The Aiken-Rhett House Museum is a museum that you must visit while in Charleston. The tour starts with an enlightening introduction the the life of a slave living in a wealthy household during this time and what you learn will shock you. The house has been preserved to show you exactly what things were like at that time. The historical Charleston society has developed an app that can be used with this tour to take you into a deep dive of everything. So make sure you download this before your visit. The museum also has little audio guides you can get to walk though everything but I prefer to just download the app.

This was a very enlightening tour that I believe everyone visiting Charleston should take while in town. We enjoyed it a lot! The staff is very friendly and informative.

This museum was awesome...This was one of the best places in town...The house was very easy to navigate and the downloaded app was very descriptive...Beautiful place!

Excellent audio tour. This house is different for two reasons. First it is preserved instead of restored. So the house definitely has features from the 1800s but you also get to see it becoming more modern, you get see different layers of time throughout the house. Second and more important it focuses first on the household majority, those who were enslaved, the people who were treated as if they were invisible and expendable in their lifetime. If you arent from the south, like me, this is eye opening, and definitely worth an hour or two.

The Aiken-Rhett house was amazing! It has been preserved instead of restored, which I very much prefer as there are a lot of original pieces and a lot of time and effort goes into restoring. The art gallery in the home which is original is amazing to see also! Definitely worth the visit! One of my favorite homes in the area that weve visited. The people that work there are also very knowledgeable and friendly!

One of the best home tours in town. Most of all the grounds are intact including the slave quarters and the house is being preserved instead of restored so you get to see more of the original finishes. Its a little more interesting because most houses choose to restore them. The self guided audio tour is nice. Gives you more freedom to skip along so it isnt quite as much of a hostage situation if you end up in a tour group with someone who asks 800 questions.

Beautiful house. No air conditioning but large fans throughout. No guided tours at this time but have recorded your info free to use. Some beautiful furniture. Can take your time to your home.

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.

Very cool. Very informative tour.

Very old but charming amd informative..very surreal feeling as you walk through a 200+ year old house with all original features and so massive...

Grand Mansion outside with authentic carriages and kitchen accessories! Bold strong structure with a aura of power with glow of yellow paint! Inside was not my cup of tea but very interesting but bear bones, naked

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.

Interesting house. Great history. Helpful staff

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.

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.

A must-visit in Charleston. The tour is carefully planned, fascinating, and begins from the perspective of the many enslaved persons who have lived in the home. Would recommend purchasing the Russell House combo to compare a preserved vs. restored home.

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.

Absolutely loved this house. Having visited many historic houses and plantations that are completely unoriginal, we really appreciated that the integrity of this home was kept. The audio tour was a nice touch as well. Please visit if youre in Charleston!!!

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. Its 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.

A fascinating must see. The house is preserved, not restored, and documents the conflict in the South between Unionists, such as governor Aiken, and secessionists, such as his son-in-law Robert Rhett. A lovely art collection stands in contrast to the squalor of the slaves quarters.

Wow! The historical society has done an excellent job of freezing this southern mansion in time. The audio tour was easy to use and came with a huge historical tour of the city itself too! Thoroughly enjoyed myself and learned a lot. A must see in Charleston!

Stopped in at this house and took the self guided audio tour. When you arrive you check in at the desk. They offer where you can use your own phone and listen on an app or use their iPod touches. The audio tour breaks up the rooms into 3-4 minute narrations that paint a picture of what life was like and the history of the house and room. It can get emotional looking back at history. One of the narrators in the outside portion of the tour gives a great summary of how this tour shines a light on the treatment of the slaves relative to other museum tours. It’s very moving. The staff were genuinely welcoming and informative. Thank you for the extra information and for being ambassadors to tourism in Charleston.

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.

We saw a few fine historical homes during our visit to Charleston, but this was our favourite. It wasnt restored to its finest period like the others, but rather, it was preserved at the time when the last owners vacated. By then, the house has given up all pretence toward fanciness - The great halls are still there and the large windows and piazzas, but the walls and floors are now rough, most of the furniture is gone and the paint and wallpaper is peeling. Original lighting had been replaced with functional but disappointing fixtures. But that all made the house feel more alive and more interesting somehow. The highlight, though, as everyone will tell you, is the former slave quarters in the back. Unlike other historical homes whose slave quarters had long been destroyed to make way for gardens or car parks or whatever, this house still had them and the audio tour made sure to focus on them and their former residents with great detail and respect. You should go here.

Seing all of the history preserved was really cool. And I enjoyed having the audio to listen to while we explored

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.

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

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 its 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!

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.

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 its being preserved rather than restored to a particular time in history like most of the houses are, so its not just furniture and China dinner services, like some of the others!

Great example of preserved (NOT restored) architecture. Maintained as it was when it was purchased so be prepared for an empty house in various states of disrepair which is part of the interest and beauty of the property. We bought the combo ticket with the Nathaniel Russell house (which is restored) which gave us a great contrast between restored and preserved history!

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

Great tour. It was nice that it was self guided. You could replay the narration provided and take your time looking at the various rooms of the house. I am amazed that the house survived the hurricanes. Well worth the money.

It would have been a 5 star if they were not so bent on the preservation not restoration idea. The audio tour is good. Still, probably the best historical house in Charleston. There is Calhoun mansion, of course, but thats a very different story.

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 1800s.

If you are going to spend even a few days in Charleston the house tour is a must.

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 didnt have to behave and listen to a docent and were given the freedom to explore.Whats 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 thats not all. The kids couldnt 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 Im hoping other museums can learn from it build on your amazing work.

The Aiken- Rhett House is a wonderful historic tour. It is great to do with the other house tour as well to give you the experience of two museum style/strategies restoration versus preservation. I thought the representation of slave life was exemplary. It is not to be missed on a visit to Charleston.

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.

Very interesting and informative self/audio guided tour. I am glad that they prioritize guiding guests through the slave quarters. It would be easy to try to gloss over the reality of the estates history and hide it behind what is a truly beautiful house, but it would do a disservice to history.

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.

A great stop to gather historical information. The tour is about 1 hr, self guided with headphones. The house is preserved (not restored) so while it is not in its former glory, it is a snapshot into the time.

Original not restored house. Candle tours available.

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.

Very informative tour, appreciated the preserved furnishings and decorations rather than the restored. The volunteers that work there were very friendly and full of interesting information.

This house is different from many of the ones in Charleston in that theyve chosen to preserve the house rather than restore it. This means that they preserve it in the condition in which they acquired it; they dont 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.

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!

Terrible communication. Bought a ticket online, only to get there and find out they are closed throughout the week. They should change this on their voice-mail and website. Tried to get a refund and have yet to here from anyone

Tour is great and everyone was friendly. We didnt have enough time to do the entire guided tour, but would have loved to.

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!!

Such a historic place the tour was very informative and interesting facts that I didnt know. Exceptionally well done.

Loved it, great self guided tour.

4 stars only because parking is about 2 blocks worth of walking (not bad) from the visitors center parking, and Im not as fond of walking around historic houses as my wife is (plus were passholders of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC). However, having said that, it was pretty cool overall and worth the visit if youre on the bubble. You get an audio set to listen to as it guides you through the house and grounds explaining how life was there. Narration is clear, slow and full of facts which helps you visualize things. It takes about 45 minutes or so, and it is not a waste of time, especially if you like history

Our family of five enjoyed it... Even the kids! Historic building built in 1820.

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.

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.

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.

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 ableto 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.

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 hasnt 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.

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.

Fascinating insight to the old South and its history

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.

Governors 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.

With a school trip will have to come back for

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 :(.

Great self guided audio tour. More to the house that cant be seen from the street

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 .

Interesting piece of preserved history! Gives you a good feel of the living conditions of urban slaves.

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. Its amazing how preserved the home is. We took our time and it took almost 2 hours.

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 cant see. Worth the visit.

Fascinating and a well-done self-guided tour ! Beautiful estate with well-preserved architecture, design and furniture.

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.

Really great and informative. Definately worth visiting

It is a very user friendly place. People are informative and helpful.

Really interesting. They go to great lengths to emphasise that it is Preserved not Restored, so a lot of the paint and wallpaper is quite dilapidated, so dont expect perfection.

This by far was a cool way to tour a house. Youre 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.

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

Loved the house. Very interesting to see slave living quarters

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 anyones library.

The tour was very informative.

Interesting house and grounds, with some clear historical value but not exactly a must-see for Charleston.I appreciate that theres 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 cant ask them any questions and its not as engaging.When we went you werent allowed onto the balcony, so most of the time we were just inside the building with not that much to see. Given its a bit out of the way, I would not really recommend visiting here for the average person.

One of the best historic home tours Ive ever been on, and Ive been on many.

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.

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.

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 youd like. Unfurnished, but has photos. Also Includes slave quarters and stables. Gives a good feel for the grand life the owners lived.

Loved it! Dont overlook this amazing gem.

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

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 isnt 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 its 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 dont 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.

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. Americas dark past with slavery is exposed for what it is.

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.

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.

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.

A very neat look into early Charleston life!

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.

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

Very interesting and a lot of information on slave ms lives

10 stars!! Ive 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. Its 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!

Interesting self-guided audio tour.

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.

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!