Housed in a 1930s post office building with unique architectural features is the Hartsville Museum. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building includes an original skylight that has been retrofitted with stained glass panels depicting flora and fauna significant to the area. Permanent exhibits in the museum include the Locomobile, South Carolina’s first car; a silver collection from Eastern Carolina Silver Company; hands-on exhibits honoring Native American culture; early hand tools; Carolina Cotton and a turn-of-the-century kitchen.
The museum also features a sculpture courtyard and an exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the multi-billion dollar Sonoco Products Company, an international provider of consumer and industrial packaging.
The Black Creek Arts Council is located in the Black Creek Arts Center, a historic 10,000 square-foot building in downtown Hartsville. It offers a variety of arts programs and classes for all adults and children, summer camps and private music lessons. Inside the center, you'll also find the Jean & James Fort Gallery, which hosts changing exhibits of regional and national artists. For a calendar of upcoming events, click here.
The Thomas E. Hart House is a 19th-century plantation home that belonged to Hartsville’s founder Thomas E. Hart. The 1820s home and the surrounding gardens are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Kalmia Gardens at Coker University has been open to the public since 1935 and includes exotic ornamentals planted by Mrs. David Robert Coker, the garden’s founder. When the Coker family acquired the land in 1932, “Miss May” began transforming the area into a place of tranquility and beauty. She gave the gardens to Coker College in 1965 as a memorial to her late husband. Art classes for children and adults are offered at the Hart House and the building is available for special events.
Center Theater, located in the 1936 art deco Hartsville Community Center building, operated for decades as a motion picture theater. The theater's 867 seats include some 200 in the balcony. Today, the theater is one of the Pee Dee region’s premier performing arts facilities, presenting a wide variety of theatrical productions, musicals, comedies and children’s theater performances. Past shows have featured Edwin McCain, the Columbia Ballet and Dancing with the Stars of Darlington County.
