South Carolina Capitol Grounds

First, let it be said that the state capitol building in Columbia and the grounds around it are extremely attractive. Once I figure out how to upload photos, I will add on to this article.

We wandered the grounds (the building, recently remodeled, I am told, was closed), so we did not go inside.

The grounds take up a large city block (parking is underneath in an underground garage), and are green and flat. Large trees shade portions of it, and statuary not suprisingly has been placed throughout.

One of the statues, as you face the capitol from what I concluded was the east (I have no basis for that conclusion; it was just a feeling I had) is that of Strom Thurmond. It is an imposing bronze statute on a carved gray stone base. One one side, Thurmond's family members are listed. At first, this meant four children. But that was before Essie Mae.

That meant that Essie Mae's name had to be added to the list, which it was, and that the carved "four" needed to be changed to a carved "five". This was done was well, although the lettering for Essie Mae does not quite match the other lettering, and it looks as if they had to chip away the word "four" and the surrounding stone, and fill in the whole, letting it dry before carving the word "five". Unfortunately, the stone around "five" dried a slightly different color, so that the entire inscription looks a little sloppy and unfinished.

For those of you who remember the hoo-ha about the Confederate Flag flying atop the state capitol a few years ago, relax. It is gone. But not entirely. There is a monument to the veterans of the Confederate Army with the flag flying high above it. There is also a monument Confederate women "reared by the men of the Confederacy". We assume this means that the statue was reared (do they really mean "raised"? did they say "raised" and I remember it wrong?), and not the women.

The campus of the University of South Carolina is located right near the capitol and related buildings (downtown being on the other side of the government offices). An architecturally interesting campus of unique yellow stone design. There was an exhibit of photos and ephemera covering 200 years of the school, located on the library ground floor. It was not a fancy exhibit, but very interesting, even for someone who knows nothing about the school. Why, though, did they allow two typos in their printed descriptions of the photographs? (My friend in Columbia allowed that it might be for the same reason that I allow typos on my blog. Of course, no one reads my blog. But then again, it may be that no one reads these descriptions of the photos, either)

At any rate, the school was a white bastion (white, male bastion) until civil war times. Then it closed, because everyone was fighting. It opened after the war (having transformed itself from a school offering a classical liberal education to one preparing its students for the world of work) and, as Reconstruction began, was opened to blacks. Of course, as the blacks began to attend class, the whites dropped out, and the University of South Carolina became an all black school. When Reconstruction ended and President Hayes (Rutherford B Hayes, that is) pulled the army out of the state, the school was closed down again, opening a few years later once more a white, male bastion.

Although the first women entered USC in the late 19th century, up until World War I, there were never more than 25 enrolled women at any one time.

The school was segregated until the civil rights movement of the 1960s, but it was proudly pointed out that integration occurred without major battles as took place in some other parts of the South.

Now it appears to be a very active place, with a very diverse student body.

Y'all come.