Palmetto Outdoor Center

History Tour - Riverwalk Tour

History Tour - River Walk Tour

Map of This Tour

• Bring the whole family and join us for a tour of Columbia.
• All paths are paved or boardwalk, making it easy for young children and accessible by wheelchair.
• Children under 6 can join us FREE of charge!
• Great for school field trips and youth groups!
  
• Learn about our Three Rivers and the role they played in the settlement of the region.
• Four centuries of history, from earliest settlement to modern times.
• Focus on the great wars that have been fought here or nearby, including the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War.
• Special highlight on Civil War sites and Sherman's Burning of Columbia.
  
• Many special and interesting sites, including:
• Ruins of the old Congaree River bridge
• Columbia's historic water works
• The Columbia Canal, opened in 1824
• Old Central Correctional Institute
• The Confederate Printing Plant/Dispensary Building
  
• Sunken steamship - SS Columbia
• Historic Guignard Brickworks
  
• Special focus on:
• Fort Congaree, Granby river port, State Road and the Cherokee Path
  
• River transportation and the role of canals
  
• Industrialization and water power
• Conservation and stewardship
• Historical lore
• The Confederate Gold Lost in the River
• Tunnels Under Columbia
  
• By far the best way to discover Columbia
  

In February of 1865, General William Tecumseh Sherman and 60,000 men stood on the banks of West Columbia looking at the State Capital. On his command, the Union artillery gunners released their thunderous fury upon a crippled city in an effort to further decimate the Confederate morale. In a few hours time, the Confederate General, Wade Hampton III, had fled the capital and General Sherman and the Union Army controlled the city, which they put to the torch toward the end of their "total war" campaign. The Union troops reveled at the devastation, confident that the war would soon be over and that victory was theirs. Confederate General Joseph Johnston wrote, "When I learned that Sherman’s army was marching through the Salk swamps, making its own corduroy roads at the rate of a dozen miles a day, I made up my mind that there had been no such army in existence since the days of Julius Caesar." Southerners cried for mercy, but vengeance was what the victorious troops had in mind for the capital city of the state that had dared to lead the parade of Southern secession four years earlier. Adorned with awards from the North but scorned with hatred from the South, General Sherman will forever be immortalized as a man who united the nation but lost his Southern Gem, which he beloved the most. Check Out the Calendar for the Next Tour!

But our region's history is so much deeper, and our tour of the Riverwalk allows us to revisit other important times in our past. Archaeological evidence points to at least 12,000 years of human habitation along the river here. Early traders and settlers used the Congaree River as their highway, and shortly after that initial activity, this became an important crossroads for Indian trade and exploration of the frontier. Columbia was founded in 1786 as the new state capital, but by that time settlement in the area was already well established, Saxe-Gotha Township having been chartered in 1735 and gradually settled over the next 50 years.

The new capital grew as a seat of government and as a transshipment point for goods being transported by river. The Columbia Canal was constructed to bypass the rapids of the Fall Line, and opened to barge traffic in 1824. The canal was used for only a couple of decades before being superseded by the railroads, but it also led to the construction of the Columbia Water Works, which provided clean running water to the entire city. Eventually the canal was converted for the generation of hydroelectricity. Around the turn of the 20th century there was another attempt to open the Congaree for navigation by clearing a logjam and constructing another lock and dam, but after a few years this too fell into disuse. But the lock and dam remain an eye-catching landmark along the river.

And then our rivers were abandoned, left to return to nature after they were no longer needed for transportation or water power. After many years of "benign neglect", South Carolinians have rediscovered their rivers along with their beautiful scenery, wildlife, recreational value and the window they provide into our past.

Tour Details:

For the Civil War's Sesquicentennial, Palmetto Outdoor Center will be offering a tour on the same ground Sherman's troops stood as they battled for the capital.   Focusing on the Historical background of the Industrial Arm to Columbia and the rampant effects of the Civil War. We will also be highlighting a specific region once formally referred to as Brookland or “New Brookland,” a city leveled to ashes after torrents of fiery flames engulfed the community. Familiarize yourself with Columbia’s Three Rivers Region, and discover the rich history that makes Columbia so unique and beautiful. Enjoy Historical markers, relics, and landmarks, alongside the narrative voice of our accredited historians! Check Out our Map for Details.

Your Adventure Waits in the Palmetto State!

Our Calendar

Tour Rates

Tour Map

Tour Photos

Highlighted Along the Tour...

• Clearly mark plaques along the paths
• Sherman's march into Columbia
• River rapids of the fall line cutting right through the city
• Birth of the Brookland and Olympia mill villages
• Facts on the Three Rivers Region of Columbia
• Sunken remains of the S.S. Columbia
• World’s first electrically powered textile mill
• History of Gervais Street bridge and its predecessor, set ablaze in 1865
• Friday’s Ferry, the original river crossing
• The nationally registered Guignard Brick Works
• Newly opened river paths that are energizing tourism in the area
• The Congaree River's first boardwalk
• Wheelchair-accessible observation areas
• The lost confederate gold

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