The South Carolina State Museum is a state-of-the-art facility featuring four floors of permanent and changing exhibits, a digital dome planetarium, 4D interactive theater and an observatory. The State Museum, the largest and most comprehensive museum in the state, is located along the banks of the Congaree River in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.
Top 10 reasons to Visit South Carolina State Museum
1. Largest museum in the southeast (210,000 gross square feet and 100,000 square feet of exhibit space)
2. Four museums in one – art, history, natural history science and technology
3. Features one of the largest digital dome planetariums in the Southeast.
4. Watch films that come to life in the museum's 4D Theater, featuring air blasts, leg ticklers, vibrating seats and more.
5. The museum's state-of-the-art Boeing Observatory is home to the historic 1926 Alvan Clark telescope. The Observatory is open for solar observing during the day, and is also open late on Tuesdays for night-sky viewing.
6.Cotton Mill Exchange – one of the largest and finest museum stores in the country with unique South Carolina gifts, food, and clothing items and more.
7. The Crescent Café has wonderful food and drinks.
8. Finn, the museum's giant reproduction megalodon shark, delights guests young and old in the museum's 2nd floor natural history gallery.
9. See the Clemson 372, probably the first college student-built airplane in the United States.
10. Fall Heritage Festival in October features artists, craftspeople making, selling and demonstrating unique four types of the state’s delicious barbecue.
Shop at The Cotton Mill Exchange
The Cotton Mill Exchange is the largest museum store in the Southeast. We invite you to explore a sampling of our vast selection of merchandise reflecting the culture and heritage of South Carolina. The store is a vital part of the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia. Located in a building that housed the world's first all-electric textile mill, the museum tells South Carolina's story with exhibits and programs in art, natural history, cultural history, science and technology. The Cotton Mill Exchange, like the museum, is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday - Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 12 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Store profits support the museum's exhibits and educational programs.
- Price Range Maximum: $$ - $101-150
- Handicap Accessible:
- Total Sq. Ft. 214000
- Reception Capacity 1000
- Theatre Capacity 236
- Distance to Airport 9
- Number of Rooms 6
- Classroom Capacity 200