Joseph Manigault House — Attraction in Charleston

The house is right across the street from the Charleston Museum so you can park for free (don't get used to it in Charleston) and walk over to it. The house has lots of interesting artifacts and has had lots of restoration. Unfortunately for us our tour guide was not interested in talking about the objects in each of the rooms but wanted to go over philosophical theories she had on the family that lived in the house. She would make a great college professor but as a tour guide she left a lot to be desired. The group we were in would go back to rooms after we left it to read the descriptions of the objects as our guide never spoke about them at all - she even skipped a room entirely. The entire tour was supposed to be around 35 minutes and she spent 20 minutes in the first room. When her time was up she told us we could find our way downstairs and leave, and when we did, we were turned away from the velvet roped door labeled exit and were told to leave through the entrance. We heard from a mom and daughter pair at the next house we toured that they didn't tour this house as no one would answer the bell or let them in. Highly disappointed but you might fare better with a different tour guide. Be sure to walk the perimeter of the outside of the house as there are some interesting things to see...

A beautiful house from 1805 with an interesting history. It gives you a feeling for how life was (at least of the very wealthy). The building was slated to be torn down several times and has taken much abuse, but has been restored tastefully, without making it look new. Unfortunately, the slave quarters are no longer there, so you can't see how all the inhabitants lived. You get a small peak, seeing the back stairs, only used by slaves and children.

One amazing gem is a chest of drawers which while being restored, was found to contain the hidden signature of the man who made it, dated October 18th, 1805 in beautiful handwriting. What's amazing, is that the craftsman was a known person, a freed slave working in a shop as an employee, who against the rules (for white or black craftsmen), hid his name for posterity, only to be discovered during restoration 200 years later. I'll leave a photo of his signature, but you can see the piece of...

Across the street from The Charleston Museum, the Joseph Manigault House is a stately manor home restored to its quasi-original status. While a pleasant overall tour, what totally stood out to us, was the in-depth and insightful tour guide who elaborated on a number of anecdotal tales that tie back to the personage of the owners or the history of the city. Unfortunately we did not get her name as it certainly warrants a call out. The tour normally takes about 30 minutes but because we were a smaller group, it ended up being about an hour. Well worth it! If looking to do a number of house tours we purchased The Charleston Heritage Passport which offered over six homes, the Middleton Plantation the Charleston Museum and few other sites. The passport lasts for five days after it's first use so plan accordingly but we found it was well...