South Carolina State Museum

My daughter and I had a wonderful time exploring the exhibits. Make sure you plan to spend the entire day as there is a lot to see. My daughter really enjoyed the fossils, space, and habitat exhibits. We visited on a Friday and had very little traffic in the exhibits. There were a handful of other guests and one field trip. Something of note, the bathrooms are being renovated so they are few and far between. We ate lunch at the cafe, which had a small wait but was fair priced.

Great place to explore. The building itself is cool. The planetarium is a great experience. Also do the observatory. Impressive telescope and knowledgeable staff. The other displays throughout are fantastic, but there isn't much change. Still, I enjoyed repeated visits. The manually powered submarine model is fascinating. We went this last time for the eclipse. The staff members really make you feel welcome.

A great museum stop while passing through Columbia. It has such a varied selection of topics from history, to space, to dinosaurs. Very impressed with the old telescope collection they have. The working historical telescope (from the 1920's I recall) was in action and setup to view the sun on my visit. Great gift shop with quality products from South Carolina too.