9

Spartanburg Regional Museum (Full-Day: 9 of 14)

Driving Instructions

The Driving Directions represent the most direct and scenic route.

  • from #8, turn RIGHT (East) on Simuel Road
  • Turn RIGHT on Howard Street
  • Turn RIGHT on Magnolia Street
  • Turn LEFT on W. St. John Street
  • W. St. John Street becomes E. St. John after crossing Church St. (Hwys 56 & 221)
  • #8 is on the LEFT

200 East Saint John Street
Spartanburg, SC 29302

Additionally Google Maps has been provided as a resource.

[ Google Driving Directions ]
Location Information

Spartanburg Regional Museum

Here you’ll get an overview of more than two centuries of mill village life and see artifacts of Spartanburg County’s rich textile mill history. Hanging in the stairway is the original, immense bell from Riverdale Mills, which once tolled to wake workers for their shifts. You’ll also see a 500-pound bale of cotton, a steam whistle from the Beaumont plant, and an exhibition of “loonies,” the coins that workers once spent at their company stores. The museum’s exhibit includes weaving and spinning tools as well as photographs that stretch back to the early 1800s.

If you want to bring home a souvenir of Spartanburg cotton mill history, pick up a Glendale Mill Christmas ornament. The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am-5 pm, Sundays 1 pm-5 pm. Admission is free, donations appreciated.

On your way out of the building, ask at the reception desk to see the Mill Memory art project in a conference room on the Chapman Center’s first floor. Pickens County artist Ellen Kochansky used hundreds of pieces of memorabilia from local textile workers—shuttles, blueprints, photos, letters, scraps of cloth etc.—in a wall-mounted, 24-piece tribute to more than 100 years of textile history. Each square tells a different part of textile history, from mill housing to politics to baseball teams.

Images
Audio Recordings

Riverdale

Worker Life

Spartan Mills Closing

© Copyright Spartanburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. All Rights Reserved.

Produced by MoreView Media, based on the book Textile Town by Hub City Press.