier fell. I noticed two college-aged women seated behind a desk right next to the joint legislative conference room, so I asked them about it and if either of them knew the story. Neither of them did, but they called to another staff member that worked on the House side. When I asked him if he knew the story, he shook his head and chuckled before replying. “No one has ever asked about that before!” he exclaimed through his grin. I told him about my trip, touring the Kansas Capitol, and meeting the couple that witnessed the chandelier fall, which seemed to tickle him further. He explained that chandeliers in the House were fixed in place when they weren’t being cleaned, but the ones on the Senate had only the cord and chain to support them. Apparently the load had been a little too much for the antique fixture, and when it was being raised back up into position, the worn chain snapped, sending the chandelier crashing into the desks below.

            I thanked him and wished him well before heading off to find some food. If there’s one thing that every college town has, it’s a good sandwich shop, and luckily for me, there was one just down the street. I could tell that they had their trade down to a science, because the patron in front of me received his food before the cashier had completed the transaction. Sure enough, when I reached the counter, I looked back into the kitchen and saw a frenzy of sandwich making that would be hard to surpass. Not only were they quick, but they assembled the sandwiches with an expert craftsmanship that presented almost like a work of art. I have to say, I was quite impressed. The only thing keeping this place from perfection was that the quality of the ingredients wasn’t exactly top-notch, but then again, it’s a college sandwich shop. After the convenient meal, I returned to my hotel for the remainder of the evening to mull over what I had learned.  

            Later that night, when Rob and I went out to dinner, we were mistaken for students at South Carolina University by the host at the restaurant, who was a student himself. He asked if we were going to ‘the game’, and since we weren’t, we asked him about it. Coincidentally, there was a football game at SCU with their rival, Florida State University. Having just come from Tallahassee, it was pretty amusing that we happened to arrive in South Carolina two days before the game, and that we were mistaken for students at the university.

            The next day we packed up our belongings and hit the road, having thoroughly enjoyed our visit to South Carolina. Now, we were heading to Myrtle Beach for a night of live music before traveling to Raleigh, North Carolina.