We arrived in Columbia, South Carolina, on a Friday afternoon, planning to stay just a couple of days. We targeted our capitol tour for Saturday, and planned to leave for Charlotte on Sunday. It occurred to Dan that the capitol building might not be open to the public on weekends, so we looked up the information on their website, and sure enough, visiting hours were Monday through Friday only, closing at 5:00. By now it's 3:00, so we jumped into the truck and drove to downtown Columbia, parked, and were touring by 3:30. Luckily, we had enough time to finish exploring the inside of the building before they closed the doors, and had plenty of time to wander the grounds after that.
There is a bronze statue of George Washington at the bottom of the steps leading up to the capitol, holding a walking stick which is broken off at the bottom. There is a plaque that reads "During the occupation of Columbia by Sherman's Army, February 17-19, 1865, soldiers brick-batted this statue and broke off the lower part of the walking cane". When trying to research this a little further for my write-up, I discovered there is a bit of controversy about this story, some even calling it an urban myth. Hmmm…
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