Discovering City Art and Tunnels in Downtown Columbia SC

Halloween is fast approaching and my friend and I are taking our girls to a ghoulish photo shoot in two days. So before we go with the masses, we want to check out the photo shoot site for ourselves, an old railroad tunnel converted into a pedestrian and bike path.

 

We are glad that there is plenty of parking here. It is secluded, although in plain site, but you could pass by a hundred times without realizing a tunnel is nearby. Once you know it's location, the corner of Lincoln and Washington Streets, you will want to visit often.

 

 

The old railroad tracks have been paved over and street lamps put in to make a nice foot path. But what is really amazing is the texture of the old walls. What character! This little treasure spot is an awesome place to take photos.

 

My daughter, who accompanies us this year, takes full advantage of our hidden position from the city and with her radio blasting TEEN BEACH MOVIE songs, she starts dancing in the streets. I apologize now for all the pictures I am posting of her, but this area is more about a treasure spot for taking photos rather than old historic beauty. (Although I'm sure my friend will have LOTS of unique photos to share of this place.)

 

After so much fun, it is hard to leave but we want to explore the tunnel ahead.

 

We notice both sides are fenced and the tunnel is closed at 9:00 PM. High on each fence sits an owl. My friend says it's to keep the birds out. How clever!

 

I play with my telephoto lens inside the tunnel to find different shots using the depth of the walls. I am not a very experienced photographer, but I still manage to get a few different feels to my photo. I imagine with some playtime (or knowledge), some spectacular shots could emerge from this place.

These are both at the same distance. I'm just using my lens to see what different effects I can get from the walls with my subject.

 











Remnants of the old railroad still remain in the wall.

 We make it out the other side and decide to what else lies ahead.

 My friend and daughter take the lead.

 Just something I see high upon the wall and decide to take a closer look.

My daughter is amazed that cactus grows here and wants me to photograph it.

 

On the other side we find Finley Park. But we also find lots of the city's homeless and decide maybe it's not the best place for two women and a child to be walking. Especially since we are carrying expensive cameras. We turn around and head back through the tunnels.

 

 My friend spies City Art in the distance and says we should go take a look. They have lots of art for sale by local artists. I'm glad she insists. What a fabulous old space and the art is most incredible. City Art is three floors of art with an art supply store in the basement.

A sculpture at City Art.

More art!

After some time browsing, I find a favorite and am soon able to spot her work all over the studio. I love these face pieces and would love to make a spot for some of this artwork in my home.

More from my favorite artist. And each piece is between $100-$200, which make them the more affordable pieces in this gallery.

The first piece I fell in love with.

Here's an interesting mosaic type art. It's really beautiful!

This is my friends favorite piece. It takes up an entire wall. I think it cost a whopping 35K.

 

We decide it's time to leave because we want to drive to another tunnel my friend knows about.

 We find the tunnel and begin descending the winding staircase. If we go down, that means we have to come up. My legs will hate me tomorrow.

 The first thing I notice when we reach the tunnel is all the Gamecock graffiti on the walls. I think how my husband would love this place.

 I wish I would have noticed the picture in the middle of the 'S' here. I would have investigated further.

 Here is another picture inside a picture. This looks like it's a sticker but when I touch it, I learn that it is painted. I bet these are hidden throughout the tunnel. Next time I go, I'll be sure to check.

 We end up at the Carolina Coliseum.

 The entire surrounding area is under construction!

 The front of the coliseum.

We've had a successful day, but it's getting late so we call it a day. The tunnels were a nice find and we are exciting about the upcoming photo shoot. If you find yourself in downtown Columbia, definitely check these tunnels out. And if you need art...VISIT CITY ART! That place is definitely worth your time.

 



Strolling Downtown: Arcade Mall, State House, Trinity Episcople Church

THE ARCADE MALL

 

The hot summer months are behind us and school is back in session. This means that my friend and I are back on the roads again looking for unique and historic places to photograph. One difference, I am homeschooling so we have my six year old daughter joining us. You will see some places from her wee point of view too.

 

During our research for historic places in South Carolina, we kept finding texts alluding to an underground mall in downtown Columbia. When finding tidbits of information like this, we never know if the place is open or closed, if it's safe for us to investigate, or if it even exists anymore. But the thought of an underground mall is intriguing to us and we decide to check it out.

We park on Main Street (metered parking, ugh!) and spot this old building along the way. Naturally, we snap a pic.

 

This old building is still in use and the windows are covered with local play advertisements and old posters. My friend and I stop briefly before continuing to our real destination.

The architecture on the building adjacent to the Arcade Mall is breathtaking. I could kick myself for not jotting down the business name. The address is 1912 Main Street.

And here it is, the outside to the Arcade Mall. When this mall was first built (1912), it was the first indoor mall of its kind and cost a whopping $200,000 to build.

This is the tiles that adorn the outside of the building. Its architecture is Renaissance Revival Style inspired by Italy.

With reinforced concrete walls, this building was dubbed 'fireproof' in 1919.

The minute we stepped inside this building, we knew that we'd stumbled upon one of Columbia's treasure spots. Unique in its appearance, this building has such eye appeal with it's  marble columns, yellow painted beams on the ceilings, its chandeliers, and tile flooring.

Most of the stores are taken by local artists, but there is a small deli and salon here too.

As you can see, both upstairs and downstairs are spectacular to look at.

Small dining are for the deli located on the middle level. There is a basement level that was locked and we could not find a way down. We are going to contact the historic society to see if we can set up a tour. If successful, we will post those pics too. But even if we never get into the basement, this place is definitely worth a visit. The instant you enter the building, you feel as though you've entered another place and time.

 

We exited through the other side of the mall and began walking downtown to see what else we could discover. The mall, though exciting, was small and didn't take much time. We weren't ready to quit exploring.

We stumbled upon this hidden garden spot in between two buildings. We may go back for a photo session sometime. From here, we entered into a building where a security guard quickly informed us that we weren't allowed to take photos. We did manage to get a few before we were approached. I'm sure my friend will have a nice shot of the bronze tree in the lobby area.

We found our way to the State House. Having been there many times before, I didn't take any photos. But as often happens when my friend and I are out, she found an escalator that I had never seen before. Curious as to where it lead, we went down. We found ourselves in an employee area and once again stopped by security. But before we left I snapped a pic of this giant sized map on the wall. Now this is something you don't see everyday at the State House.

We exited through the employee garage and walked some more. We spotted these spires in the distance and decided to go have a look.

My friend and daughter searching for treasure spots.

Just because I wanted to.

The church turned out to be Trinity Episcopal Church and was the highlight of the day!

Beautiful! Gothic! Old!

This church is more beautiful that pictures can show.

Built in the 1800s, it was and still is THE CHURCH to the prominent families in Columbia.

They have people standing by to give free tours of this spectacular building. And the tours can be as quick or long as you like. We took an hour tour and still didn't hit on all the amazing stories and features of this church.

This is only a sampling of the photos taken here. And these photos in NO WAY do this place justice.

It is spectacular in every way.

Filled with beautiful stain-glass windows, and each window tells a story.

A small temple room. Gold stars adorn the ceiling.

Tabernacle box where communion food is held.

Massive marble altar. During the Civil War, the troops were ordered to burn down this church since the city's elite attended here. Sherman's troops refused to burn a church and instead burned a small rectory building and looted the silver which they took back as proof of the deed.

The Bishop's Chair.

There is a cemetery directly behind the church that hosts the Wades, Hamptons and Prestons along with many other important families of South Carolina and war heroes from several wars including the Revolutionary War, Civil War and more.

My daughter has her foot on a pipe sticking out of the ground. That pipe marks the center of the state. When the capital was in Charleston, it was hard to the upstate to get there to conduct business. So representatives from all over South Carolina got together and decided to build the capital in the center of the state. This pipe represents the measured center. With the use of GPS, the center of the state was located and found to be about two blocks away. Not too bad for a time when measuring was done without modern technology.

The cemetery backs directly up to the back of the church. This place is so fabulous and so worth a visit. And TAKE THE TOUR! You will learn a lot about of interesting facts about Columbia and the families that once called this place home.