Walking tours offer insight into the historically significant areas in Columbia and Richland County. You can experience our walking tours four ways:
Walking Tours
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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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Vista Walking Tours
Historic Columbia is proud to partner with Experience Columbia to offer 1 hour, guided walking tours of the Congaree Vista District.
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Group Tours
You can take a private walking tour. We are happy to help schedule your group of 10 or more. Our tours can be customized with advance notice. Below is a list of available group tours.
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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.
Historic Heart of Columbia
See the important downtown sites in the central core of Columbia. The tour offers informative and entertaining stories about the Palmetto State's capital. A few of the landmarks on the tour are the Robert Mills Historic District, the State House, the Governor's Mansion, the University of South Carolina's Horseshoe (the original campus), historic churches, Historic Columbia house museums and the Vista, an area of restored train stations and warehouses.
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.
Happy Hour History Tour
Raise a glass to history while learning about Columbia’s past. Main Street boasts architectural styles spanning three centuries that speak to the tastes, interests, and aspirations of persons living and working in South Carolina’s second state capital. This guided tour offers insight into the history of Columbia focusing on the progress seen through the life of its Main Street and downtown corridor. Participants will stop at historic sites and receive two free beverages and appetizers along the way. Must be 21 or older.
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.
Allow 90 minutes for this tour.
Cemetery Tours
One hundred and sixty years of history will come to life during our popular Cemetery Tours. Grab your flashlight as we tour one of Columbia's oldest cemeteries and discover centuries of stories etched in stone on the markers and headstones found within Elmwood Cemetery's acres of carefully planned grounds. The perfect after-work activity, our cemetery tours are an event the whole family will enjoy. Cemetery Tours are offered monthly April - October. Visit our events calendar to sign up for a Cemetery Tour.