Reynolda House Museum of American Art — Attraction in Winston-Salem

The one star is not a reflection of the Reynolda House and Museum. That would be a 5 star review. What a beautiful estate! So full of history and well maintained. The rose gardens were absolutely breath taking. The village was a wonderful place to window shop. The Dough-Joe coffee and doughnut shop is a must! For these reasons, I would be a return visitor.

The one star rating stems from why I would not go again. My two adult daughters took me to The Reynolda House as a birthday surprise on Saturday 05/20/2023. We arrived at 09:30, right around opening time. My two grand daughters ages 5 and 7 also came along. The two women at the front desk were so nice and helpful. They would be 5 stars. It is what happened afterwards that completely ruined what was to be memorable and fun time with my family.

As the 5 of us were in a large room reading historical details when a guard approached me. I thought he was going to talk with me about the museum. NO. He advised me that backpacks are not allowed in the museum, due to "bumping into other people." Besides the 5 of us, there were only 2-3 other folks in the large room. I thought he was joking. My "backpack" is a small "Loungefly" backpack purse. Dimensions of 10.5x9x4 inches. He said I could wear it on my chest or on my shoulder. I am always aware of my surroundings and others around me, I would know if I was going to bump someone. None the less, I complied.

As we walked further into the museum, the guard person was always within view of us. IN EVERY AREA. As we entered the serving area, one daughter touched a table chopping block. I also touched it, as there were NO Do Not Touch signs posted on or around it. This guard person swooped in and berated us for touching the chopping block and told us we were seen doing so on camera. This is where I had a hard time staying calm. Further into the serving area, there were Do Not Touch signs. BUT NONE IN THE AREA THAT WE WERE AMBUSHED.

After that incident, my daughters and I were on high alert as to we were being watched and followed (stalked). This guard person (stalker) followed us into every room, watching every move we made. One of my daughters was talking with her daughter about the old organ and how it worked. They had squatted down to see the pedals on the organ. Well, stalker guard was standing right behind them as they went to stand up. My grand daughter was going to place her hand on the bench to help with standing up. Her Mom saw the guard and pulled her daughter's hand away from the bench. She felt horrible for doing so. But it was as if we had a vulture on our shoulders (the guard). Later on, when this same grand daughter saw the guard person enter a room we were in, she stepped behind her Mom to hide from him. THAT IS A SHAME!!!

No matter where we went, he followed. We were so unnerved and uncomfortable it was ridiculous. I am in law enforcement, I know what surveillance looks like. Which is exactly what the 5 of us were under from the moment we stepped into that first large room. And granted my grand daughter's are aged 5 and 7. But, at no time were either of them rowdy, loud, destructive or a nuisance.

As we were leaving for the day, we returned to the front desk area to use the restrooms. Lo and behold, I looked back and there was the stalker guard behind us, at the elevator. My "backpack" was on my back. And this time I was prepared if he had approached me again about it. He stepped onto the elevator and was gone. We talked about the visit to the museum and all agreed, we have never felt so unwelcome and treated with such disdain. We read previous reviews of the museum and learned we are not the first group of visitors to have such a negative experience.

Whether it was the stalker guard himself or he was being directed by a security camera room attendant jerk, this treatment of museum visitors is ridiculous. What should have been a wonderful, memory making trip was ruined. We had traveled round trip over 3 hours to visit the museum, only to be followed around and treated as if we were shoplifters...

The home, gardens, art, front desk staff and older male volunteer were all amazing.  I would give it 5 stars except that our visit was completely spoiled by one middle aged lady (not sure if she was a volunteer or an employee) who was absolutely insufferable.

My wife, mother-in-law, and myself went to visit for the first time today.  After a very pleasant experience checking in we walked into the main home.  Immediately after walking in an older middle aged woman ran up to us saying "ma'am, Ma'am, MA'AM,you have to put that water bottle away NOW".  The thing is, it was not even open and my mother-in-law was actually in the process of putting it into her purse while we were conversing over the first painting.  Additionally, the woman then gave us a lecture on not touching the exhibits and not entering any roped off areas.  These are things that we had not done or would ever do.  We had literally just walked in before we were greeted by this hostel woman.  We were dressed casually but nicely and gave no indication that we were unfamiliar with standard museum/gallery etiquette.  My mother-in-law has a Master's degree in classical literature, my wife went to SCAD, and I am a 40 year old senior quality analyst for a company in the top 15 of the Fortune 500 list.  We are all professional adults.  From that point forward we were stalked through the museum by this woman and a member of security.  At one point we were in the back butlers pantry where the vases are displayed and I laid my hand on a counter top (that had absolutely no signage indicating any historical significance or prohibition to touch....its a counter top) and the security guard rushed over to again lecturer us about touching.  Later, when my mother-in-law had trouble going up the stairs to the second floor we were invited to use the elevator.  As soon as we got off, the woman approached us lecturing us that if it weren't for COVID we never would have been allowed on it alone.  After that we were looking at a painting and my wife pointed at a feature and the woman once again rushed us telling us to "STAND BACK".  My wife's fingertip was at least 18 to 24 inches away from the surface of the painting.  I asked the woman what the problem was since we had been advised by her previously that this was the appropriate distance and she replied "you are on camera and you are making the office people nervous".  At that point we decided to just leave.  In my entire lifetime of visiting museums, galleries, and historic homes I have never been made to feel less welcome than I was made to feel here.  It turned what should have been a pleasant cultural experience into a customer service horror story that I will be telling for years.  It was awful.  I should have read the reviews before we went because this is apparently a common experience here and seems to rest solely at the feet of this woman.  Again, everyone but her was wonderful and this would have been 5 stars if...

A Black Family trying to view the art of their heritage, at a black exhibit, during Black history month, while being SCOWLED at and FOLLOWED by two White Women... IMAGINE THAT!

One of my favorite things to do is go to museums with my husband. We have continued to do so, even now that we have babies. We recently relocated from L.A to Winston. Yesterday, my husband decided to take us to Reynolda, since they were featuring black art, this month. I'm very intuitive, and from the moment we got out of our car, I felt anxious. Just a feeling, but I did my best to ignore it.

When we entered the museum, my toddler became cranky, so I told my husband, let's just come back another day. However, the women at the front desk were VERY nice, and made us feel welcome. All downhill from here. First, we had to leave our stroller in the lobby, which was a huge inconvenience. I carried my baby in one hand, and my husband held our toddlers hand.We went downstairs to see the artwork of Stephen Towns. It was maybe only 1 other person in this section besides us, but they had three people guarding the section. We couldn't even enter the room before one of the older white women told my husband to take the baby bag off his back and wear it in front. The black security male was very kind and relaxed, though. Every time we blinked this white women followed us and stared. Then my toddler started to get antsy, but my husband never let him go. Another white woman ( worker) came around and gave us this demeaning scowl. By this time my toddler had started to cry because he wanted to walk but my husband wouldn't put him down. I told my husband let's just leave. But PLEASE know, these women would have definitely gotten a few words from me had I not been in full mommy mode. None of the stalking was warranted.We were No where NEAR the art, in which we were in danger of damaging anything.

We have been to 100s of museums, with more expensive artwork, and more patrons, but NEVER treated this way. The irony of it all was that it was a black history exhibit, being patrolled by scowling white women. I was disgusted. To be honest, the entire energy of this place is stuffy and entitled, even before you step inside.

From the reviews, it's clear that Reynolda is pleased with their guests being treated this way, or they would be altering the experience. I am only writing this review to warn others, to choose other, and skip this one. It isn't worth the way they treat you and...