Columbia marks 150 years of being "famously hot"

Will Columbia be hot Feb. 17?

It has been and, as a historical occasion, just might be this year.

It's the commemoration of the conflagration that destroyed a part of the capital of South Carolina as it was being abandoned by Confederates and occupied by federal forces toward the end of the Civil War.

Tuesday is the 150th anniversary of what came to be known as the "Burning of Columbia," and events are scheduled throughout the day.

* At 9 a.m. is a historical reappraisal of what happened there in February, 1865. The 90-minute panel discussion by scholars will be held at the Columbia Museum of Art, 1515 Main St.  The session is free, but registration is required.

After a $30 noon luncheon, there's a second free panel discussion from 2 to 4 p.m.

At 4 p.m., a historical marker about the 1865 fire will be unveiled at the 1200 block of Main Street. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

At 5 p.m. at Boyd Plaza, 1515 Main St., there's a public commemoration that includes comments by politicians and historians, performances by the Benedict College Concert Choir and the Sandlapper Singers, performance art and other music in addition to exhibits and readings.

At Tapp's Art Center, 1644 Main St., there are 7 p.m. readings by poets and writers, followed at 8 p.m. with a live performance by the jazz-funk band The Dubber.

What does it all add up to? An easy afternoon in an attractive downtown. And a gathering of question  marks about who caused the figure, and what the blaze signified in both the short and long run.

Experts are divided over whether the fire was the work of

1. retreating Confederates, under the command of Gen. Wade Hampton

2. local looters.

3. enraged federal troops, under the command of Gen. William Sherman, who had just liberated a Confederate POW camp in West Columbia.

After a century and a half, it's all academic. And more than a tad ironic.

Since World War II, Columbia has gladly welcomed thousands upon thousands of federal troops: Camp Jackson, on Columbia's southeastern outskirts, is the Army's training facility, a 52,000 acre compound that, according to wikipedia, employs "almost 4,400 civilians and provides services for more than 115,000 retirees and their family members."

It goes on to say that the installation pumps more than $716.9 million into the area economy.

"Famously Hot," is nowadays the slogan  used by the Columbia Convention &Visitors Bureau, notably for the "Famously Hot New Year's Eve" bash on Main Street.

About the engraving at the top of this post: The POW camp in West Columbia  was called Camp Sorghum. Two months before it was liberated, 500 captured Union officers were moved there from a smaller compound, in downtown Columbia, on the grounds of the old State Lunatic Asylum.

List of 10 "spookiest cemeteries in the U.S." includes three from Carolinas

A list of  10 "Spookiest cemeteries in the U.S." published at foxnews.com may have three from Louisiana at the top -- that's to be expected -- but also includes three from the Carolinas:

 1. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans. This famous graveyard was established in 1789 and is on the northern end of the city's ever-popular French Quarter. Visit on your own or on a guided tour. Because the land is so close to sea level, people are buried in above-ground tombs.

2. Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, also in New Orleans. It's small but also packed with above-ground graves.

3. American Cemetery, Natchitoches, La. This is another oldie and it shows up in scenes from "Steel Magnolias."

4. Woodpecker Hill, Colorado Springs, Co. Citizens were buried in the town's Greenwood Cemetery, Woodpecker Hill, on a bluff above it, is where convicts were laid to rest.

The next four are notable for holding the remains of many Civil  War soldiers.

5. Elmwood Cemetery and Gardens, Columbia (shown in the photo at the top of this post).

6. Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond Va.

7. Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.

8. Woodland Cemetery, Bethel, Maine.

9. Bellevue Cemetery, Wilmington. It's spooky enough to be a site location for the  modern-gothic TV series "Sleepy Hollow," which is filmed in the area.

10. St. James Parish Cemetery, Wilmington. Founded in 1729, with many old headstones sheathed in moss, it looks the part.