Why Join Historic Columbia? Membership Has Meaning

By DAVID TURNER Director of Development

“Why did you join Historic Columbia?”

If you ask the nearly 1,000 members of Historic Columbia (HC) that question, you may receive 999 different answers. Different aspects of HC’s mission resonate with different people—but one constant remains: HC membership is important because it connects us to each other, to our community, and to our shared history.

In our recent member survey, 91% of respondents said they would enthusiastically recommend membership to a friend. That high rating tells us we’re heading in the right direction. With other feedback received from the survey, we will design programs, tours, and events to appeal to more diverse, eclectic, and informed audiences, even as we continue to challenge ourselves to keep history relevant to all.

When you join HC, you become our partner in advocacy and education. Our members help us preserve places and share complex stories from the past that connect us in the present and inspire our future.

With our members, HC is able to harness the power of history to inspire curiosity and catalyze community engagement, and create educational and entertaining historical programming that pulls people together and builds strong bonds within our community.

To test our question theory, we asked six members to describe what their HC membership means to them. All answers are unique and meaningful, just like our members. After you read their stories, consider this...what does your HC membership mean to you?

Khali Gallman, Founder of Soda City Certified App

The Soda City Certified app is all about exploring Columbia while supporting local businesses and nonprofits. A key part of exploration is HISTORY. The work that HC has done with preserving our historical sites while giving tours and behind-the-scenes looks at active transformations is exactly what the app represents. We support HC in several ways—we serve as a liaison that lists an interactive tab on the “Attractions” portion of the app, where our 15,000+ app users can learn about the sites and visit the Historic Columbia website to learn about tours. We also include special events on the “Events” portion of the app. My membership allows me to be the first to know about these events and share the information with our community!

Walter Covin, Garden Volunteer at Historic Columbia

After retirement, I knew I wanted and needed to find a use of my free time. A friend, who was working at HC, suggested that I attend the orientation programs for volunteering. At the end of the six-week orientation period and after exploring docent work, I felt my real worth was helping in the gardens and grounds. I have been happy to see the garden volunteers grow over the years, creating new friendships along the way. It has been wonderful to see the gardens grow and blossom in so many different ways. The garden staff has helped the volunteers feel important in our role at Historic Columbia and proud to be a part of a mission. I am so happy that I took the steps those years ago to be part of HC—as a volunteer AND a member!

Cal Watson, Past President of Historic Columbia Managing Member, Robinson Gray Stepp & Laffitte

Historic Columbia is a wonderful financial investment because it has such a profound impact on this community. By telling the complete story—how Columbia evolved, faced challenges, and overcame hurdles—HC helps us better understand today’s Columbia. I very much appreciate the work of the organization and am happy to support it both financially and with my time. I encourage all who have not joined HC to do so—you will not regret investing in the quality of life in our community!

Emily Folk, Visitor Engagement Associate at Historic Columbia

In addition to being a member of HC, I work first-hand with guests as a historic house tour guide. There is nothing like engaging with kids who are excited to share what they have learned with the tour group! I find my colleagues are incredibly kind and interested in working together towards a common goal of sharing HC’s mission with the community. We work well cross-departmentally and find plenty of time to laugh together as well. As a Palladium member, I love attending special events that highlight HC’s mission with our local area and businesses. I believe that being a member enables me to speak truthfully when I say how much I enjoy my time at HC. I hope to see fellow members on a house tour soon!

HC membership is important to me because of the community partnerships the organization shares. I am a proud member of the steering committee for the Columbia City of Women, an initiative of HC and Women’s Rights Empowerment Network (WREN). This project recognizes the unsung “sheros” of our city, who throughout history have stepped forward and dared to push for positive, healthy change in society. Identifying women who broke through barriers is the mission of this project. Telling their story is a form of awareness for us all, that history can repeat itself and sometimes the barriers can be remade very easily. HC strives to make history relevant to all, and I’m proud to be a member of an organization with that goal.

When Robin Waites approached me to serve as a member of the Steering Committee of the LGBTQ Columbia History Initiative, I was happy to do so! True for all of us, I had many competing priorities since at that time I was serving as an interim associate dean for diversity in the USC Columbia of Arts & Sciences. But the breadth, vision, inclusivity, and history-making nature of the project made me not only jump at the chance to participate as a steering committee member but also contribute with an in-person interview with my experiences as a same-gender-loving (SGL) African American man. This initiative is not only a gem to South Carolina LGBTQ communities, but it really is a model for how to capture and foreground unrecognized but vital voices and contributions of queer communities globally. I was thrilled to be asked to join the HC Board of Trustees partly as a result of my service with this project. HC is an organization vital to the very identity of the city of Columbia because, true to its mission, HC brightly promotes the voices and stories of communities too often relegated to the shadows. I am proud to be a member, board member, and supporter of HC.

March 23: Concert in the Gardens

6:00 — 8:00 p.m. | HamptonPreston Mansion & Gardens

Performers from the South Carolina Philharmonic will join Historic Columbia to present a beautiful concert of light classics in the garden. Please plan to arrive any time after 6 p.m. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. and last an hour. Bring your own blanket or chairs, and pack a picnic if you’d like. Tickets are required and space is limited. Please note that this event is for those 21 and over. Wine will be available to purchase for $5 per glass, but everyone can bring their own food and beverage.

April 16:

Palladium

Tour | Columbia Craftsman

1— 6:00 p.m. | Melrose Heights

The 4th Annual Palladium Tour will showcase houses embodying the early 20th-century architectural movement that rebelled against the excessive detailing of late Victorian period, instead opting for the natural beauty, colors, and textures of building materials and construction in the Craftsman style. Guests will tour six properties nestled within the Melrose Heights-FairviewOaklawn neighborhood, which celebrates its 20th anniversary as a local architectural conservation district and its 7th year as a National Register of Historic Places district in 2023. The tour will conclude with a block party where participants will enjoy the southern hospitality that defines much of our community.