Charleston Historic Home Tours
Charleston has many dozens of historically-significant properties, the great majority of which are privately owned and occupied and not open to the public.
Several of the city’s most important historic homes, however, are operated as historic house museums, allowing a view into the lives of some of Charleston’s wealthiest residents – and the people they enslaved – in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Most of the houses offer guided tours of around 30-40 minutes duration, usually discussing the history of the house, its occupants and architecture. If you expect to want to visit more than one historic house museum during your visit, look out for combination tickets, which offer admission to two or more properties at a discounted rate.
See also:
– Museums in Charleston
– Plantations near Charleston
– Other things to do in Charleston
– Things to do near Charleston
– Charleston events and festivals by month: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Historic Charleston Foundation’s House Tours
Aiken-Rhett House
48 Elizabeth Street, 843-723-1159
The Aiken-Rhett House, constructed by William Aiken around 1820, remained in the hands of a single family and its descendants for a century and a half. Preserved rather than restored, the house offers an insight into the decline in fortunes of its owners in the years since the Civil War.
Unusually among Charleston’s historic house museums, the Aiken-Rhett House has retained its enslaved people’s quarters and other outbuildings, including stables and kitchens, portraying the other side of life in one of the city’s great antebellum houses.
Self-guided app-based audio tours of the house are made at your own pace, and will usually take around 45 minutes. Combination tickets including admission to the Nathaniel Russell House are available.
Open daily. Adults $15, children (6-16) $7. More details
Nathaniel Russell House
51 Meeting Street, 843-724-8481
The Nathaniel Russell House is considered to be one of the best Neoclassical townhouses in the country, constructed for a wealthy Rhode Island merchant who established himself in Charleston in the mid-18th century.
The house, with formal gardens, is restored to its appearance in 1808. It is furnished with objects of fine and decorative art from the 18th and 19th centuries, including several items owned by the family, and others created in Charleston.
Tours take around 30 minutes, and discuss the lives of family members and the people they enslaved as domestic staff, and the process of restoring the home. Combination tickets allowing admission to the Aiken-Rhett House as well are available for a discount.
Open daily. Adults $15, children (6-16) $7. More details
Charleston Museum’s House Tours
Heyward-Washington House
87 Church Street, 843-722-2996
The Heyward-Washington House, built in 1772, is one of the oldest surviving residences in Charleston.
It is named for two of the house’s most distinguished occupants: Thomas Heyward, Jr, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and George Washington, who rented the home during a week-long stay in the city as part of his 1791 tour of the South.
Beautiful antique Charleston-made furniture, formal gardens and an 18th-century kitchen building are among the highlights of tours of this historic house. Combination tickets offering discounted admission to the Charleston Museum and/or the Joseph Manigault House are also available.
Open daily. Adults $12, youth (13-17) $10, children (3-12) $5. More details
Joseph Manigault House
350 Meeting Street, 843-722-2996
The Joseph Manigault House, built in 1803, is an excellent example of the Federal style of architecture, formerly owned by one of Charleston’s wealthiest rice planting enslaving families, the Manigaults, descended from a group of French Huguenots who settled the city in the late 17th century.
The restored property features early-19th-century and other antique furniture from the collection of the Charleston Museum, with gardens too restored to the style of the period.
Tours of the house take around 30 minutes, and focus on the history of the family and architecture of the house, in the context of the social history of the period. Combination tickets to see the Heyward-Washington House and/or the Charleston Museum as well are available at a discount.
Open daily. Adults $12, youth (13-17) $10, children (3-12) $5. More details
Charleston’s Other Historic Home Tours
Edmondston-Alston House
21 East Battery, 843-722-7171
The Edmondston-Alston House was built in 1825 by Scottish merchant Charles Edmondston. The house was one of the first of the grand houses to be erected along what is now the city’s East Battery, commanding fine views over the Charleston Harbor and Fort Sumter.
Edmondston lost the house in the panic of 1837, with some alterations to the Federal-style home undertaken by new owner Charles Alston. It remains to this day in the hands of his descendants.
30-minute tours visit the Edmondston-Alston House’s public rooms and piazzas. Combination tickets with the Middleton Plantation, who manage tours of the house, are available.
Open Monday-Saturday. Adults $15, children and students $10. More details
Williams Mansion
16 Meeting Street, 843-722-8205
The Williams Mansion (formerly known as the Calhoun Mansion) was built by George Williams in 1876, and is regarded as one of the finest postbellum houses on the East Coast. It is the largest historic private residence in Charleston.
The Williams Mansion is still occupied by its current owner, who has filled the house to the brim with an eclectic mixture of furnishings, paintings and objects from all periods and corners of the world.
The basic tour of the house takes about 25-35 minutes, seeing several of its rooms and discussing the history of the home and its antiques. An alternative longer tour visits the entire mansion and its cupola.
Open daily. Basic tour $17 per person, children under 12 free. More details