Holiday House Tours
Nov. 16 - Dec. 30
Holiday Tours
Make your holidays historic!
Experience the holiday season with Historic Columbia on a guided holiday tour of the Robert Mills House and the Hampton-Preston Mansion!
Guests are invited to see a variety of holiday decorations and experience traditions in both historic homes between Wednesday, Nov. 16 and Friday, Dec. 30. Tour guides will provide stories of holidays past in Columbia and discuss how families decorated and entertained during the 19th century.
At the Robert Mills House, guests will see how a home of its size might have been decorated in the 1820s during the time before Christmas trees were popular. Across the street at the Hampton-Preston Mansion, Christmas of the 1850s was very different from today, but some current holiday traditions have their roots from this time. Eggnog, poinsettias and Christmas trees were all part of the Victorian era holidays. Guests will have the opportunity to view artifacts and learn about holiday traditions involving Christmas, Hanukah, and New Year Celebrations.
Plan Your Visit
- Admission includes a guided tour of both the Robert Mills House and the Hampton-Preston Mansion. Tours will be offered Wednesday – Saturday at 12 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Visit The Gift Shop at Robert Mills, located at 1616 Blanding Street, to purchase admission and begin your tour.
- Tickets are $18/adult and $15/youth and can be purchased at the gift shop. HC Members receive free holiday tour admission!
- Tours are approximately one hour and 15 minutes in length.
- There will be no standard tours of the Robert Mills House and Hampton-Preston Mansion during holiday tour dates. The holiday tour is your only option for these two homes, but you can take standard tours of the Mann-Simons Site, Museum of Reconstruction at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home, and Modjeska Monteith Simkins House.
- The historic homes are located adjacent to one another, but guests will have to walk between them. Please note guests with mobility issues will not be able to experience the full house tours as there are stairs in both exhibits.
Holiday Closures
Please note Historic Columbia is closed for tours on the following dates in observance of the holidays:
- Friday, Dec. 23 - No 1:30 p.m. or 3:00 p.m. tour
- Saturday, Dec. 24
- Sunday, Dec. 25
- Monday, Dec. 26
- Tuesday, Dec. 27
- Friday, Dec. 30 - No 1:30 p.m. or 3:00 p.m. tour
- Saturday, Dec. 31
- Sunday, Jan. 1
- Monday, Jan 2
To schedule a group tour, call 803.252.1770 x 23 or email reservations@historiccolumbia.org.
Become a Member and Save!
Holiday house tours are free for Historic Columbia members. Join today!
