Columbia was founded in 1808. It used to be an important mule market and racing horse center. Nowadays, only a national jubilee for Tennessee walking horses is organized there in June every year.

The city is the trade and processing hub of a fertile area, where beef cattle is raised and burley tobacco is produced, as well as a shipping point for the region's limestone and phosphate deposits.

Columbia has many fine antebellum homes, including the James K. Polk House, which dates from 1816. It is one of the last 2 surviving former residences of James Knox Polk, who was the 11th President of the United States. The other one being the White House.

The Maury County Courthouse is another one of Columbia's landmarks. The Old Columbia Dam was built in the 1930s.

Columbia is on the Duck River in central Tennessee, 65 km southwest from Nashville and some 970 km southwest from Washington D.C.

Maury County Courthouse ©Brent Moore