Reviews of Aiken-Rhett House (Museum)

Jane Baker

Wonderful preservation.

Sheryl Katz

Interesting first time seeing the difference between preservation and restoration. Be warned there are fans set up, but no ac.

Marshall Mooney

The house is large and in an as-found state. You can walk in and go almost anywhere you want to go. The tour is self paced and audio guided. The audio is well done and the content is interesting. I highly recommend this house tour. If you agree, please "like" this review.

Jennifer Sasser

A place of a time gone but not forgotten.

Larry Taylor

The audio tour is well designed. You get a chance to really grasp the relationship between the enslaved and their oppessors in the 19th century South.

Jennifer Nauss

I highly recommend this self-guided (via headset audio) tour. This house has been preserved instead of restored which was fascinating. The tour of the dependencies and archaeological site made the tour even more special.

George Briggs

You can see what the house was 200 years ago. History galore. Great guides. Had a beautiful taped tour you can go at your own pace. Wonderful .

David King

Must see.. Lots of great history to see an hear from self guided tour from little iPod.

Barbara Bogert

Really raw. Not any good feelings here. Rough looking and a strange feel over it

Jeremy Hall

Loved it, great self guided tour.

Kathy Norris

Extremely educating and a very unique experience to visit. A huge amount of personal information from the slave point of view as well as the "urban plantation owners". So much information about the home and how the behaviors and home life in the time period, was extremely interesting.

Patrick Binchy

Fascinating insight to the old South and it's history

Sk S

Absolutely gorgeous home. I love that it is self-guided with audio so you can enjoy the experience at your own pace. Really liked that they basically left the home as-is in its natural state. Self guided audio tour took about an hour and a lot of it was outside, so best to go on a day with good weather. So much house and history to take in, want to go back for a second look!

Jeff Pontin

All very interesting and informative but it does get a little tedious to keep hearing about how awful the white folk were,

Kaylie W

10 stars!! I've seen and visited a lot of historic homes, buildings, etc, but this was by far one of the most beautifully, time frozen places I have ever seen. It's very important to note that this place is not restored, it is preserved! So you will see it virtually untouched with chippy walls, creaky uneven floors, original furniture, and so much more. I especially loved the slave quarters because you could truly see and feel how they lived back then and the difference their plain, small rooms were from the lavish Aiken house. It was just amazing and eye opening. I loved being able to self tour with our head sets so we could see it at our own pace and marvel over everything. I would definitely return again!! We spent 3 days in Charleston seeing a lot, and this was our favorite!

Fiona de la Motte

Really enjoyed the self-guided tour of this preserved historical landmark. Highly recommend! We bought the combo tickets for the Nathaniel Russell House, and enjoyed seeing that too.

treasuredmind

I am so thankful I spent the time to visit! It was a great way to learn about the history of the area and the people who resided in this home. The self guided tour was informative and easy to use. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the preservation of this property, and am thankful it was not restored. It gives the experience a different feel (perhaps a little creepy) but it was exciting and memorable. I’ve toured plenty of historic homes, and this one stands out for it’s character. If you only have time for one stop on your visit to Charleston, I would recommend a tour here.

Lisa Heinrich - Estabrook

Nice visit.

Melissa Schaefer

Great place to visit to get a feel of the real history of Charleston. The private tour with a set of headphones lets you move at your own pace. Its interesting to compare the type of preservation of this house compared to type of preservation of the Nathanial Russell house. They have discounted tickets for visiting both.

Margaret von Werssowetz

One of my favorite museum houses. So authentic, and well curated throughout. You get a headset and tape and do your own self-guide, so you set your own pace and can pause whenever you'd like. Unfurnished, but has photos. Also Includes slave quarters and stables. Gives a good feel for the grand life the owners lived.

Ron Brown

A very neat look into early Charleston life!

Suzanne Wenz

Well worth a visit to see this piece of antebellum preservation. Really detailed and helpful audio guide.

sarah jackson

This was the best tour we went on in Charleston! The property is Preserved, not restored, so it looks rough, but that is how it was left through the years. It's amazing to see the years and life that have been lived in the house and grounds. The audio tour is engaging, informative, and easy to use. It did a very good job of showing the many different ways of life for all who called the property home. Save at least 2 hours to see and experience everything.

David Rubin

This is a beautiful preservation house. Well done.

T C

The place is not restored and, in my opinion, it is better this way, as visitors can have the right feeling of how it used to be. The audioguide is very helpful and detailed. The house is also interesting to get insight into the life of slaves "owned" by rich and educated families.

Jon Neace

We learned a lot here

Jason Marsman

To say it is preserved was a bit deceiving to me. The house is in incredibly poor condition but nobody mentions that it is due to Hurricane Hugo. Knowing that going in would make me feel less dissapointed. I had to ask what caused the poor state of repair on the way out. That being said, it is very informative and I enjoyed the recorded audio tour.

Mark Steele

Excellent un-restored house and slave quarters put in proper historical perspective. No sugar coating here as at many other historic homes.

Rebecca Marks

Great house that still shows the life of the owners and slaves of three 1800s. Raw with many original furnishings. The audio tour was very informative. I wish it was restored a little more.

Bobby L.

Well preserved, historic home.

Cindy Harris

Old old home preserved but not restored. Wonderful piece of Charleston history

Brandi S

This by far was a cool way to tour a house. You're given a portable speaker which guides through the house from room to room. You were able to see and feel the history walking through the rooms. Very cool tour...took maybe 40 minutes. The price was good and very fair if you get the 2 house special which includes the Nathaniel house tour. I would definite recommend you visit this house.

Patrick L Washington, Writer

Love history

Jeremy Enzweiler

Amazing place to see and learn history

Joshua Zuniga

Takes about an hour to complete. 1 hr street parking in the surrounding neighborhood

Blake Overly

Really enjoyed this tour. It was nice to have the guided story playing in the provided headphones, which allowed you to pause when necessary to go at your own pace. Amazing architecture and history in this place, much of which has been left undisturbed for 150+ years. It's a must do when in Charleston!

Rebecca Woods

Amazing time spending two hours learning about history. Learning about southern history from that time period and understanding more about the daily lives of slaves. The house is actually preserved so you have the opportunity to see real life artifacts from the owners. Learning how the home and property has survived many storms through out the years is remarkable.

Stefanie Ziller

I really liked this tour. I usually prefer a guided tour vs doing it on my own, but I enjoyed this doing-it- yourself tour. You can see so many areas..the back house as well as several rooms on 1st and 2nd floor. It's amazing how preserved the home is. We took our time and it took almost 2 hours.

Michele Logan

If you love old architectural details untouched for centuries and wish you could make discoveries of old lost buildings this is your kind of place. If you wish you could see old houses in their original untouched condition before restoration or dreaded "remodel/updating" search no further in Charleston. If you prefer a shiny mint condition home with new drapes, rugs and a lot of new looking antique furniture there are many other houses for you to tour in Charleston. I prefer the former and was flabbergasted by this place and all it's peeling glory. Make sure that you have the docent explain well how to stop/pause/restart the little audio gadget and than go back in time.

Lauren Cooper

Preferred this home to the Nathaniel Russell house because of its authenticity. You could truly feel how old the house was, it was not done-up with fake furniture posing as original pieces. However, the combo ticket was a good purchase because it allowed us to compare/contrast the two properties. This house has more history, the Nathaniel Russell house is more about period furniture pieces, wall treatments, decorations etc. so it’s really just what you prefer.

Nicola Ewing

Tour is great and everyone was friendly. We didn't have enough time to do the entire guided tour, but would have loved to.

Jim Fattibene

Living History - this grand mansion is preserved as it was when acquired, with many of the original furnishings, tattered wall paper, and pealing paint of the 1800s. An extensive archeological dig has unearthed and displays many artifacts from both slave and White owner daily life. Take the self-guided tour with the excellent narration device that guides you room by room and provides an amazing amount of information. To me the highlight was the first half of the narrated tour through the slave quarters that vividly portrays the life and sometimes death of the enslaved Africans who served the White owners in the home and worked the rice fields. While the White owners were very rich and owned up to 800 slaves, it was not uncommon for even house slaves - cooks, cleaners, nannies - to die of exhaustion, starvation, and fever at a young age. One young enslaved girl who worked in the house and kitchen died of starvation at age 7. Another house slave had her first child at age 11 - and thus provided her owners with another enslaved laborer. But there are some inspiring stories here too, about a few slaves who learned to read and write - which was against the law - taught other slaves, and later helped "freemen" prosper after the Civil War abolished slavery. Even with this stark and frank depiction of enslaved life, the second half of the tour provides much detail about the Aikens and the Rhetts - including the rift when the daughter of Governor Aiken (a Unionist) married a man who would fight the Civil War as a Confederate officer. I have toured several of the beautifully restored, museum quality, homes in Charleston, but the Aiken-Rhett House made the biggest impression on me and it should not be missed if you want a vivid and balanced picture of early life in Charleston for the privileged and the oppressed.

Rick Baker

Very cool experience. Nice to see a Preserved Historic Home vs. Restored

Marianne Norman

Unrestored historic house...full of antiques and stories. Yes. Go here.

Caitlin Ranchino Todd

I for one am a huge fan of this un-renovated house. The audio tours were really neat and let you move at your own pace, and because of that, you were typically seeing the sights on your own instead of a group piling into a small room together. The history on the audio tour was great too. If you're wanting an in depth house tour, this is a great one!

Brad Phillips

A nice contrast to the Nathaniel Russell house in that it has been preserved in as-is condition. The audio tour was excellent as it really helped paint the picture of what life would have been like there in the 1800's.

Rachel Clayton

Beautiful historic experience. I would love to hear more oral history about the African American slaves who lived and worked here. I enjoyed the audio tour. Definitely a great place to visit when touring Charleston!

Beth Kinkaid

We heard that the Aiken-Rhett House was a must see. The house and grounds are amazing and are a true piece of history. I would give the house 5 stars. Although the staff were very rude and unkind. The website says they are open till 5 and takes 30-60 minutes. We arrived at 4:00 and were not welcomed by the staff. It seemed that they did not want us to take the tour. 4 of the staff were not happy we came. I hope they do not treat everyone like we were treated. 3 is a generous rating!

James Degaraff

Loved the audio tour.

Mark Nadim

Very pretty mansion showing how well the rich and famous lives, the slave quarters next to the mansion shows where slaves cooked and served their masters.

Karen Enright

It is not restored so you have a link to the past as it was then.

Kath Crolla

This is the only house we visited in Charleston which is at pains to tell as much about the story of the African Americans who were enslaved here as the Europeans who they served. Also it's being preserved rather than restored to a particular time in history like most of the houses are, so it's not just furniture and China dinner services, like some of the others!

GhostWriterJ94

The house is preserved as found. So not restored and all original. Staff are knowledgeable and you take an audio tour through the building. Also has attached outbuildings and slave quarters that are unique to this property.

Ed Pitcher

Very cool to see an unrestored home and walk through the entire property

Mark Isenberg

Beautiful old home...audio tour is terrific. Helpful staff!

Curt Bond

No guided tour. Audio tour was very drab and boring. Worst historical tour I've ever done

Jamie Norris

Cool place

Gayle Breimayer

This grand home is "preserved", rather than maintained. It shows original paint & wallpaper as it has worn through the years. Period furnishings in the rooms reveal lufe as it was. A very nice historical book is available about this home & the Nathaniel-Russell house in the gift shop. Beautiful pictures & the history of the homes & those who lived there is a wonderful addition to anyone's library.

Janice Amburgey

Amazing well worth the money. But do both houses on the tour

Carrie palomino azurza

with a school trip will have to come back for

Eric Gelsomino

Beautiful home....highly trained staff

Melissa Chen

It is pretty cool that everything is untouched after 1850s. It is a must see place in Charleston. You can skip the other house tours but not this one! It will bring you a completely different experience of Charleston.

Anwar Paz

Does a really good job of including (and not letting one forget) the lives and conditions of the slaves that lived there. Definitely spring for the audio self-guided tour—I know I wouldn’t have appreciated all that I saw nearly as much without it. I’d say the self-guided tour could take between a half hour (walking from room to next, briefly looking around and moving on) to two hours (listening to the entire narration at a leisurely pace). I went at four (they close at five) and in that hour, I was able to listen to about half of audio tour but managed to visit all of the rooms. FYI - If you want to go in the order that the narration is in, the narrator often gives instructions on where to go next at the end of each section, so if you skip directly to the next section, you may miss them.

Paul Altman

Awesome history love the old stuff

Scott Taylor

Well preserved Charleston home; nice staff, audio guided tour

Curtis Pelham

I have lived in Charleston for 13 years, and have been coming here for 18 years, and had never taken the time to go visit this historic landmark that not only describes through narration, but shows in it's physical presence what life was like in the early years of the city of Charleston. This is a tour that I would recommend to anyone who is visiting and wants something to do to learn about the history and culture of our great city....SIMPLY AMAZING and insightful!

Jessie Nickelson

The Aiken-Rhett House is a must see. The home and out buildings have many unique stories waiting for you to come discover. The tour is very informational, but there are helpful staff members to answer any questions you have. Kind personal people, mixed with old Charleston stories make an excellent tour.

Rosa Morgan

One of my favorite places in Charleston. So uniquely preserved eerily beautiful

MizzSchitz Fitzadame

Its Good for tourist who come and join plantation tours

Sarah Morton

You can do a self guided audio tour or a tour guide. We used the tour guide and she was wonderful! Very knowledgeable and passionate about the history in the house.

Tray Schaeffer

It was an odd experience. I understand the case for preserving vs restoration. But when a site is in really really rough shape, like this one, it fails to convey the grandeur that once was. That said, the art gallery is restored beautifully.

Rich Burdett

Well organized and thought out tour. Very informative and engaging.

Lisa Schweizer

1. This house is preserved as it was donated, with no restoration. While this does make it unique, it also was less interesting to my family than other house museums. We felt that the situation as presented made light of the comparison between the harshness of life for the previously enslaved workforce in comparison with the wealth and luxury of the Aiken- Rhett families. This was done by leaving the workers' quarters at the height of their dismal comfort and decoration, while also showing the owners' quarters at their lowest state. 2. The tour through the museum is done through an app rather than a live docent. In some ways this works well, as information is consistent and thorough. 3. Often though, the app itself is a problem as it skips through multiple sessions. This is a problem as the app does not allow fast forwarding or rewinding, so it is time consuming to return to the point you are looking for. I kept losing track of which app chapter I was supposed to be in.

Jenna Boron

My mom and I aren’t “history buffs” but we both really enjoyed this!! The audio guide allows you to go at your own pace throughout each space and room of this preserved house. The way the audio is set up really allows you to imagine what life was life for these people. Definitely a must see!!

Michelle Hebberd

Haunting authentic antebellum tour. If you only have time for one home your, this should be the one. If you have time for more than an one, finish with this one.

Jonathan Townsley

Liked every part of the tour. The audio mp3s were very useful too in that you could enjoy at your own pace. I really learned a lot from the visit and would recommend it to any visitor of Charleston.

airbagabe

Neither too long nor too short. Informative self-guided tour.

Ben Farrell

Very interesting authentic look at life long ago.

Mandy Bass

This was a nice stop on a historic walking day. It is quite the uber drive away from downtown, but it is half-off admission with a receipt from the Nathaniel Russel House tour in downtown. Unlike others, this house is not restored. It has been preserved from its original day in use, so there is no AC. Part of the walking tour is outside, so be sure to bring water and bug spray. They also do not let you carry any types of purses or bags because they want to keep everything in as good condition as possible. They have lockers for you to store your things for free. The nice part about this tour is that it is self guided with a little audioset and headphones. You can go at your own pace while learning about each of the 18 rooms.

Andrew Saluti

Very interesting to learn about slavery in this house. The slave quarters were probably the most interesting part of the tour. The test of the house has never been restored but preserved which means they protect the historic wallpaper and paint. It looks like a house out of a scary movie which was actually pretty cool. The iPod tour headsets were great.

Robyn Schrimsher

Great house and tour guides offering many unique insights. If you are visiting Charleston, the house tours in Charleston are well worth the time and money. Put at the top of your list of to dos!

Terra Mathis

Beautiful

Jeff Sullivan

Self paced and self guided tour with audio. Not refurnished so the house mostly represents how it originally looked. Pair this tour with the Nathaniel Russell house to get a discount.

Maria Grimes

A lot of history

Tena Storgaard

This house was really far from the rest of historical district. This house needs alot of restoration done to it. It was nice to be able to walk through the slave quarters, and the kitchen and stables. The fine arts room was very well maintained. The audio tour was helpful and was very well done.

Diana Warren

The house was the former home of Governor William Aiken who was one of the largest slaveholders in South Carolina. Unlike the Nathaniel Russell House or the Edmonston Allston House, the Aiken Rhett House is in the process of being preserved, as opposed to being restored. The furniture is old and falling apart and the paint on the walls is cracking off, but I think this is one of the neat things about the house. It was haunting to walk through, particularly visiting the former quarters of the enslaved. Instead of a guided tour, there is a comprehensive audio tour which includes commentary by a history professor at the College of Charleston and one of the preservationists of the house. N.B. There is no air conditioning at the Edmonston Allston House so a visit earlier in the morning is probably best.

Pedro Alejandro Chávez S

Historic place of Charleston

Jeff Cohn

As if time stood still...imagine the occupants left and you are able to look into the time capsule that remains. Excellent view into the past; not restored, just preserved.

seanomatopoeia

I have been to many, many historic houses and museums in my life, but none were like Aiken-Rhett. Typically, the house is immaculately restored and spotless, so you see exactly what the house looked like at its peak. Not so for Aiken-Rhett. Here, you see what hundreds of years can do to a house. The paint is chipping, entire parts of walls have fallen apart, but the old grandeur is still there. The architecture is incredible, and many original pieces of furniture (which are generally in far better shape than the rooms) remain inside. This is a must-see for anyone with an interest in historical preservation and restoration, as you see exactly what the Before looks like, compared to the hundreds of After examples. Highest of recommendations.

A Martin

Governor's mansion. Tour by audio. Personable greeters willing to provide additional information and point out features in the rooms etc. Helped to paint a picture of the time period. Several buildings and courtyard to see.

Andre Baskin

Walked forty five minutes to get there and they wouldn't let us in due to heat advisory! Don't go on a hot day!

Pat Idel

Well worth the money very enjoyable tour and beautiful house. It was an honor to visit.

Dave Miller

Unrestored home, but the slave quarters and grounds are quite interesting.

Samantha Bingham

Rude employees....we left before the tour ever begun.

Paul Horstmann

Great experience. Preservation vs. restoration.

Heidi Benson

I absolutely love the historic areas. They close at 5 so make sure to go early so you're not rushed.

Ole Johnson

It is a conservation museum as opposed to a restoration museum, also it had audio guided tour so you got more info and had "bonus" info that made it extra nice.

Chris

A fabulous museum, not to be missed. The house is preserved, not restored, so what you see is a house with its original features plus the changes made by the family over the course of two hundred years. The audio guide is terrific and gives great emphasis to the stories of the enslaved people who lived, worked and died there as well as the family who owned it. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Laurie Pitman

Great self guided exhibit.

Ashley Braquet

By far, the most interesting house museum in Charleston. The interpretation is quite avant-garde in that they decided to leave the house to deteriorate in place. They haven't airconditioned it to an inch of its life, they haven't tried to match tapestries and furniture. Instead it is left as it was when the last generation of the family lived in the house which was during the 70s, I believe. It's something special. A must see!

Simon Bromberg

Interesting house and grounds, with some clear historical value but not exactly a must-see for Charleston. I appreciate that there's value in preservation versus restoration, but it makes for a less interesting experience for typical visitors. The house comes with a free audio guide you can either access through an app or devices they give you, but there are no docent-led guides. Audio guides are ok, but you can't ask them any questions and it's not as engaging. When we went you weren't allowed onto the balcony, so most of the time we were just inside the building with not that much to see. Given it's a bit out of the way, I would not really recommend visiting here for the average person.

J Howard

The attempt to maintain it in a way that not only shows it's beautiful character, but also displays the house unrestored gives a better experience of what the house truly was without it appearing to be a "new" old house.

Danielle Shelton

One of the best historic home tours I've ever been on, and I've been on many.

Skip Rockett

Very nice. Mostly closed for the hot temps the day we visited

Amy Pfaffman

Great audio tour and original furniture tell the story of the family who built the house and lived there for generations.

Jeff Steinmiller

Amazing example of the spectrum of plantation life as well as the rise and fall of family wealth. The house is preserved rather than restored so you get a sense of both the grandeur and the decay. It is a self-guided tour with either headsets or the script. You can use their devices or stream to your own phone. Third floor is the only section you can't see. Worth the visit.

Henry Coggins

Wow! What a walk back in time. Preserved as much as possible with the very old original furnishings. Use the ipod walk tour that is self directed and very informative. America's dark past with slavery is exposed for what it is.

Karen Lane Marr

This is a no frills self guided tour which can be wonderful because you can explore the mansion and grounds without being confined to a group. The house and outbuildings give you a sense of what antebellum living was like in the city. You may find the art collection the Aikens acquired in life interesting or the house and items from the same era. Lots to see and explore!

Randy Markland

Very different perspective on restoration and preservation. Also enjoyed the heavy emphasis on the enslaved.

Linda Lee

A beautiful but sad part of our history. The architecture of control.

Angel Saucedo

Very interesting tour, you will have to use your imagination to invision how it was during the 17 & 1800s, but I thought it was a good tour.

Thomas Fenrich

Impressively preserved example of antebellum living. Amazing to learn that some parts of the house were occupied into modern times!

Andrew Miller

The physical spaces themselves, the history they represent, and the vaguely Grey Gardens-esque way the home came to be preserved....it's all really memorable. Not at all crowded the day we went...I get the sense this isn't Charleston's busiest historic house.

Mehraneh Mehr

I loved it because they kept the original house with the original furniture and you listen to the audio guide in our own paste.

Noah Burke

Beautiful on the outside and unique in this inside this home has been through 3 renovations and thus shows three periods of architecture all in one home. While audio tours are the standard format of the home it still provides rich information and stories about the home.

Will Chatham

An interesting glimpse into life in the 1800's. The audio tour was decent, but it definitely cuts out conversation with the people you are with. On the other hand, it was surrealistically entertaining to watch the other visitors slowly and silently walking around the property, like automatons being controlled remotely by some unseen hand.

Ary Ross

Very interesting house a bit outside of downtown, preserved in its current state (and not restored), and still has its backyard with slaves' quarters and carriages'. Great self-guided audio tour. Would definitively recommend!

Chester Naleway

Very neat little tour. As the website description states, really everything is left in the state it was found with perhaps exception of the art gallery area. The $12 entry comes with a guided audio tour that walks you through the property and tells the story of the family, history, and renovations this home has been through. Will warn that part of this has you your outside. Also note that most of the home has no air conditioning (exception being the gallery area) but they do place fans throughout to help with air flow.

Hans Schweizer

1. This house is preserved as it was donated, with no restoration. While this does make it unique, it also was less interesting to my family than other house museums. We felt that the situation as presented made light of the comparison between the harshness of life for the previously enslaved workforce in comparison with the wealth and luxury of the Aiken- Rhett families. This was done by leaving the workers' quarters at the height of their dismal comfort and decoration, while also showing the owners' quarters at their lowest state. 2. The tour through the museum is done through an app rather than a live docent. In some ways this works well, as information is consistent and thorough. 3. Often though, the app itself is a problem as it skips through multiple sessions. This is a problem as the app does not allow fast forwarding or rewinding, so it is time consuming to return to the point you are looking for. I kept losing track of which app chapter I was supposed to be in.

Ron Buck

Takes you back in time. Really makes you think about what it was like back then.

Carly McGinn

We loved the way the home is preserved; it hasn’t been “restored”, but rather is maintained to stay in the state it was found. This means you can see layers of paint and enjoy the patina of the aging materials. It really is incredible how it feels so much more alive with history when you get to experience a place that doesn’t have a museum-like “perfection”. We loved every minute of the tour, and the guided headsets were a very informative and interesting.

Kashimori

Place is very rough and not restored. Left-over battle-gray paint from Wes Craven filming in one of the better rooms. Self-guided audio devices were the WORST. Hang around your neck and when you reach for it to click to the next chapter you accidentally touch the screen which screws it up. Staff were constantly having to reset the devices. They don’t tell you until AFTER you pay that bags have to go in lockers and you have to surrender a driver’s license before you can tour. Young staff was nice but narrative on audio tour was lame and supporting iPad in one room didn’t provide promised view. Wouldn’t have wasted my time had I known all this up front.

Alex McCommon

Informative audio tour, cool relics, and insanely nice staff. Awesome experience overall.

Sandi Sigler

Very interesting and a lot of information on slave ms lives

Jay Kornder

Beautiful home and interesting history.

Jayne Phillabaum

Some rich history and so much has been done to preserve the history within the place.

sandra milford

Self tour, interesting. Some may not appreciate this is a preservation not a restoration. Full of some wonderful Charleston history.

Mary Medico

Hot in there and tour with iPhone was way too long.

Andrew Lih

Are seven stars possible? It was an unexpected delight at the end of a trip to Charleston with two boisterous 8 year old boys in tow. We were entirely ready to put the kids in a corner to watch Youtube while the parents quickly toured the house. But to our surprise, the staff offered the adults and kids full-screen iPods with headphones as the entire house tour was self-directed using on-demand audio chapters in an app. (Even better, the tour was simply an app you could download on your own phone or device. More on the implications later.) The kids loved it because, well, it was a gadget. But it also gave them agency in choosing what to do, and an intimacy in hearing the narrator talk about the history and directing you to walk to a certain room or a corner of the house. They didn't have to "behave" and listen to a docent and were given the freedom to explore. What's striking is how the tour immediately starts with the working quarters and the life of the "enslaved people" (not "slaves"). This immediately strikes you as a harsh truth behind the beautiful outside appearance of a mansion in Charleston. The kids were totally engaged, wandering from place to place, listening intently and even playing all the extra optional content. They would take off the headphones and excitedly tell the parents about what they learned – about the enslaved children who lived there, the extreme heat from cooking and prep, and how it was illegal to teach the enslaved how to read. Just the fact that the kids have the term "enslaved people" embedded in their memory is a huge win. The fact that the house is preserved but not restored to some former glory is a huge plus. The audio narration did an incredible job describing the nuances of this and the benefits from an historical perspective. In all, we stayed there for about two hours and hit every single nook of the historical house. But that's not all. The kids couldn't stop talking about what they learned, and they even asked to download the app so they could listen to the narration again after we left. (Historic Charleston Foundation app on iPhone) On the 5+ hour drive back home leaving Charleston, they wanted to listen to all the narration again. For the next few nights, they wanted to hear to the house tour as their bedtime listening before sleeping. They talked about the visit at school and kept bragging about the experience to their friends. Bravo, staff of Aiken-Rhett House – You found a way to engage both adults and kids with the exact same audio tour content, which allowed for a deep, personalized understanding of the complexities of life in that era. It is by far the most effective audio tour I have ever experienced and I'm hoping other museums can learn from it build on your amazing work.

Paula Shawber

Lots of history here. I loved walking through this home. ❤️

Nushrat Humaira

Self guided tour was pretty awesome. This house is part of historic charleston foundation and buying the combo ticket for this house and nathaniel-russell house(meeting street) is a better option.

Devin Sallenger

This is a beautiful historic home that you can experience through a self guided tour, because it is self guided I would not recommend for small children since there isn't much to keep their interest.. I recommend parking in a parking area downtown then walking to the House, depending upon which garage you park at it's a super short walk plus the House is located in a beautiful area. Once you walk up to the door it will either be open or you ring a bell and someone will assist you(part of the tour crosses in front of the door so they do this for safety purposes). You pay at a register, you are given an MP3 player, and then put your things in a free locker and take the key with you on the tour so you don't have to worry about anyone taking anything. An employee instructs you on how to use the player and you are off on the tour. In my opinion a self guided tour is so nice because you can stop the tape to read plaques and look at the different artifacts or architecture in the rooms. Overall, it is a beautifully maintained home full of history and lots of cool things to look at.

Sofia Rojas

Preserved 1820 house amazing! a must see

Kim Wood

Entering this historic home is like walking through a veil of time. Especially poignant was walking through the slave quarters.

Meghan Reino

A must see! The recorded tour walks you through a day in the life of everyone that would have lived on this compound back in time. Well done!!

Tiffany Blackwell

Love this home tour! My favorite in Charleston! You must do the headset audio tour to really get the most out if it! Love to see it hasn't been redone up but really feels like stepping back in time without feeling bare. Just steps away from the visitors center and Charleston Museum. I try and take all of my guests in town downtown for this home tour.

Melissa McMillen

We really enjoyed our tour. The staff was super friendly. Our 6 and 9 year olds enjoyed it as well. Kids were given a scavenger hunt that we all enjoyed. Self-guided audio tour was very informative. Quite an experience to walk through the house and slave quarters.

Dan Bandi

It's ok if you're into it. It's not anrestored house it is preserved so the house is run down as you would expect. The audio tour is interesting but not great.

Stephanie Mowrey

This house is different from many of the ones in Charleston in that they've chosen to preserve the house rather than restore it. This means that they preserve it in the condition in which they acquired it; they don't restore it back to a certain time period. This makes it quite unique and well worth the visit. A self-guided audio tour is provided and does a great job of portraying both the lives of the enslaved as well as the white people who lived in the main house.

LaToya Johnson

Walking through this preserved house and slave quarters really takes you back in time.

Eric Krueger

True history in Charleston

J Murray

Really looked forward to touring this historic mansion. We arrived at 4:01pm (10/3/19) to be told that they had just closed (website indicated 5:00pm). The gentleman politely told us that they had just closed. I assume that the last tour had just started, but was still disappointed :(.

edeggs

Cool old mansion. Highly recommend

Skipp McDonald

Very cool!

heather jefferis

Seeing a historic home in a preservation vs. Restoration style was very interesting. If you are an architecture interested person you will love it.

Hannah Payette

Amazing building and information. It takes a little over an hour and has several stairs but not hard to walk around area.

Laura Krier

A wonderfully detailed audio tour of an amazing historic property. I appreciate the preservation choices they are making...but it’s still hard to see this beautiful structure unrestored. Still, well worth a visit and especially interesting in contrast with the Nathaniel Russell house.

Mary Keuler

The history is amazing.