CAYCE, S.C. — You can explore hundreds of years of history at the Cayce Historical Museum.
It starts as you arrive The building is meant to look like the Old Cayce Building originally built back in the 1760's during the Colonial Period. It’s located right next to the City of Cayce City Hall complex.
Inside there are artifacts collected over hundreds of years telling the history of Saxe Gotha, Granby, Cayce and Native American communities going back to the Colonial Period.
Andy Thomas with the museum says it’s been around since 1991.
There's a collection of over 8000 arrowheads on display from Cayce and areas around the Southeast. Thomas says it’s one of the largest collections in South Carolina.
“We have that deep Native American history. We have a large collection of Native American objects,” said Thomas. “They were from a gentleman that lived here in the area named Samuel Watson. He was a World War I veteran and he collected Native American artifacts like arrowheads, pottery, tools like axes.”
Hanging on the walls is art dedicated to the history of the community, including a painting show George Washington looking at Columbia from the Cayce side of the river.
“Cayce is an older community than Columbia because the area of Cayce was settled during the Colonial period. You had Germans in this area that were part of the Saxe Gotha community and Granby was a major community on the river,” explained Thomas.
The museum is also working to restore their 1936 Cayce Fire Truck for their new public safety exhibit. They hope to have it finished by the end of this year.
Thomas with the museum hopes you can see what makes the community so special.
“I hope they're seeing a rich history that's been here for a long, long time that maybe they didn't realize. We have a large variety of objects and a lot of stories come out of those objects that are here.”
If you want to check out the museum, they are open Tuesdays through Fridays from 9 am until 4 pm. On Saturdays, they are open from 2 pm until 5 pm. There’s a small admission charge during the week and on Saturday but they are free on Sundays.
For more information on the museum, click here.