South Carolina Sanatorium

A few days after our trip to the State Hospital, I found out about the South Carolina Sanatorium. I had never even heard of it's existence until a week or so ago. In everything that I read about it online, it stated that the building was boarded up and covered in vines. There's even pictures in the search results that support that. I read and saw enough that interested me in visiting the site, so that was today's adventure for my daughter, grandson and I.

I'm gonna say I was a little disappointed. I guess I didn't get the wow factor that I get every time I visit the State Hospital.

First of all, it's not covered in vines, as you'll see in the pictures below. Once you turn into the area known as State Park, drive down the driveway which is maybe 1/4 mile if that, the Sanatorium is sitting in plain view. I didn't see any boarded up windows, either.

It is a majestic building and even though some windows are busted out, it still stands proudly among smaller buildings. Some buildings have been repurposed such as one that was part of the chapel, is used as a post office.

A little history on the Sanatorium: It opened in 1938, in Columbia, SC in a health complex known as State Park. It provided 238 beds for those diagnosed with tuberculosis, and at that time there was no cure for it so it was pretty much a place people went to die (only 1 in 3 patients survived). Soon after opening, the sanatorium became overcrowded, so beds were placed everywhere, including the hallways. A cure was found for tb in the 1950s, so the hospital declined and finally closed in 1983.

I didn't take as many photos today as I did at the State Hospital, but here are the ones that I took.

These are from the front of the building.

This little door goes under the front porch. My grandson wanted to see what was in there but my daughter wouldn't let us lol:

Facing the front of the building, this would be to the right:

Going on around to the right of the building was this entrance, labeled as an emergency entrance:

Windows above the emergency entrance:

This was what I'm sure was a cute little house that maybe was a caretaker or doctor's home at one time:

And the chapel:

Overall, it's not an outstanding hidden gem, but if you're going to be in the area anyway, it's worth checking out.