As is often the case with places, Columbia’s history is tied inextricably to its landscape, and more specifically its rivers. Serving as the highways of the day, South Carolina’s rivers provided ready access to an inland wilderness. Lowcountry Rivers led inland to the fall line, the area where the piedmont meets the coastal plain; an area that is characterized by the rapids and shoals of the Congaree, Broad and Saluda. It is a landscape of rivers, flood plain swamps and hardwood bluffs. These rivers tell a history of our state and our capital, Columbia.