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Columbia
Capital of South Carolina, at the fall line
Columbia sits almost exactly at the center of South Carolina, where the Piedmont meets the coastal plain at the fall line and the Broad and Saluda rivers join to form the Congaree. The state planted a new capital here in 1786 as a compromise between the coastal Lowcountry and the upcountry, choosing a central site over rival Charleston — one of the country's first planned capital cities, laid out on a grid.
The fall line gave the city waterpower for early mills, and the rivers drain south toward the coast. The surrounding Midlands are gently rolling sandhill and pine country, midway between the Blue Ridge and the Atlantic. Home to the University of South Carolina and a hot, humid summer climate, Columbia anchors the state's second-largest metro.