Robert Mills House and Gardens — Attraction in Columbia

I can only speak for the "Christmas Tour" and I will not ever do that tour again. First the garden on the grounds is lovely and the buildings are just an interesting buildings. I have no idea if the buildings have polical or social significance. It never came up on the tour. Christmas tour gets both houses but not up stairs. The women who ran gift shop was very nice and friendly. I wished she would have lead my tour.

First at over 20 bucks a person there is no reason to have tours by unprofessional volunteers. I am assuming the tour guide was a volunteer as they were unprepared and offensive. So offensive i had to walk away. The tour guide kept referring to historical people in the town as that "Jewish Guy". Even though I assume the tablet they had with them had the name on it. Even if it didn't learn the person's name if you plan on taking about them. Referring to someone as the Jewish shop owner or the Jewish mayor is RIDICULOUSLY OFFENSIVE.

By the way all I learned was that Christmas decorations in the 1820 was go outside and grab something from the yard. Direct quote from my tour guide.

This was not my first historical home tour but it might be my last for a while. Ps I never been on a tour with not one photo was taken by...

I toured all four of the Historic Columbia houses, and I started with the Robert Mills house, though the Hampton Preston across the street is my favorite of all four. Robert Mills is my next favorite - fantastically restored and preserved, and I love how they have it all set up - especially down stairs in the kitchen, with biscuit flour and a cracked egg on the floor (all pretend, of course.) There's a beautiful symmetry and curves to Mill's work (he's the architect, no one family actually lived there in the end, though it was used for other things.) I love the curved front hall and rooms.

I think the tours pre-covid were more guided. The guides told me that they were supposed to stand in the hall while visitors read the plaques, but most of them couldn't help themselves and stood in the door and told me all about everything anyway. Plus, I was the only person on three out of the four tours I took, so I think they were generally more casual.

Also, you get a discount the more tours you take - they came to recognize me over the week I visited, so I paid anywhere from $7-10 for each of my tours.

EDIT - don't sleep on the monthly garden tours, they are really informative and...

Went for the holiday tour which includes Robert Mills House and Hampton-Preston Mansion. The holiday tours include the history of celebrating the holiday season in the Southern United States from the 1820s through the mid-Victorian Era (1850s). Both homes are decorated in the style of their respective time periods, although, the tours do not include the regular full home tours. To experience the entire tour including upper levels of the residences, plan to come back after the holiday season. I especially enjoyed the history of how celebrating the New Year holiday led to observing Christmas and exchanging gifts. For example, did you know that Christmas decorations that we use today are inspired by natural decorations brought in from a home's garden mixed with exotic fruits? I also appreciated how Historic Columbia integrated experiences of enslaved people at these and similar Southern properties. Learn these facts and more by participating in a holiday tour at the Robert Mills House and...