Let's Go Places: Columbia, South Carolina and Raleigh, North Carolina feat. Pilot's Mountain and Beckley, West Virginia

 

Picking up the story from last time, we've just had an epic time at New River Gorge NP.  Now it's time to focus and get some state capitals/capitols checked off the list.

Let's Go to Columbia!

My only previous South Carolina experience was Myrtle Beach.  I had no expectations for Columbia.

What I got was a very cute and peaceful downtown.  Just watch your back if you're a cyclist, because they have rules for you!

I didn't see anything that called to me on the Airbnb scene, so I stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown.

Pros: very nice, right smack dab in the middle of downtown, very attractively priced

Cons: none, other than standard hotel boredom

Let's Tour the Capitol!

Columbia's capitol began construction in the mid 1850s and was slated for completion five years later.  The project ran over schedule, as construction projects tend to do, and a little matter known as the US Civil War did not help things.

The building's claim to fame is that it is the only US Capitol to have been shelled in a war.

As we discussed when we visited Louisiana's capitol, you can't take bullet holes out of marble, and you also can't take canon strikes out of stone.  You have to work with the hand that you're dealt.  The places that were shelled were marked with stars, and life went on.

The tour was a middle school class and a few of us tourists.  A certain item on a desk in the House chamber proved to be a crowd favorite.

After the tour, I turned to my list of Columbia attractions and went to the Robert Mills house.  Robert Mills was the architect, and his other works include a little thing called the Washington Monument.

The "I see his point but it's weird" highlight of the tour was the Door to Nowhere.  The door that is shut doesn't lead to anywhere.  It's just there for symmetry with the other doors.

Also on the scene: wine glass washers, which we last saw at Magnolia Mound in Baton Rouge!  The purpose of these being to rinse out your glass between wine courses so that you didn't have to use a million glasses at dinner.

I hit up a few museums, and with that my time in Columbia came to a close.  I spent the night, and was up and at 'em early on Saturday to head over to North Carolina.

Let's Go to Raleigh!

Raleigh's capitol was only has guided tours on Saturdays, which made the visit a little tough to schedule.  Early that morning I checked again to make sure I had the time of the tour correct, and was hit with this.

Well...shoot.  It was bad luck, but things get cancelled and it was outside of my control.  I took my sweet time about heading over to Raleigh.

The bad news soon turned into good news.  There were no tours because there was a student event at the capitol that day, but the staff was still giving short talks in the lobby, so it was well worth the visit.

Without them pointing it out, I don't think I would have thought twice about the statue under the rotunda.  It's George Washington as we have never seen him before.

My #2 best activity in Raleigh was a tour of Mordecai Historic Park.  Nice old house tour with lots of good old house stories.  The house is yellow because yellow was a very difficult paint shade to achieve back in the day, and the owners wanted to flex a bit.  According to our guide, one of the ingredients used in the paint was cow urine.  No fear though, today what we're looking at is pure Benjamin Moore.

The highlight of the house for me was the German Shepherd door stopper.  I did a google image search and found that there are a few out in the world available for sale, but the prices range from $995 to $3,000.  Maybe after my traveling days are done I will want to start buying things instead of experiences, but for now my house remains door stopperless.

Let's Rate the Airbnb - Raleigh Edition

The unit was an in-law suite.

Pros: nice cozy, comfortable space

Cons: awkward living room layout.  No reading lights or coffee table near the couch.

Silly: the hosts messaged me several times and said that if anything wasn't working they could easily fix it?  I don't know what they were expecting to go wrong, but it didn't happen.

With that my time in Raleigh came to a close.  It was time to start heading back.  I was going to be stopping back in the New River Gorge area to break up the drive, and I still have a ton of stuff to do there, so I was not worried about filling the day.  But was there possibly something else to do on the road between Raleigh and NRG?

I gasped when I saw the answer.

Let's Go to Pilot Mountain!

Pilot Mountain has been a familiar freeway sight on many trips to the beaches of NC and SC.  I had no idea that it is a state park as well.

From what I saw online, there is hiking there, which was music to my ears.  With no other information, I headed to the visitor's center.  I told the guide that I had about two hours to spend, and she hooked me up with a map and some route suggestions.

My take is that Pilot has something for everyone.  If you have mobility issues, you can drive to the top and get gorgeous views.  If you're a reasonably abled bodied person like me, you can have a good but not too technical hike.  If you're next level, you can climb the mountain.  

Let's Do One Last Thing and Go Home!

I spent the final night of the trip in Beckley, West Virginia, which is pretty close to NRG.  The reason was a hot tip that I'd picked up from someone on the Bridge tour, which is the mine tour.

After the mine closed in the early 60s, the city started tours.  They had to alter the tunnel by raising the ceiling several feet, since what was an acceptable work site back in the day was er, a little claustrophobic for tourists. 

The tour guides are all retired miners.  When our guide started his career in the 70s, conditions were much improved over the old days, and his work site only averaged one fatality a week.

The tour was a sobering but fascinating way to end the trip.

Thanks for the good times, Columbia, Raleigh, Pilot Mountain, and most of all, Beckley!!!  Who has been to any of these places?  Ever toured a mine?