Other Sights

Orangeburg [1] hosts the historically black South Carolina State University (300 College St., 803/536-7000, www.scsu.edu [2]), founded in 1896.

On campus you’ll find the I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium (803/536-7174, www.scsucrash.blogspot.com [3], free), a 16,000 square-foot complex with a good regional art gallery, a steady schedule of events, and a 40-foot dome in the planetarium. Call ahead for hours.

An even older historically black college, first in the state, is Claflin College (400 Magnolia St., 803/535-5000, www.claflin.edu [4]), just southeast of downtown. Founded in 1869 at the height of Reconstruction, Claflin has its own historic district on campus, including the 1898 Arthur Rose Museum (formerly the Lee Library), a nice Victorian built of bricks fired on campus.

It now has a college-related collection, open during regular business hours. Tingley Memorial Hall, with its distinctive cupola, was built in 1908 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

From Edisto Gardens [5] travel north on Russell Street a few blocks. The stretch of Russell between Broughton and Church Streets is the main business district, with several well-preserved commercial buildings such as the turreted, 1904 Louis Building (1198 Russell St.) and the 1941 Bluebird Theatre (1141 Russell St.), now home of the Orangeburg Part Time Players (www.optp.org [6]).

A short ways off Russell you’ll find the Briggman House (1156 Amelia St.), a.k.a. “Briggman’s Folly,” built in 1850 by Orangeburg’s first mayor, a German immigrant named Frederick Briggman, and held together with wooden pegs.