Aiken-Rhett House Museum, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
The Aiken-Rhett House Museum, c. 1820, is a unique survivor. The house descended in the Aiken-Rhett family for 142 years until it was sold to The Charleston Museum and opened to the public in 1975.
Aiken-Rhett House Museum: 48 Elizabeth St, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Built in 1820 by merchant John Robinson, the Aiken-Rhett House is nationally significant as one of the best-preserved townhouse complexes in the nation. Vastly expanded by Governor and Mrs. William Aiken, Jr. in the 1830s and again in the 1850s, the house and its outbuildings include a kitchen, the original slave quarters, carriage block and back lot. The house and its surviving furnishings offer a compelling portrait of urban life in antebellum Charleston, as well as a Southern politician, slaveholder and industrialist.
Servant’s Hall
The backyard of the house. The two white buildings were for the enslaved people.
The back of the house
Into one of the buildings through the side door, marked Kitchen
The kitchen. The meals are prepared here for the master and themselves.
The next room, the room does not have any windows.
Going upstairs
The hallway. This is where the enslaved people lived and slept.
The room at the end of the hallway. This is the only room that has windows.
Walking back to the other end
A small room without light
The room at the other end of the hallway
Walking back and going downstairs
Out of the building
Go back into the room opposite side of the kitchen on the first floor
Displaying things found on this house site
The second building houses the carriers and the living quarter upstairs.
Inside the stable
The front porch of the main house where the master resided.
The first-floor veranda.
A view from the veranda
Dining Room
The portrait of Mr. Aiken.
Library Room
The backyard from the library room
Go upstairs
A bedroom
The stairs to the third floor, but it is closed.
The second-floor veranda
A view from the second-floor
Another bedroom
Washroom?
Play Room
The art gallery
A portrait of the wife of Mr. Aiken.
