Set your sights on South Carolina attractions

With all the options, the toughest part is deciding where to go.

Here’s a quick look at some of the newest and most exciting South Carolina tourist attractions:

Take a spin in Rock Hill

Rock Hill is now home to one of only 20 velodromes in the country! Get on the track at the new Giordana Velodrome, a 250-meter world-class banked racing track off Interstate 77, just south of Charlotte. The track also features a 42.5 degree bank. It's like Disney World for cyclists! Events for kids and adult riders are offered at Giordana Velodrome. If being a spectator is more your speed, come out and watch some of the country's best cyclists during a league racing series. Admission is free! 

Travel the Quilt Trail

It's time for a road trip to discover color in the Upstate year round! Take a ride down the Upstate Heritage Quilt Trail and where you'll find more than 85 painted quilt panels displayed on homes, historic buildings and businesses. The trail begins at exit 1 on I-85 and travels north through the high hills of Oconee, Anderson and Pickens counties. The quilt trail is a way of recognizing the rich quilting heritage of the Upstate.  

SC State Farmers Market

The new South Carolina State Farmers Market sets a new standard for a cherished American tradition. The state-of-the-art marketplace will provide South Carolina's agricultural community a one-of-a-kind showcase, while offering area residents an attractive combination of shopping, dining and entertainment. Located on Highway 321 (Charleston Highway) in Lexington County near Dixiana within 1.5 miles of both I-26 and I-77 the new market will feature a children's play area, a 150-seat exhibition kitchen, a 400-seat outdoor amphitheater, a specialty foods shop, school bus drop-off area, an RV park, a fish market, a meat market, bakery and several restaurants. The site will also be home to South Carolina Department of Agriculture laboratories, a 200-seat conference center and offices.

Learning from history

 
The Old Slave Mart Museum in Charleston has reopened to rave reviews and is quickly becoming one of the most visited South Carolina tourist attractions The museum recounts the story of Charleston’s role as an urban slave-trading center during the domestic slave trade. The Old Slave Mart Museum’s permanent exhibit speaks to the stories, the contributions and the legacies of those who shaped the outcome of the domestic slave trade. Various narratives are presented in different media (personal letters, oral histories, documents, audio, video and artifacts) to provide a sense of those who passed through the mart, where they lived and how you can find their various legacies today.

At the Benjamin Mays Historic Site you can tour Dr. Benjamin Mays’ childhood home. A former sharecropper’s son, Mays became president of Morehouse College and was a key mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The historic site also includes an interactive visitor’s center and schoolhouse.