Last updated: 10/18/2012
122 North Washington StreetSumter, SC 29151
P. O. Box 1456Sumter, SC 29151
Thursday - Saturday
10 AM - 5 PM
General Admission: $3
Children (6-17): $1
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Rickie Good
phone:
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Deborah Watts
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The Sumter County Museum is a private non-profit institution whose mission is to promote the history of Old Sumter District through the preservation and exhibition of objects, manuscripts, and documents, which relate the story of this area of South Carolina. The museum includes the Williams-Brice House (1916), the Heritage Education Center (2003) and the Carolina Backcountry Homestead.
The Sumter County Museum invites you to stroll through our gates and experience life in an elegantly restored Edwardian house built in 1916 by the Moses and Phelps families and given by the Williams-Brice estate in 1972 to become a museum. Inside you’ll see one of the finest textile collections in the state. Take in the breadth of our decorative arts and fine art collections. View a splendid military history exhibit documenting American struggles during the 20th century. Linger in our period rooms and imagine life at a slower pace—days filled with the best of Southern hospitality. Listen as you view our exhibit of tools and implements used in everyday life for the past two centuries and you may hear long-silent voices telling of the hard work and determination it took to build our country. Celebrate history with us at the Sumter County Museum.
Stroll across the lawn to our Carolina Backcountry Homestead.
This recreated homestead plays host to our living history events. Included in our Homestead are a log cabin, settler’s house, a smokehouse, barn, commissary (storehouse), loomhouse, outhouse, blacksmith shop, and gardens. The Settler’s house and the Commissary are original buildings built between 1812 and 1836. The Rollins family donated these two buildings to the museum in 1990.
Linger for awhile in the gardens that surround the Museum. Listen to the birds and the trickle of water as it splashes over the fountain and into the fishpond. Nationally renowned landscape designer Robert Marvin designed the original gardens at the museum in the early 1960’s. Today, Marvin's design can still be seen in the curving walkways and plant groupings. The gardens contain dozens of azaleas and camellias, along with magnolias, dogwoods, and many other trees. Towering above this lovely garden are huge 100 year old pecan trees that have grown to over 60 feet high. It's a beautiful place to spend a few quiet minutes.
The Sumter County Museum offers a wide variety of educational programming for visitors. Along with our normal activities, we also offer customized programs for groups of all ages. If you are interested in a guided tour, a living history demonstration, or want to attend any of our regularly scheduled events, please contact the museum.
The Museum's Archives houses records related to the history of the old Sumter District (present day Sumter, Lee, and Clarendon counties) and, after 1868, Sumter County. Our records include over 30,000 photographic images, postcards, personal letters, scrapbooks, business records, plats, and maps. We are also home to W. A. "Mayor Bubba" McElveen's Archive and the papers of historian Myrtis Ginn Osteen. Housed in the Heritage Education Center at the museum, the Archive is accessible by appointment only. To make an appointment, please contact the museum at 803-775-0908. For genealogical research, please contact the Sumter County Genealogical Society at 803-774-3901 or visit their website.
Access: General Public, Students, Scholars
Appointment required: Yes
Our volunteers are an important part of our museum family. Museums across the U.S. utilize more than 370,000 volunteers. Here at the Sumter County Museum we have dozens of volunteers who help us through a number of outlets. With their help we are able to provide a first-rate county museum and archives for the residents of Sumter.
McKenzie Hall in the Heritage Education Center is available for rentals. For rental information, please call the museum at 803-775-0908 or download the rental agreement from our website.
Gift Shop
Special Event Rental
Group Tours
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