People who have lived in Charleston a long time always try to persuade their guests to visit the Aiken Rhett house at 48th. Elizabeth Street. The house is huge and it has a story to match. I have distilled it into an essay, Dust and Old Stories, which has appeared in both print and in AWOD's online magazine, Diffrens.
The Historic Charleston Foundation recently purchased the house from the Charleston Museum and has reopened it for tours. Portions of the house will be used as part of a multi-site African American History Museum. Plenty of space will be left in its many rooms for other periods and subjects of history. This was the largest house in Charleston during the war. What makes it remarkable today is that it is nearly unchanged from its 19th. century condition. Early in this century that large portions of the mansion were sealed off and left unvisited and unused for over sixty years. The elderly residents lived in a small portion of the huge house, recluses keeping company with a past so precious to them they refused to open most of the rooms to visitors or the light of day Though stories about the Dill sisters continue to circulate today, they generously bestowed this great house and hundreds of acres of prime property on James Island to be preserved for nature and history, including the site of Ft. Pemberton and a half mile of Civil War entrenchments, on James Island.
The house is open from 10 am to 5 pm Monday through Saturday and from 2 to 5 on Sunday afternoons. The house is closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Admission is $6.00 for adults; the rate for groups (more than 8) is $5.00. A dual ticket with the Russell House is available for $10. For further information E-mail Carter Hudgins of the Historic Charleston Foundation.
We have programed a
Aiken Rhett House
Mapquest Interactive Atlas Link that will give you a map of the houses location.
The heavy presence of history fills these rooms more quietly and completely than anywhere else in the city. Confederate President Jefferson Davis stayed here during his 1863 visit to the city. This was the site of Beauregard's last headquarters in Charleston, being beyond the range of the Federal bombardment. From its upper windows, he could see Sumter as he prepared for the evacuation of Charleston. Former Governor Aiken, the owner of this great house was shackled and imprisoned during the Federal occupation of Charleston. Friends from the North eventually obtained his release.
Visit if you can and listen for the quiet within.
In addition to the Aiken Rhett House, the Historic Charleston Foundation also owns and preserves McLeod Plantation on James Island.
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This page is maintained by William J. Hamilton, III (hamilton@awod.com) using HTML Notepad.
Last updated Sat Nov 02
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