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Columbia SC

 The Palmetto state.  One of the confederate kinds. History dating couple centuries back.  We visited the capital yet again this time to take in the SC State Museum. Occupying the former digs (literally remodeled) of an erstwhile cotton mill this structure is an amazing piece of reimagination.  Four floors of excitement for kids and young at heart alike.

Located on the shores of the Congaree River formed when the Broad meets up with the Saluda River, this edifice is approx. 60 years old.  The front of the building has a more modern planetarium that was added about a decade ago. 


The museum itself has different areas of interest segregated on each of its four floors. The first floor has gift shop and a diorama of some of the local geography including the swamps and the state beaches with audio guides to help understand what fauna thrives locally.


The second floor is all about natural history and showcases animal kingdom that may have survived on this latitude millenia ago.  There are several life size exhibits that show a rather humongous predecessor of the ant eater along with fiberglass white shark.

 


The third floor is about manufacturing history including the rail roads and model trains to go with it.  It includes some of the cotton gins and mills that have been preserved for visitors to look at.


We also noted some of the Carolina luminaries that made it to the NASA space programs including taking in some rather morbid history of hearse manufacturing along with a car company that actually made about 6,500 automobiles in NC. The Anderson car company.

The NASA Space Shuttle used tires made in NC too one of which (tire not the shuttle) is suspended as you walk underneath.



The final floor is where you see the military history along with old swords and rifles as well as the Boeing sponsored gallery that contains a 100 year old telescope that was recently assembled to look at our stars. It was cloudy day so we could not enjoy a peek at the sun but saw some older pictures when the flares were going and creating the Auroras that folks saw all over N America in May 2024. 





All this walking ended up with a Rueben at a local brewery on the site of a former mental asylum.  Not bad for revitalizing the neighborhood. 





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