#TBT: 200-year-old trivia

This is part of our #TBT collaboration with Historic Columbia.

Historians love to ask questions — it’s kind of our thing. How old is that broken headstone? Who invented shoelaces? Why do so many people hate Brutalist architecture? Usually we ask these questions in libraries. Sometimes we ask them in classrooms. But where we’d really like to ask them is over a beer. 🍻 (Enjoyed responsibly, of course.)

Lucky for all of us, Historic Happy Hour returns tomorrow, 5:30 p.m. at Seibels House. Think: drinks, trivia, birthday cake. Birthday cake? It’s the 200th anniversary of the Hampton-Preston Mansion. They grow up so fast.

HP was opened in 1818 to much fanfare. It was very much the HGTV Dream Home of its day for original owners Ainsley and Sarah Hall. They only lived at 1615 Blanding St. for five years before relocating almost overnight in 1823. Why? That’s a very good question — almost like it’s for trivia night or something.

A lot has happened in the last 200 years – so much so that we made a whole Buzzfeed quiz about it. (Polio was eradicated, man walked on the moon, the girdle was invented, then phased out, then made popular again on Instagram.) Click below to test your knowledge. ⬇️

And ICYMI: Are you basically the mayor or barely a Soda Citizen? Find out with COLAtoday’s historical Buzzfeed quiz on Columbia below. ⬇️

How did you do?

We’re not ones to give hints, but it might behoove you to swing by the Hampton-Preston Mansion before Happy Hour. Studying up never hurt anybody…

–Lois from Historic Columbia + Sam