Crowds descend on Columbia for total solar eclipse

Tourists from across the United States on Monday poured into Columbia’s eclipse viewing hot spots, including the Lake Murray Dam, Riverbanks Zoo and the State Fairgrounds.

Onlookers swamped the city’s downtown Finlay Park and the S.C. State House grounds, stacking out spots before the sky went dark around 2:41 p.m.

Clouds blocked the celestial event for some Columbia observers, while others got to watch the sun disappear behind the moon for more than two minutes.

With only the sun’s white halo visible, the temperature dropped noticeably. Some street lights flickered on, and crickets could be heard chirping.

The sky, which darkened gradually as the moon encroached on the sun, went black during totality, to the delight of crowds across Columbia.

3:11 p.m. Pine Ridge

Workers and visitors at the S.C. Emergency Preparedness Division headquarters in Pine Ridge poured from the building minutes before the sky went dark.

“Super cool,’’ said Johnny Piazza, a bystander who was at the EMD office and watched the full eclipse.

George Crouch quickly took pictures of the full eclipse with his cell phone camera, hoping to commemorate what he called a “once in a lifetime experience.’’

Just before the sky went dark, Piazza and Crouch described the darkening sky as unusual, unlike twilight typically seen at sunset. Conditions appeared to be more hazy, they said.

“It was a weird, eerie feeling, then all of a sudden the sky goes dark,’’ Crouch said as he stood near the steps of the emergency management building on Fish Hatchery Road.

With the eclipse over, EMD spokesman Derrec Becker urged people not to try and leave their vantage points in South Carolina all at the same time. Staggering their departure would help prevent traffic clogs, he said.

“We hope people stay at their locations; not leave all at the same time’’ Becker said. “Get a sense of how traffic is moving and make adjustments accordingly.

3:04 p.m., S.C. State House

“How can you say it was more than awesome?” said Dennis Baker, a Tampa resident who flew his private plane into Columbia for the eclipse. “Ultra, extremely awesome.”

His wife Debbie agreed and said she could see how could see how people can get addicted to chasing solar eclipses.

Delores Howard from Long Island, N.Y., brought her grandsons to Columbia for the solar eclipse.

“Super long car ride,” said 13-year-old Myles Hollingsworth.

The trip took them 20 hours because of traffic, they said.

They watched the eclipse at he S.C. State House grounds with a few thousand others and the sky got “super dark” for three minutes of fun, Hollingsworth said.

2:58 p.m., Harbison area

Vehicles along a typically busy stretch of I-26 between Piney Grove Road and Harbison Boulevard had on their headlights in midafternoon.

A truckload of welders stopped at a Waffle House donned welders’ masks to gaze at the phenomena.

People gathered in nearby yards for impromptu viewing parties. Within minutes, life was readjusting to a normal August afternoon.

2:51 p.m., Lake Murray Dam

“Midnight in the middle of the afternoon,” Cindy Wall of Savannah, Ga., said from atop the path across the dam. “It’s the coolest thing. It was unreal, amazing.”

2:05 p.m., S.C. State Museum

If ever there was a reason to skip school, a once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse is it.

Eleven-year-old Charlie Elliott’s Fort Mill school had a half day of classes on Monday, but his mom, Kristy, decided instead to drive them down to Columbia to experience the eclipse at the S.C. State Museum.

“Sometimes missing school is worth the experience,” Kristy Elliott said. “This experience is so unbelievable.”

“It’s kind of amazing how they can figure out when the eclipse is going to happen,” Charlie said.

As the partial eclipse began over downtown Columbia, the pair looked up with smiling, gaping mouths. Kristy elbowed her son in excitement. It was finally happening.

1:37 p.m., Riverbanks Zoo

Thousands of people continue to take in the sights, sounds and smells of Riverbanks Zoo, waiting for the eclipse to reach totality at 2:41 p.m.

The zoo is offering a livestreamed NASA eclipse video in its theater, and offering “up-close” experiences with some animals ahead of the big event.

Brittany Woodham drove from Atlanta this morning with her five children between the ages of 1 and 9. The zoo became a favorite of her kids while her husband was working on the now-closed Jenkinsville nuclear project.

“We’ve been coming her since Halloween,” she said. “This is probably our fifth or sixth time.”

She and her mother-in-law Shauna Woodham were so determined they parked a 15-minute walk away from the zoo when the parking lot reached capacity shortly before 11 a.m.

They brought their own eclipse glasses, but the zoo had 8,000 on hand for visitors before the eclipse began.

1:21 p.m., S.C. State House

Tina Simpson and her sister Lesley Simpson, both from London, were walking around the State House about an hour and a half before the eclipse on Monday.

Dozens of people walked around the capitol building, some taking official tours. By 1:20 p.m., a few hundred people had gathered on the complex’s north lawn, many sitting on the ground in grassy areas. Others sat in the shade on the steps.

The Simpson sisters brought their 16-year-old great niece, Mai Sussex, and 14-year-old great nephew, Eddie Sussex, both who were visiting the United States for the first time.

“We’re having a bit of a road trip through the southern states,” said Tina Simpson.

Their trip included stops in Orlando, Jacksonville, Savannah, Columbia, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

“The heat’s a little bit too much for us but we’re enjoying the rest of it,” Tina Simpson said.

The group chose Columbia for the chance to see the eclipse in totality.

“The southern hospitality is really, really obvious,” Tina Simpson said.

1:16 p.m., Lake Murray

Several eclipse watchers at the boat landing on Lake Murray near Irmo were busy lining up photographs of the event.

“It’s a lifetime opportunity to do this,” Chamikara Jayarathne of Phillipsburg, N.J., said.

The lake was his destination because “I like that kind of environment,” he said.

“It’s going to be nice.”

Crowds were waiting for the clouds to break overhead, hoping for a better view of the eclipse.

“Totality – that’s the only thing that matters,” Urs Evora of Boston said as the sun drifted in and out of clouds.

1:04 p.m., Spirit Communications Park

The Columbia Fireflies are wearing special eclipse jerseys Monday afternoon. The minor league team plans to halt its game temporarily so fans can watch the eclipse.

1 p.m., Harbison

Traffic on I-26 northwest of Columbia at 12:45 p.m. hummed along as on any Monday.

There were no signs of traffic slowdowns, much less any of the knots that transportation officials braced for last week.

12:54 p.m., S.C. State Museum

Total eclipse hype has raised the recent profile of science and STEM education - and with the right passion and learning, South Carolina children could find themselves on the moon or Mars one day, astronaut Charlie Duke said Mondayat the S.C. State Museum.

When Duke was a child, he couldn’t have dreamed of going to the moon, he said.

“Mama would’ve thought I was crazy, because there was no space program, no astronauts,” said Duke, a Charlotte-born, South Carolina-raised former astronaut who walked on the moon in 1972, the 10th person ever to do so.

Duke shared his experiences with a group of Laurens County schoolchildren at the State Museum as part of the museum’s day full of eclipse-themed activities.

“Take advantage of every opportunity you have in school to take the hard courses, the good courses,” said Duke, who was joined by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, state education superintendent Molly Spearman and Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin.

Duke is scheduled to address the crowd of museum guests once the partial solar eclipse has begun. Total eclipse hype has raised the recent profile of science and STEM education - and with the right passion and learning, South Carolina children could find themselves on the moon or Mars one day, astronaut Charlie Duke said Mondayat the S.C. State Museum.

When Duke was a child, he couldn’t have dreamed of going to the moon, he said.

“Mama would’ve thought I was crazy, because there was no space program, no astronauts,” said Duke, a Charlotte-born, South Carolina-raised former astronaut who walked on the moon in 1972, the 10th person ever to do so.

Duke shared his experiences with a group of Laurens County schoolchildren at the State Museum as part of the museum’s day full of eclipse-themed activities.

“Take advantage of every opportunity you have in school to take the hard courses, the good courses,” said Duke, who was joined by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, state education superintendent Molly Spearman and Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin.

Duke is scheduled to address the crowd of museum guests once the partial solar eclipse has begun.

12:22 p.m., USC

If you are on the south half of the University of South Carolina’s downtown campus just before the eclipse, chance are you will be able to hear the USC marching band play “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

The band is set to perform the Bonnie Tyler hit at 2:25 p.m., right ahead of the eclipse’s 2:41 p.m. totality.

12:19 p.m., Lake Murray Dam

Traffic is flowing smoothly around the Lake Murray Dam after “initial backlogs” as people arrived at landings on both ends, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said.

12:01 p.m., S.C. State Museum

Camping in Myrtle Beach kicked off eclipse weekend for the Michael and Schuren families from Rock Hill.

With five young daughters between them, the families planned to give the girls an eclipse experience they’d remember forever.

“It’s once in a lifetime,” 8-year-old Abby Schuren said, as she stood in a crowded line to enter the planetarium at the S.C. State Museum on Monday morning.

The families sported matching T-shirts they had specially made to commemorate the weekend. They started planning their weekend trip almost a year ago and got tickets to the State Museum event months ago when they first went in sale.

The State Museum’s sold-out event was expected to host nearly 4,000 people for a day of activities that included planetarium shows and talks by Charlotte-born astronaut Charles Duke.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster also was at the State Museum ahead of the eclipse.

11:53 a.m., S.C. State Museum

Michael Welch watched the first moon landing as a 7-year-old child, and it was “the coolest thing ever.”

If Monday’s total solar eclipse lives up to the hype, this experience should rival or surpass the moon landing, Welch said.

He traveled with his wife, Brenda, from Carrollton, Va. Their sons, Daniel and Derek, and their wives, Kristin and Amanda, joined them to experience the eclipse at the S.C. State Museum.

“We’ve always been space nerds,” said Daniel, who works as a contractor for NASA. “(My dad’s) obsession with it when I was younger really got me into it ... and it just kind of stuck with me.”

They started planning their eclipse trip months ago.

The Welches arrived in Columbia on Saturday and spent the weekend enjoying downtown, Soda City market and the Congaree riverwalk.

Monday morning at the State Museum, they stood in line with hundreds of others waiting to watch the planetarium show.

11:41 a.m., Blythewood

Ed McMahon, a vendor for Rhode Island-based National Team Sports, said he sold 90 T-shirts and 500 pairs of eclipse glasses between 7 and 11 a.m.

“We’ve got another guy coming down with some more shirts, but I don’t know if he’ll be here in time,” McMahon said.

This isn’t National Team Sports’ first time in the Columbia area. They were here selling items for Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1987, according to owner Keith Lambert, who said he has four vendors in Columbia for the eclipse.

“I love it,” McMahon, who lives in Massachusetts, said of South Carolina. “The people here are polite. Even the kids are polite. It’s amazing.”

11:22 a.m., USC Horseshoe

Bill Dozier and Diane Dozier from Cleveland, Ohio, were on the University of South Carolina’s historic Horseshoe early Monday before the eclipse.

“We came to Columbia to be part of this fantastic event,” Bill Dozier said.

Bill conceded that the beauty of USC’s campus rivaled Florida State University, where the two had both worked.

“I hate to admit it, but USC’s campus is prettier than FSU’s,” Bill Dozier said.

Diane Dozier attended basic training at Columbia’s Fort Jackson in 1975 and hadn’t been back since. She couldn’t explore the city while she was training, she said.

They planned to watch the eclipse at the Columbia Fireflies’ baseball stadium later Monday.

11:20 a.m., Lake Murray Dam

Parking lots on both ends of the Lake Murray Dam are full and closed, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.

11:10: a.m., Harbison

A New York Post columnist, John Crudele, is among those who made the trip to Columbia.

“We strictly came down on a lark,” Crudele said Monday of himself and his editor. “We drove all day yesterday and we’re heading back as soon as it’s over,” Crudele said. “Thirty six hours, 24 of them on the road.”

It’s not his first trip to South Carolina. Crudele, who writes a largely financial column, often answering readers’ questions, said he has friends in the area.

11 a.m., Riverbanks Zoo

A large crowd gathered before the gates opened at Riverbanks Zoo ahead of the eclipse.

Zoo spokesperson Susan O’Cain said the zoo’s 2,000-space parking lot is full.

“That could be 7,000 to 10,000 people,” she said.

The zoo had about 6,000 visitors by 11 a.m. with most spaces full. Average attendance this time of year is about 2,500 per day, O’Cain said.

Graham Watkins, 17, and Amy Grace Williams, 18, left Raleigh at 5 a.m. to get to Columbia in time to see the animals before the eclipse.

“He likes the gorillas,” said Williams, who heard about the zoo from her mother, who came on a field trip in elementary school.

Visitors were handed an observation form by staff to jot down any unusual behavior they see in animals during the eclipse – part of a larger study by zoo staff.

“We have two dozen students stationed with different animals along with volunteers and the animals’ keepers,” said Adam Hartstone-Rose, the zoo’s adjunct scientist.

Students watched animals at the same time of day over the weekend for comparison. Some were more active than others.

“The Komodo dragon didn’t move all day,” Hartstone-Rose said. “But the tortoises are mating.”

Observers will take notes on some favorites – the gorillas, elephants and giraffes – plus one of the zoo’s few nocturnal animals, a bird called the tawny frogmouth.

“During the daytime, it tries to look like a piece of wood,” Hartstone-Rose said. “But at night, it makes some intense vocalizations.”

10:54 a.m., USC Horseshoe

Robert Galano left Orlando, Fla., at 8 p.m. on Sunday to make it to Columbia for Monday’s total eclipse.

“I avoided the traffic with Amtrak,” Galano said.

He met up with two relatives in Columbia, Bethaney Dale and Robert Dowling from Carrboro, N.C.

The two had driven to the Midlands Sunday, but stayed at a hotel in Sumter because Columbia hotels were booked.

Weeks ago they had made their Monday night reservation in Columbia, but they hadn’t planned for Sunday night.

The three were visiting the University of South Carolina’s historic Horseshoe Monday morning.

Dale said she was impressed with Columbia’s hospitality.

“So far, everyone’s just been lovely.”

The trip was a birthday present for Dale, who said they wanted to see the 100 percent eclipse instead of 94 percent that they would have seen at home.

“Total is totally different than partial,” Dale said.

10:46 a.m., Lake Murray visitor’s center

Michael Planten brought his family from southwest Germany to see the solar eclipse, having last seen the phenomenon in his home country in 1999.

“It was fascinating – mostly when it is totally dark,” said Planten, in town with his wife and two kids. “This is a chance to see it again.”

Planten said he wound up at Lake Murray after searching online for places in Columbia to view the eclipse.

“It was totally by chance.”

10:18 a.m., S.C. State House grounds

Tampa residents Debbie and Dennis Baker flew their private plane to Columbia on Sunday to see Monday’s total eclipse.

Dennis, a pilot of 37 years, had reserved a spot for his plane at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport in June.

The couple was wandering the S.C. State House grounds Monday morning while planning where they would later watch the solar phenomenon.

The sun was shining with few clouds in the sky.

“We think the weather is going to be perfect,” Debbie Dennis said.

The two had considered watching the eclipse at the airport, but then planned to watch it at the State House grounds.

Either way, the celestial event will be hard to miss.

“We’re going to see it no matter where we are,” Debbie Dennis said.

10 a.m., Harbison

By 10 a.m., Magda Chrostowski, her four children and her parents, all from Connecticut, were leaving Columbia in search of a clearer view of the eclipse.

“We’re tracking the weather. Now, we’re headed west where there’s likely to be less clouds,” said the 42-year-old from Stamford.

She and her patents, Ted and Maria Kuzniar, said they divided in half their 13-hour road trip, spending Monday night in Myrtle Beach.

“We woke up at 2 o’clock,” complained 8-year-old Adam Chrostowski after the family eat breakfast at a Piney Grove Road Waffle House. Grandpa Ted said it was really 5:30 when they awoke.

“The adventure is definitely something we’ll remember,” Chrostowski said. “We want to see that ring.”

It’s the family’s first trip to the Palmetto State. Her husband stayed in Connecticut for his job. But he is their makeshift weatherman, watching the weather and guiding the family’s route.

8:50 a.m., Blythewood

Just uphill from the I-77 northbound on ramp at Blythewood Road, a group of eclipse watchers claimed their spot for a good view and a quick exit after the event.

Dale Mitchell, his two teenage sons, their friend and his father drove into Blythewood from Greensboro, N.C., Monday morning after an overnight stop in Rock Hill.

“We didn’t want to go all the way into the city,” said Mitchell, 52. “We thought it might be too busy.”

They’ll watch the eclipse, then pack up and jump on I-77 in hopes of avoiding congestion afterward.

“Thank God, we’ve got our iPhones,” he said of entertaining themselves until the eclipse begins. “We’ve also got a guitar, we brought board games and books.”

They have a pool going on how many people might join them by noon Monday.

“We also are counting the number of honks we get as people drive by,” Mitchell said around 8 a.m. “We’ve gotten two so far.”

Nearby on Blythewood Road, a merchant had a tent and tables filled with eclipse T-shirts, hats and glasses.

Christopher Jordan, his wife and their 10-year-old son, Michael, were browsing through the merchandise about an hour after getting into town. They left their home in Jermyn, Penn., around 6:30 p.m. Sunday and through all night. They are traveling to Myrtle Beach for a weeklong vacation but stopped in Columbia for the eclipse.

“We were like, ‘You know what, let’s just go see it,’” said Christopher Jordan, 37. “We’re that close – why not?”

Jordan said he witnessed a solar eclipse in 1998 while serving in the military in Bosnia, and he wanted his son to see one too.

“I did hear it only happens once in a person’s life,” Michael Jordan said.

“It depends on where you live,” his dad said with a chuckle.

This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 9:56 AM with the headline "Crowds descend on Columbia for total solar eclipse."