Carlyle House Historic Park — Attraction in Alexandria

It is hard for me to write this review. I dont usually write negative things, event after many negative experiences. I Have been here multiple times as a wedding, and engagement photographer, and every time I've had a problem working with this venue. Like most venues you are required to have a photography permit, which we always pick up in person as a way to greet the venue staff. This is fine, and we always try to go by the rules. However, some of the staff is incredibly rude every time, not just to me but sometimes to my clients. I am a very soft spoken person, and i never retaliate. I deal with stressful situations all the time as I am a wedding photographer, so this truly is unique to this venue.

During our most recent event we noticed that they had placed a whole bunch of signs for a small story walk which is quite charming, but not for an elopement. We asked if we could remove them, and the person at the front desk said yes. We said we would put them back after the ceremony.

However, right before the ceremony (2 minutes before), a staff member came outside scolding us. Looked up and down at us, and said "no no no, you people are not allowed in here. Do you even have a permit?" As a professional I was astonished, of course we do. Our client booked the event with you, and if we needed an extra permit you never communicated that with them. The person hissed at us like a cat and asked us to immediately place the signs back. Which we did, as we always avide by the rules, but wondering how could a venue allow this? You could tell the stress level on the bride just went nuclear.

To make matters worse, they turned the sprinklers on, during the ceremony. At 2:00 pm. I think this just makes it clear we were not welcome, which is astonishing.

If you are planning to have a wedding or any elopement, I would recommend any of the other places in the DMV. The level of unprofessionalism from the staff will have an impact on your special day. I hope the carlyle house addresses this, as it is a very beautiful and...

The Carlyle House put on their annual Juneteenth Celebration and it was quite simply Awesomely Inspiring. The event was presented in collaboration with C. Alexandria-Bernard Thomas and The Athenaeum. It consisted of museum tours, beautiful gardens, artwork, photography and wonderful Poetry Program.

Just a little background information on Participants:

C. Alexandria- Bernard Thomas is an award-winning poet, teaching artist, advocate for Child Abuse Prevention and the LGBTQIA community, and champions Mental Health Awareness. (And that's in his spare time.) Today he was that rarest of individuals Spectacular Performance/Host/Presenter.

He is expertly supported in the above-mentioned endeavors by his Assistant Molly Rufus, whose main attributes consist of freeing up his time from administrative duties and organizing events so that they can spend maximum time on strategic missions/tasks/and events as they arise.

Poet Simply Sherri is a celebrated author and poet and also hosts several poetry venues between Washington DC and Baltimore, MD

Poet Khalil Houston is an Artist/Spokenword Artist based out of Richmond, VA and has an extreme passion for words.

Enoch The Poet out of Philadelphia, PA is a teacher as well as an award winning poet.

Zeina Azzam is a Palestinian American poet, writer, editor, and community activist. She is currently the Poet Laureate of the City of Alexandria, VA.

Suliman Abdullah is a Washington DC native and Photographer using this medium to express and represent meaningful aspects of humankind.

Camilla Angel is an Artist who expresses mainly Black African American figures in the form of oil paint, acrylic paint, printmaking, gouache, watercolor, and the most recent being quilting.

KUDOS to the Carlyle House for hosting such an Appropriate, Welcoming and Uplifting tribute to African American Culture. I will look forward to future events and encourage everyone to support our multi-talented African American and People of Color Leaders, Visionaries, and Living Paths...

I arrived at 3pm for a tour of the house and I was given such a warm and friendly welcome by Gary. He was so lovely and engaging. It's only 7 dollars to enter and I joined the tour with Paula. You watched a short video on arrival and then the tour begins. There are toilets and a gift shop on site. Paula who led my tour was brilliant. Again so friendly and approachable with any questions. She made the tour even more fun with her bubbly personality whilst providing detailed historic facts. The tour lasted about 30 minutes which was perfect. With time either side to look around the museum and grounds at your leisure. I would definitely recommend this to visit in Old Town Alexandria and I would recommend to my family, friends and colleagues. Thank you to Gary and Paula for offering such a warm welcome to Alexandria. I had a lovely afternoon and...