Field Trip! ~ Guignard Brick Kiln ~

WARNING: If you don't like pictures, you won't like this post.

It's no secret that I love to take pictures. I also like to visit new, interesting, and historical places.  So, not so long ago, one early Saturday morning, I went to the Cayce Riverwalk and Guignard Brick Kiln in downtown Columbia, SC.  I have driven by the brick kilns for at least 10 years before getting up close and personal. They looked so cool from the road and I finally made the time to check them out. It's easy to get into and around places early in the morning when the traffic isn't so heavy and you have the place to yourself.  

Gervais (jer-vay) Street Bridge

The Riverwalk is great for dog walking.

another view of the Gervais St. Bridge.

Guignard Brick Kilns

Peeking out behind the kilns are new condos. Civilization is intruding!

Inside some of the kilns; tools and machinery

"Only four round and massive brick kilns remain of the former Guignard Brick Works located on the west side of the Blossom Street Bridge in Cayce. The plant produced bricks for the better part of 200 years when it was closed in 1974. Many textile mills such as Olympia, Granby, Richland and Capital City were built with bricks made here on the banks of the Congeree River. Guignard Brick Works Ruins became listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. Three of the four remaining klins date cica 1900 while a fourth was built in 1932 to replace one destroyed by a fire." wwwfastfreds.com

Have I bored you yet? I just think these things are cool. They are locked up so you can't go in, but you can still see stacks of bricks and machinery inside of them.  Since I have been there, they have paved some roads around the kilns and are getting ready to build an office building. So next time you find yourself in Columbia, check this area out.

Happy 4th of July (eve)!

~Amy