Columbia is steeped in history and proud of its reputation for hospitality southern style. Located in central South Carolina on the Congaree River and east of Lake Murray near magnificent national forests, the city is surrounded by nature's beauty and is easily accessible to a wide variety of healthy outdoor recreation.
Its
multicultural population today is estimated at more than 104,000. Columbia
is historically a major wholesale and retail distribution center which
has expanded its economic base over the years to include such diversified
manufacturing as electronics and textiles. It also is a Sunbelt center
of finance, insurance, medicine, and education. Major employers include
government and a large U.S. Army infantry base, Fort Jackson. The area
is served by Columbia Metropolitan Airport, Amtrak, and a modern highway
system.
Columbia's many historic sites include the State House, the boyhood home of President Woodrow Wilson, numerous antebellum houses, and the Mann-Simons Cottage built around 1850 by freed slave Celia Mann and currently housing a museum of African American culture. Other points of interest are the South Carolina Museum, the Columbia Museum of Art, the South Carolina Philharmonic and Columbia City Ballet, the Columbia City Jazz Company, Columbia Marionette Theatre, Town Theatre, Peachtree Rock Nature Preserve, Congaree Swamp National Monument, Riverfront Park and Historic Columbia Canal, Riverbanks Zoo & Botanical Gardens, and Lake Murray, an expansive water playground.
Entertainment and dining are as varied as the Big Apple Night Club, the continental fare of Cafe Strudel and Dianne's on Devine, Heavenly Ham's gourmet specialties, and Villa Tronco, the city's oldest Italian restaurant.
The Columbia area was occupied by the Congaree people until the 1700s. Because of its central location, the site was selected as state capital by the South Carolina legislature in order to reduce tensions between those South Carolinians on Atlantic seaboard and the farmers in the interior, replacing the previous capital situated on the coast at Charleston. Incorporated in 1854, Columbia was the first American city named after Christopher Columbus. During the Civil War, the city was a Confederate stronghold until it was put to the torch by evacuating Confederate soldiers who attempted to destroy the city to keep it out of the hands of the Union army advancing under the command of William Tecumseh Sherman. The city was rebuilt during the Reconstruction period following the war and emerged as one of the state's chief industrial and farming centers.