Walking Tours
Walking tours offer insight into the historically significant areas in Columbia and Richland County. You can experience our walking tours four ways:
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Weekend Strolls
You can attend our monthly Second Sunday Stroll walking tours and explore a different local residential neighborhood or commercial district.
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Self-Guided Tours
You can explore our web-based tours of local residential and commercial neighborhoods. Tours can be done on your computer or turned into a walking tour on your mobile device.
Available Walking Tours for Private Groups
Main Street Columbia
Offering more than one hundred and fifty years' worth of architectural trends, Columbia's Main Street is a physical legacy of its citizens' aspiration and accomplishments. Come see the city's oldest "skyscraper," an IBM-punch-card-inspired office building and the State Capitol. Walk through Columbia's first indoor shopping mall and learn how an old department store became an art museum.
Allow approximately 60 minutes for this tour.
Sacred Sites
Columbia has a rich religious history with congregations dating from the early nineteenth century. Six historic churches and one former synagogue are featured on this walking tour. Visit the burial sites of six former South Carolina governors and the parents of President Woodrow Wilson. Discover which Columbia church was based upon York Cathedral in England.
Allow 90 minutes for this tour.
Columbia's Jewish Sites
Rising to prominence during the antebellum era, Jewish citizens held important leadership roles in Columbia’s governance, economy and cultural development. Having rebuilt during post-war Reconstruction and thereafter, Columbia’s established Jewish population grew during the 1880s through 1920s as Eastern Europeans relocated to the United States for greater freedom and opportunities. In the wake of World War II, the city’s Jewish community welcomed displaced Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Columbia for new lives. While many generations-old families assimilated into the broader community, others forged culturally distinct lives. Many left a lasting imprint on the city’s character.