5 Best Sights in The Midlands and Upstate, South Carolina

It was in this 1820 home that Jefferson Davis disbanded the Confederate armies, effectively ending the Civil War. Now a popular wedding venue, the house was a private residence until 1971, when Mary Stark Davis died. She willed the house to the Abbeville County Historic Preservation Commission, with a provision that nothing be added or removed from it; thus it's filled with lovely antiques, carved-wood surfaces, and old family photos.

Dating from 1818, this grand home is filled with lavish furnishings collected by three generations of two influential families. The mansion—painted yellow with brown columns—includes interactive exhibits and well-kept gardens. Buy tickets at the Robert Mills House.

This cottage and outdoor museum was the home of Celia Mann, one of only 200 free African Americans in Columbia in the mid-1800s. Tours are available as part of Historic Columbia's self-guided Journey to Freedom tour, which includes access to the nearby Modjeska Monteith Simkins House. Buy tickets at the Robert Mills House.

The classic, columned 1823 house was named for its architect, who later designed the Washington Monument. It has opulent Regency furniture, marble mantels, and spacious grounds. This is the home of the Historic Columbia Foundation and gift shop, where you can get walking and driving tour maps of historic districts and buy tickets to other historic homes.

This collection is housed in the former home of baseball great Joe Jackson, who along with seven other White Sox players, was accused of throwing the 1919 World Series. Though he was found not guilty, Jackson was banned from playing baseball. The museum, which is open only on Saturday from 10 to 2, has records, artifacts, photographs, and a film, along with a library of baseball books donated from fans around the country. At the end of each summer, staffers challenge their peers at Georgia's Ty Cobb Museum to a vintage baseball game.