For all of those weekend travelers visiting Greenville, there are so many activities for you to experience, from eating delicious food, exploring nature, admiring art, to checking out some unique places.
Some of them are weirder than others.
Greenville has all the typical tourist sites like a bustling Main Street, Riverside Gardens, a suspension bridge, and waterfall views at Falls Park on the Reedy.
Here are eight weird or unusual things to do in Greenville, SC for those who are looking to do something outside the normal touristy activities.
8 Weird Things To Do In Greenville, SC
1. Artifacts Greenville
Artifacts Greenville is a surprising addition to this list of weird things to do in Greenville, but it absolutely deserves to be here.
I stepped into this unassuming building that sells antiques and was impressed with the beautiful mix of art, antiques, and curiosities.
Each room is so jam-packed with items that you have to go slowly.
You wouldn’t want to miss that treasure you didn’t know you needed.
However, the highlight of Artifacts Greenville is the greenhouse and garden behind the shop.
Walking outside, you will be taken aback at how lush it is.
Everywhere you look, there is something different, weird, and unique.
Like the chandelier hanging from the greenhouse ceiling, animal skulls and antlers artfully placed around the garden, and the two eye-catching lilac purple bookends to the garden.
The left looks like a church nook with a bench set inside for the perfect selfie.
You have to look closer and see that what you think is a fence are golf clubs, and the shelves are filled with army men, toy blocks, birds, and so much more.
At the other end of the garden is another lilac-colored building that is an actual chicken coop!
Real chickens are wandering around the garden of this crazy, weird antique shop.
You have to come by and see it for yourself to believe this place.
Who knows?
You might find a little something special in the shop that is calling for you to take home.
I know that I went home with two fabulous antique pieces after stopping in here on my last visit to Greenville.
2. BMW Zentrum
Visiting the BMW Zentrum is a more unique than weird thing to do in Greenville.
Twenty minutes outside of Greenville in Greer, the BMW complex has multiple things for visitors to do.
The first thing on your visit should be to tour BMW Zentrum, which is a 28,000-square-foot visitor’s center.
You can spend a bit of time wandering through the cars and motorcycles on display, learning about BMW’s history, and watching a virtual factory tour.
My favorite BMWs to check out are a couple of vehicles that were in the Bond Films.
Bond, James Bond, to be exact.
Gotta love those Bond vehicles!
Touring the visitor’s center is free for visitors, and there is a cafe and gift store to pick up BMW souvenirs.
Zentrum museum open hours are Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
As the BMW plant tours become available, visitors can get an exciting glimpse into what it takes to build the “Ultimate Driving Machine.”
You will be able to experience the power and history of the BMW brand firsthand in the factory where advanced manufacturing happens.
To book a plant tour, you must be 12 years and older to schedule the guided BMW plant tour, which is one hour and approximately a one-mile walk.
Now for the thrill-seekers, BMW offers the Ultimate Driving Experience in cities around the United States.
You can get behind the wheel of several different BMWs and test their power and handling on the Autocross course, on complimentary street drives, or at the M Car Control Clinic.
Within the M Car Control Clinic, you are under the guidance of BMW Professional Driving Instructors and will spend half a day putting vehicles through a series of advanced driving skills tests.
If you like putting the pedal to the metal, then these events are for you.
Check out the BMW Performance Center’s site to see what is available for you to experience the Ultimate in Driving Experiences.
3. Chihuly’s Crystal Tower
Dale Chihuly’s glass art sculptures are so colorful and ornate that you can spend a lot of time walking around them and continue to find something new within it.
I have been fortunate to see his art masterpieces at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh and within The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
As Chihuly is a renowned glass sculptor whose work is displayed in museums worldwide, it was wonderfully weird that I would come across a giant pink rock candy sculpture at the edge of a parking lot where it would be easily overlooked.
The Rose Crystal Tower stands at 22 feet tall and is composed of Polyvitro crystals and steel but resembles glass standing within Harriet’s Garden.
Harriet Wyche was a lifelong Greenville resident and community volunteer who was instrumental in establishing Falls Park.
Chihuly’s Crystal Tower was commissioned and placed in the garden named for her to honor her memory.
You can find the Rose Crystal Tower at the secondary entrance to Falls Park behind the West End Market.
Make your way to Warehouse Theater, the Eggs Up Grill, Mellow Mushroom, or The Velo Fellow, and you’ll find Rose Crystal Tower right behind any of them, at the back of the parking lot.
4. Devil’s Kitchen
In Northern Greenville County, you can find an area of Caesars Head Mountain, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a bit spooky and aptly named the Devil’s Kitchen.
Caesars Head is named for the granitic gneiss rock formation located atop the bluff that supposedly resembles Julius Caesar.
To see this, you have to walk a short path to the viewing area that happens to pass through a narrow passageway between two giant rocks.
This pass is the Devil’s Kitchen.
The stairs descend deep down into the rocky gap, which is just wide enough for a person to pass through.
The local lore is that the Devil himself formed this weird natural rock formation.
One legend says that the Devil was making a Hot Brew and spilled some, and it cracked the rock in half.
Another legend is from native Americans who considered the cave inhabited by evil cannibalistic spirits with the soot outside from the cooking fires.
Whichever legend you believe, it still is creepy walking down the narrow passage on very steep stairs.
The trail through Devil’s Kitchen is an easy hike from the Visitor’s Center to get to the small overlook that offers a panoramic view of the Caesars Head rock formation.
Would you dare to cross through the Devil’s Kitchen?
5. Mice On Main
Walking along Main Street in Greenville, I happened to look down and see a mouse by a corner of a building.
What is that?
On closer inspection, it is a bronze mouse purposefully placed there.
As I continued to walk down the sidewalk, I noticed more mice hiding in weird places.
I was intrigued and needed to figure out what these mice were doing around the city.
Mice on Main is a scavenger hunt for nine bronze sculpted mice hidden in plain sight along Main Street for kids and adults to try and find.
They could be in a doorway, by the edge of a building, or on a parking column; you just need to keep your eyes open.
Each mouse has its own individual look and character designed by a local sculptor, Zan Wells.
The trick, of course, is to find all of them.
To date, I’ve only been able to find seven out of the nine.
I guess that means I have to go back and visit Greenville to find the rest of them.
How many can you find?
6. Poinsett Bridge
Poinsett Bridge is the oldest bridge in South Carolina, built in 1820.
This stone bridge was designed to help people get from Greenville to Asheville, North Carolina.
The entire natural landscape around the bridge is beautiful, and the bridge includes a 14-foot-tall Gothic arch that stretches 130 feet over Little Gap Creek.
It is a short walk to the bridge from the parking area and the most lovely, serene forest with the creek flowing through the arch.
Make sure to walk down to experience the bridge from the lower level.
Looking through the arch is almost like looking through a portal to Narnia.
Little Gap Creek flows over smooth rocks that end up in shallow pools, and in hot weather, you might even see people taking a dip in them.
There are trails near Poinsett Bridge, but unfortunately, these trails are on private property.
The trails are on private land owned by the Boy Scouts of America, and hikers must get permission to enter.
Poinsett Bridge can be found at 580 Callahan Mountain Road in Travelers Rest.
7. Tiny Town
I have seen Christmas displays during the holiday season, but never all year long like Tiny Town in Easley, South Carolina.
Tiny Town has been a holiday tradition for southerners since 1974.
It started with one small replica of a log cabin and expanded to more than 80 structures creating a miniature little town in 2009.
Unfortunately, when the owners, Perry and Ollie Jennings, passed, Tiny Town fell into disrepair, and only 25 structures remain.
Today, their children have taken up the mantle to keep Tiny Town running.
Christmas Lights strung up around the structures give it a festive atmosphere for families to bring their kids to check out the window displays.
The Jennings’s children have expanded Tiny Town with larger and brighter displays, still keeping many of the original shingles and scrap shacks in the yard.
I was amazed walking around Tiny Town and looking in the window displays.
Some of them look like groups of collector items like matchbox cars, while others are decked out in Christmas holiday themes.
However, there are some weird displays like baby dolls with burned faces, hands, and feet.
This town is so unique and out there that you have to come and see the weirdness for yourself.
The display attracts thousands of people as it is open from 5:30 to 10 p.m. daily.
There is a parking area west and walking distance to the town.
Tiny Town is at 555 Latham Road in Easley.
8. Tuberculosis Hospital Ruins At Herdklotz Park
One of the weirdest and spookiest places in Greenville is Herdklotz Park.
Herdklotz Park is where the Hopewell Sanitorium “helped” patients with tuberculosis (housed them until they died) during the 1930s through the ‘50s.
The only portion still intact from the sanitorium is the basement, although that mysteriously caught fire in 2002.
In 2007, the community built a park on top of the Hopewell Sanitorium’s root cellar.
During the day, the Herdklotz Park is filled with families, laughing children, and folks playing on the athletic fields and playgrounds and enjoying picnics in the shelters.
However, at night, there are reports of ominous sounds, like screams of pain to a simple bell ringing nearby.
Herdklotz Park changes from a fun family environment to a creepy paranormal scene when the sun goes down.
Are you brave enough to venture out to Herdklotz Park after the sun sets?
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