Greenville South Carolina Attractions

Greenville Area

Beattie House
The historic Beattie House, built by Fountain Fox Beattie for his bride in 1834, showcases the lifestyle of upper middle-class Greenville citizens before the Civil War. Although the family later added two wings and an exterior gingerbread ornamentation, the house remains practically as it did when it was built. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this Italianate Gothic mansion houses a fine collection of early Victorian furnishings. The architecture of the house features fine turnings, brackets and balustrades that encircle the roof of a vaulted verandah. The profits of the Beattie’s textile and banking businesses financed the house, which moved from its original location downtown near the courthouse square. Visitors will find this attraction at 8 Bennett St., between Park and Stone avenues.

Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery
This spectacular museum hosts a standing collection of religious works from the 13th through 19th centuries. The collection contains over 400 works from Italy, Spain, France, England, Flanders, the Netherlands, and Germany. The collection of sacred art is exhibited throughout a series of interconnected rooms, three of which are authentic Gothic chambers replete with wood-paneled walls, porcelains, objets d’art, and period furniture and sculptures. The Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery also showcases a collection of Russian icons and biblical-era antiquities. Visitors will find the museum located on the Bob Jones University campus at 1700 Wade Hampton Blvd.

Christ Church Episcopal
In 1825, St. James Mission – a small parish founded by the Rev. Rodolphus Dickerson in 1820 – began to construct a small windowless church building on 4 acres of land donated by Vardry McBee, the founder of Greenville and an occupant of Christ Church Cemetery. The parish, which surpassed its capacity every Sunday before 1845, decided to build Christ Church Episcopal on the same land of the original church. Built in the Gothic Revival style of architecture, Christ Church remained unfinished until 1968 when the north transept and undercroft were added. A beautifully handcrafted stained glass window, “Christ and the Last Supper,” gleams down on the congregation from behind the altar. Visitors consider this inspirational masterpiece the focal point of the church interior. Christ Church, located at 10 N. Church St., lies in the heart of Greenville between East North and Washington streets.

Greenville County Museum of Art
The Greenville County Museum of Art specializes in collecting, studying and exhibiting American art with a concentration on Southern themes and artists. Housed in a modernist structure that accommodates 90,000-square-feet of galleries, this museum focuses on regionally relevant works of art and complimentary traveling exhibitions. Its world-renowned Andrew Wyeth collection of over 30 major works surpasses any other such anthology in America. The museum’s contemporary art collection, unrivaled within the state, includes such 20th-century masters as Jasper Johns, Georgia O’Keefe, George Bellows, and Philip Guston. The museum, located on Heritage Green in downtown Greenville, also contains a museum shop, 190-seat auditorium, and classrooms for art instruction.

Greenville Zoo
The Greenville Zoo, located on a 14-acre site within Cleveland Park, caters to every one’s inner child. The zoo, which houses a large variety of species, spreads out over a multitude of bike and walking paths. The two playgrounds, adjacent to the zoo, keep children occupied for hours while adults enjoy tennis courts, volleyball pods and picnic facilities. The zoo, located at 150 Cleveland Park Drive, also offers two large shelters, which may be rented for parties and meetings.

Nippon Center
The Nippon Center – a 14th-century, Shoin Zukuri-style Japanese mansion – houses a restaurant, cultural center, and Zen garden. The restaurant, called Yagoto, offers fine Japanese cuisine in four separate dining areas, including one where guests dine in the traditional fashion: on floor mats with their shoes removed. The Teppanyaki-inspired menu includes sashimi, sushi, teriyaki, and tempura. The restaurant also offers an authentic tea ceremony, which is held in the only real Japanese tea room in America outside of the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. The extravagant Zen garden showcases a pond of lotus flowers, an abundance of cherry trees, a rock garden, and authentically manicured Japanese topiary. Conveniently located at 500 Congaree Road, the Nippon center also presents several festivals throughout the year.

Peace Center for the Performing Arts
The Peace Center for the Performing Arts, a $46 million facility built on a 6-acre site, opened in 1990. This complex includes a 2,100-seat concert hall, a 1,500-seat riverside amphitheatre, a 402-seat playhouse, a cabaret theatre, and a restaurant. With an annual operating budget of $6.5 million and over 2,700 subscriptions, the Peace Center has the resources to stage internationally significant concerts, plays, and performance pieces. The center also reaches out to its community with educational programs for children and adults with a specific interest in under-represented groups. Visitors will find this mostly privately funded facility between Main and Broad streets in downtown Greenville.

Spartanburg Area

Hollywild Animal Park
The Hollywild Animal Park covers nearly 100 acres and houses close to 500 rare and exotic animals. Many of the animals, affectionately called “zooperstars,” have starred in numerous commercials, television shows, and motion pictures. The park pledges to provide an enriching interactive environment where guests can learn and play. Guests are encouraged to interact with and hand-feed all but the more dangerous animals. The Outback Safari, the most popular attraction in the park, takes visitors into a 70-acre area of free-roaming animals, many of which can be hand-fed also from the comfort of your seat. Visitors will find the park located on the corner of Little Mountain and Hampton Roads in Spartanburg.

Clemson Area

Bob Campbell Geology Museum
The Bob Campbell Geology Museum, located in the South Carolina Botanical Garden, houses one of the most extensive collections of rare geologic specimens in the United States. The museum strives to educate the public in regard to all earth sciences, their application in other fields, and the interrelationships between geology, botany, and humanity. The museum’s standing collection includes over 5,000 minerals (some of which glow in the dark), fossilized plants and animals, and meteorites.

Fort Hill / John C. Calhoun House
Former Vice President John Caldwell Calhoun, whose political career spanned 40 years, lived in Fort Hill from 1825 until his death in 1850. Upon Calhoun’s death, Thomas Green Clemson – his son-in-law and founder of Clemson University – ordered the preservation of the home in honor of his late father-in-law and his public service. Clemson also decreed that the dwelling would always receive visitors interested in inspecting the house and grounds. Family artifacts furnish the office, kitchen and living space of this antebellum plantation. The house, located on Clemson University Campus across from the student union on Fort Hill Street, reopened in spring 2003 after a two-year restoration project.

The South Carolina Botanical Gardens
The South Carolina Botanical Garden, which began in 1957 as a camellia collection, offers 295 acres of public gardens. Open from dawn till dusk year-round, the garden showcases both cultivated and natural landscapes of the United States’ Southeastern region. Equally concerned with research and education, the garden contains interactive displays, scientific laboratories, and a formal educational program linked to Clemson University. The garden, located at the Clemson University campus on Perimeter Road, offers visitors a free opportunity to spend an afternoon admiring the aesthetics of nature.

Neighboring Communities

Duke Power’s World of Energy
World of Energy visitors learn how they generate electricity by using water, coal, and uranium. It is part of the Oconee Nuclear Station, which has generated more electricity than any other nuclear facility in the United States. The station began as a commercial operation in 1973 and continues to produce 2,538 megawatts of electricity when running at full capacity. A self-guided tour reveals many interactive displays, hands-on activities, computer games, and a perfect re-creation of the station’s control room. Only prearranged group tours of the nuclear station itself are available; it is not a regular part of the World of Energy trips. The World of Energy and Oconee Nuclear Station is located at 7812 Rochester Highway, just outside of Seneca on the shores of Lake Keowee.

Jones Gap State Park and Mountain Bridge Wilderness and Recreation Area
The foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 25 miles northwest of Greenville, begin to take shape in a pristine wilderness area called Jones Gap State Park. This 3,346-acre park, located in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness and Recreation Area, surrounds the Middle Saluda River – South Carolina’s first scenic river. Over 400 species of plant life, including many that are rare or endangered, make this park their home. The Environmental Education Center houses nature exhibits, a meeting room, lab area, and a restored and restocked fishing hatchery. The park, located off U.S. 276 on River Falls Road (which becomes Jones Gap Road when you enter the park), offers more than 48 miles of hiking trails that can be classified as easy to strenuous.

Paris Mountain State Park
Paris Mountain State Park, only four miles outside of Greenville, has gained popularity as a pristine retreat in a major metropolitan area. The park, one of the oldest protected areas in the state, features 1,275 acres of old growth hardwood forests. Visitor’s with children love the family friendly attitude of the park, which has hiking and biking trails, several playgrounds, a family campground, and a 13-acre lake complete with pedal boat rentals and a swimming area. The park, located on Highway 253 just north of Greenville, produces amazing displays of color in early fall – when the leaves show shades of gold, red, and orange.