President George Washington stayed in the house during his visit to Charleston in 1791. The three-story brick double house features four rooms plus a central hall on the first floor. The second floor features a drawing room and a smaller withdrawing room in front and two chambers in the rear; additional chambers are found on the third floor. In the 1880s the Fuseler family converted the property to a bakery, radically altering the first floor of the house to include a storefront.
Charleston Map
If you plan to visit the Charleston Museum or the Joseph Manigault House, you can buy combo tickets and save money. A combo ticket for 2 sites will be a savings of $6 and a combo ticket for 3 sites will be a savings of $11. Built in 1772, this Georgian-style double house was the town home of Thomas Heyward, Jr., one of four South Carolina signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Lowcountry Hall
In the Museum’s Armory, see excellent examples of historic weaponry, dating from 1750 to the twentieth century, with uses that ranged from military to more personal applications such as hunting and dueling.
Charleston Silver
This website serves as a permanent digital archive of over 2,300 South Carolina landmarks – and counting. The revolutionary war veteran became involved in politics and served in various branches of government. Heyward also hosted President George Washington during his tour of the country in 1791. The Charleston Museum is pleased to present Kidstory, a fun and exciting, hands-on exhibit for children, where the fascinating history of Charleston and the Lowcountry comes alive. In November 1773, Taylor posted another advertisement, but this time he noted that his shop was across the street from Thomas Heyward’s house. Tradition holds that Daniel Heyward gifted the house to Thomas as a wedding gift.
The Charleston Museum - History and Facts - History Hit
The Charleston Museum - History and Facts.
Posted: Fri, 27 Nov 2020 13:01:21 GMT [source]
At the rear (west) of the house is a little courtyard, formed by the house, a kitchen/laundry/servant’s quarters building, and a carriage house. Further west is a small formal garden of the type popular in the late 18th century. The Heyward-Washington House was built in 1772 by Thomas Heyward Jr., one of the signers of the declaration of Independence. The city rented the house from Heyward for President George Washington’s week-long stay in Charleston in May 1791. The home is furnished with period pieces and the original kitchen is still present and open to the public. Visitors can also tour the formal gardens featuring plants commonly used in the South Carolina Lowcountry in the 18th century.
Heyward had the Milner house leveled and constructed the three-story brick house, which we now know as the Heyward-Washington House. Recent research indicates that the kitchen building and carriage building were erected at approximately the same time as the main house. Lacking modern power tools, such a project would have been highly labor intensive and taken months to complete. First, the Milner house would have to be physically torn down and the debris hauled away by wagon.
In the Natural History gallery you will see an extraordinary array of birds, reptiles and mammals that have called the South Carolina Lowcountry home since prehistory, including contributions from noted naturalists. In the Historic Textiles Gallery, the Museum features regularly rotating exhibits from its rich historic textiles and clothing collection, one of the finest in the southeastern United States. It was acquired by the Museum in 1929, opened the following year as Charleston's first historic house museum, and was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1978. By the end of the nineteenth century, a bakery operating out of the house installed a storefront sales room on the first floor, enlarging the windows and installing a door in the three southernmost bays.
The Charleston Museum will commemorate two major anniversaries over the next two years. January 12, 2023 will mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the museum that would ultimately become The Charleston Museum. This year, we will observe 250 years since the completion of the Heyward-Washington House. Constructed in the heart of what was once the walled city, the location would have been prime real estate even in the 1770s.
President George Washington rented this residence when he stayed in Charleston for a week during his 1791 tour of Southern states. At least two structures predated the Heyward-Washington House, both built by the Milner family. John Milner was a successful gunsmith, who repaired firearms for South Carolina’s colonial government. His son, also John, inherited the property and built a brick two-story house there, but, lacking the business acumen of his father, lost it due to excessive debts. Enter Daniel Heyward, one of the wealthiest rice planters in the colony, who purchased the lot at public auction in 1770, paying 5,500 pounds, the equivalent of $1.03 million today. After retiring from public service, Heyward sold the property to John Grimké, an officer in the Revolutionary War.
The house was purchased in 1929 by The Charleston Museum and restored with the aid of the Preservation Society of Charleston, then known as the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings. It opened the following year as Charleston's first historic house museum. To the rear of the home, a courtyard is created by flanking outbuildings which once were used by slaves to run the household. The building pictured below served as the kitchen, laundry, and slave quarters. Kitchens were located in detached buildings in order to contain a fire if one were to get out of hand. The building across from this served as the carriage house; a formal garden sits beyond the outbuildings.
The property features the only 1740s kitchen building open to the public in Charleston as well as formal gardens featuring plants commonly used in the South Carolina Lowcountry in the late 18th century. The Heyward-Washington House in historic Charleston was the city’s first house museum. The Georgian home was built between 1770 and 1772 by rice planter Daniel Heyward for his son, Thomas Heyward. Thomas Heyward was an artillery officer in the American Revolution, and even more notably, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
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