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The Henderson Street parking lot adjacent to the Robert Mills House is closed until further notice. Please utilize free street parking and enter the property via Blanding Street.

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Historic Columbia

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House Tours

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Historic Columbia

House Tours

We offer house tours Wednesday through Saturday | 10:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. and Sunday | 1:30 - 3 p.m. Tours begin at Historic Columbia's Welcome Center, 1616 Blanding Street.

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House Tours. Door Image.

History's home. Step inside.

In the Capital City, history isn’t something you stand back and study. It’s something you step into and explore.

Across five historic houses (and two centuries), Historic Columbia invites you past the façade and into the rooms where this city took shape. From the early 1800s to the Civil Rights Movement, see the places where our story unfolded — not behind glass or on a screen, but from room to room.

Join us for a guided tour in the heart of the Robert Mills Historic District, open Wednesday through Saturday | 10:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. and Sunday | 1:30 - 3 p.m.

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Tour Options

Weds - Sun: 3 p.m.

Journey to Freedom

Experience a combined tour of the Mann-Simons Site and the Modjeska Monteith Simkins House to learn more about Black history in Columbia.

Weds - Sat: 12:00 p.m. | Sun: 1:30 p.m.

Robert Mills House & Gardens

One of five National Historic Landmarks in Columbia. Architect Robert Mills designed the Washington Monument and other prominent buildings.

Weds - Sat: 10:30 a.m. | Sun: 3 p.m.

Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens

Explore the lives of enslaved workers and their planter-class owners at this mansion, one of Columbia's oldest surviving structures.

Weds - Sun: 1:30 p.m.

Museum of Reconstruction Era

Home to a 14-year-old Woodrow Wilson, this house is the nation's only museum dedicated to the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, and South Carolina's only presidential site.

Weds – Sun: 3 p.m.

Mann-Simons Site

A collection of commercial and domestic spaces owned and operated by the same African American family from at least 1843 until 1970.

Weds – Sun: 3 p.m.

Modjeska Monteith Simkins House

Home to Modjeska Monteith Simkins, one of South Carolina's greatest human rights advocates, from 1932 until her death in 1992.

Frequently Asked Questions

Curious about the House Tour experience? Get the info you need here, plus details about our Welcome Center, Gardens, and beyond.

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Getting to Historic Columbia

There is a free museum parking lot for Historic Columbia visitors. It is located on the 1600 block of Henderson Street, between Taylor and Pickens streets. Historic Columbia's Welcome Center is immediately adjacent to this lot. There is also free street parking nearby; after parking, please enter the Robert Mills House and Gardens through any open gate and make your way to the welcome center.

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Robert Mills House & Gardens Access Map

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Historic Columbia

© 2026 Historic Columbia

Administrative Offices
1601 Richland Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Tours
All historic house and garden tours start at the Welcome Center at Robert Mills.
1616 Blanding Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Questions? Call (803) 252-7742.

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