South Carolina State House

The South Carolina State House is the seat of state government, built in Italian Renaissance style with a copper-clad dome visible for miles. Construction began in 1851 and took over 50 years to complete — the building was still unfinished when Sherman's troops burned Columbia in 1865, and the project dragged on through Reconstruction and beyond.

The grounds are worth exploring even if the architecture doesn't excite you. Six bronze stars embedded in the south wall mark the cannon strikes of 1865. Several statues around the building trace the full complexity of South Carolina's history, from a monument to the Secession Convention to a newer sculpture of civil rights figures. The interior can be toured when the legislature is not in session.

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Bronze stars embedded in the south wall of the State House mark the spots where six of Sherman's cannonballs struck the building during the burning of Columbia in February 1865. The stars were placed deliberately rather than repaired, making the building itself a monument to that event. Visitors often walk past the gleaming dome and miss the scars entirely.

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