How to Spend a Weekend in Orangeburg, SC
Orangeburg, first settled in 1704 in South Carolina’s “low country” between Charleston and Columbia, is a city that keeps reinventing itself. The Orangeburg County Courthouse has been rebuilt five times. One building was destroyed by the British during the Revolutionary War and another was destroyed by Gen. Sherman’s troops during the Civil War. A weekend trip to Orangeburg will include many historically significant sites.
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Instructions
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How to Spend a Weekend in Orangeburg, SC
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Be entertained. Take in a performance by the Orangeburg Part Time Players at The Bluebird Theatre at 1141 Russell St. The Bluebird has been an entertainment venue since the 1890s. Annie Oakley visited in the early 1900s, invited by a local hardware store owner, and put on a shooting demonstration on Russell Street.
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Stop and smell the roses. Walk through Edisto Gardens off Highway 301. In the early 1950s, this spot along the Edisto River, a pristine, blackwater tributary that flows all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, was planted with 3,500 rose bushes. The Orangeburg Festival of Roses attracts thousands of visitors every May.
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See a mayor’s folly. Stroll along downtown Amelia Street to see 19th Century buildings still in use. The Briggman House at 1156 Amelia St., was built in 1850 by then mayor Frederick Briggman. It’s held together by wooden pegs, and was called “Briggman’s Folly.”
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Drive by the Pink Palace. The Orangeburg County Jail at 44 St. Johns St. is a castle-like structure whose walls are five bricks thick. Locals called the jail the “Pink Palace.” In 1865, Gen. Sherman used the five-year-old building as a headquarters, then set it afire as he left town. The fortress was reconstructed and held prisoners until the 1980s.
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View an early skyscraper. Hotel Eutaw at Centre and Russell streets, built in 1927, was one of the area’s first “skyscrapers” at a towering seven stories. After being vacant for many years, renovations began in 2008 to restore the hotel to its former glory.
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Tips & Warnings
TIPS: To find Orangeburg, take US 26 to SR 301.
