Historic Columbia offers tour highlighting important African-American sites

Hundreds of people walk into or drive past 1508 Main Street every day.

Some even eat there, at Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse. Some even live in apartments there.

And many have no idea history was made at the S.H. Kress & Co. 5-10-25 Cent Store, when black and white college students rallied against segregation by holding sit-ins at the white-only lunch counter there.

This is one of the stories that will be shared on the “Homeplaces, Workplaces, Resting Places: An African-American Heritage Sites Tour.”

Offered by Historic Columbia, this 90-minute bus tour explores businesses, cemeteries and other sites important to the African-American community.

“This tour shows how much influence African Americans have played in the development of the city,” said James Quint, director of education for Historic Columbia. “On this tour, you really get to see the pattern of the influence African-Americans had, and what their daily lives were like.”

Many of the sites on the tour are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tour features locations that illustrate important events and little-known facts about Columbia’s African-American community.

Some of those sites are obvious – like the Mann-Simons cottage, Randolph Cemetery and Benedict College. Some aren’t so obvious, like the former Carver Theater, Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital and the site of First Howard School.

And some are familiar sites with unfamiliar stories.

“This tour provides a good overview for people to see how changes have taken place in the community through the years,” Quint saids. “Some buildings you may drive past every day, and you may learn something about it.”

The tour begins at 2 p.m. at the Robert Mills Carriage House, 1616 Blanding St. It costs $8 for Historic Columbia member adults, and $4 for youth ($12 and $6 for non-members). Space is limited.

For details, see www.historiccolumbia.org

Lezlie Patterson, Special to The State

This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Historic Columbia offers tour highlighting important African-American sites."