The Best Museums in Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia’s cultural center has matured rapidly in the 20 years since it moved to Main Street. With 22,000 square feet of gallery space, the CMA has a custom-made Chihuly chandelier hanging at its main entrance and has hosted impressive traveling exhibits, including ones by Henri Matisse, Imogen Cunningham, and Salvador Dali. The permanent collection shows a timeline of American and European history from antiquity to modern times. The museum also holds trendy events designed to bring non-traditional museum goers into its halls to expose as many people as possible to art. This spot is currently closed for renovations, but will reopen on August 17, 2018.

Housed in what was the first fully electric textile mill in the world, the riverside South Carolina State Museum showcases the most comprehensive history of the state that exists. The museum focuses on art, cultural history, science and technology, and natural history. Children love (or hate) the life-size shark that hangs on the second floor, and adults are captivated by the more recent addition of a 55-foot (16-meter) digital dome planetarium that shows both educational programs and entertaining laser light shows set to rock music.

Eddie, a 40-foot-tall (12-meter-tall) human-shaped interactive sculpture is designed for kids to learn and understand the human body by giving them a chance to climb in and around the sculpture. He also happens to be the largest “kid” in the world. The entire museum is made to enchant children with knowledge and offers events, summer camps, and rotating exhibits to keep it fresh for kids and parents alike.

Situated at the top of the University of South Carolina’s historic horseshoe, in the center of campus, McKissick Museum houses a permanent collection and holds rotating exhibitions that showcase a Southern culture and environment. The museum works with scholars in the university and the community to preserve the traditions and folkways of the state and the region so people can learn about the lives of their predecessors and relate it back to our modern existence.

Columbia is home to Fort Jackson, one of the largest military training bases in the country, and its on-base museum preserves both the history of the Fort, as well as the history of soldier training. Exhibitions dedicated to soldier training, as well as historically significant military pieces, are on display for everyone who is interested in exploring the country’s military past, present, and future. As the museum is on the base, a photo ID is required for entry and is subject to mandated closures.

The only presidential landmark in South Carolina, the boyhood home of President Woodrow Wilson now houses the only museum in the country dedicated to the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Wilson lived with his parents in this house as a teenager in the 1870s. Tours of the blue and yellow Italian-style villa home and its historically maintained gardens are available through Historic Columbia Tuesday through Sunday by appointment.

The expanse now known at the City of Cayce is home to one of the first European settlements in the area, thanks to its proximity to the Congaree River, and the Cayce Historical Museum highlights the heritage of these settlers. The museum itself, a welcoming blue house-like structure, is a replica of an old trading post from 1765. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, and admission is free on Sundays.