Tuesday I had to make one of my occasional trips down to Columbia for a meeting. The meeting was being held in an unusual location, and there were traffic detours all around the school. That meant that I saw more of Columbia neighborhoods than I normally see on one of these visits. Seeing the abandoned railway that runs through Columbia and some of the older neighborhoods, I was reminded of a Facebook discovery I’d made – a fan page entitled Hidden Columbia. When I got back from my meeting I decided to look at it more closely, and found a treasure trove.
Hidden Columbia is a production of WOLO News, the local ABC affiliate, and airs every other Tuesday on their 11:00 pm newscast. Reporter Anderson Burns seeks out the obscure and unusual around the city. Sometimes this is some local oddity, or it may be a bit of history that has been covered over with development. Here’s a story about hidden tunnels around Columbia…
…and another about “Underground Columbia,” a development that was supposed to be like Underground Atlanta, but was never really realized…
The videos can be seen on the Facebook fan page. Unfortunately, they are ONLY available on Facebook, as far as I can tell. The station’s website is a pathetic jumble of slick advertisements with shiny buttons that point to Facebook and Twitter, but there is no content there. So, if you’re not on Facebook, you can’t view the videos. (Unless you know a sneaky little bit of code and can embed the videos, like I did here.)
Facebook problems aside, Burns has explored some fascinating locations. Because of his reporter status, he’s been granted permission to visit some places that are off-limits to the general public. But, he makes clear in his reports which areas are publicly accessible and which are posted. I hope that revealing the location of these treasures doesn’t cause problems from those that might trespass and cause damage.
I’ve only had time to view a few of the videos, but now I’m tempted to find one of these the next time I’m down that way. I’ve got to be in Columbia several days in March, so I think I’ll watch more of these, and possibly plot them on Google Earth. It would be something interesting to do while I’m not in workshops.
Another friend told me about the page. Some fascinating and well done work. Additionally, the reporter has an active presence on the Facebook page, dialogging with fans who post there. I wish that someone in the upstate media community could do something similar (maybe area wide and not just Greenville or Spartanburg). If it’s well done, I’d think it could attract sponsorship and thus longevity and time investment from the person creating the series.
I agree. I think it would be great if someone in the Upstate area could do this, but I’m not sure what they would find. Greenville has a nasty habit of bulldozing all of the interesting historical places. They might have a little more luck in Spartanburg.
This is a great post. I love seeing stuff like this.
Here is a slightly twisted, but very cool look at some interesting, sometimes hidden areas in Spartanburg done by a couple of friends:
http://www.slobotabouttown.com/
Very cool! I remember seeing the Slobot website a long time ago, but had forgotten about it. Now I want to explore some of those places around Spartanburg.
Hello,
Is there an email for slobot. He went to a place that I would like to ask how he got permission or what he did to be able to go there. my email is jerseysnapper@yahoo.com
thanks
I’m surprised Slobot hasn’t gone to Cedar Spring or the adjacent school. That was my old stomping ground. Camp Croft was a pretty interesting area to grow up. Lots of ruins in the woods that we used as “forts.” A lot has disappeared gradually over the decades, but some is still there. The School for the Deaf and Blind has a beautiful main building circa 1850-something (I think) called Walker Hall. Just got renovated a few years ago.
Tom,
I don’t know who you are, but I love you! Thanks for the props!
-Anderson Burns
(Andy)
Um, Andy. Thanks (I think.)
A friend just resently told me about this site and i jus love the history i have learned from it. To think that i am born and raised here in columbia and did not know any of this. It even answered the questions I had of the hospital of mental health and the lake murry. I think yall are doing a great job and hope to learn more about my home town. Keep up the great work and have a blessed day and night.