Skip to main content
Menu Close Menu

Historic Columbia

Donate
  • FAQs
Upcoming Events

Navigation

  • Tours
    • House Tours
      • Robert Mills House and Gardens
      • Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens
      • Mann-Simons Site
      • The Museum of the Reconstruction Era
      • Modjeska Monteith Simkins House
      • Hours and Pricing
    • Garden Tours
      • Garden Database
    • Offsite Tours
      • Walking Tours
    • African American History Tours
    • Online Tours
  • Education
    • Field Trips
      • House Tours
    • Traveling Trunk
    • Summer Camp
    • Adult Education
  • Preservation
    • Current Projects and Initiatives
      • Bull Street Campus 
      • Columbia's Green Book Sites
      • Veterans Administration Regional Office
      • Women’s Club of Columbia
    • Preservation Awards
    • Resources for the Public
      • For Property Owners
      • For Neighborhoods
      • Take Action!
    • LGBTQ Columbia
  • Support
    • Corporate Support
    • Donate
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Partners and Donors
  • Rent a Venue
    • Gardens of the Hampton-Preston Mansion
    • Seibels House and Garden
    • Robert Mills Carriage House and Gardens
    • Gardens of the Woodrow Wilson Family Home
    • Weddings
    • Photoshoots
    • Recommended Vendors
    • Contact Us
  • About
    • Blog
    • Board Members
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
    • Gift Shop at Robert Mills
      • Online Store
    • Local History
      • Columbia Jewish Heritage Initiative
    • Newsletter
    • Staff Directory

Donate

The Museum of the Reconstruction Era

background image

Museum of the Reconstruction Era

The Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home is the nation's only museum dedicated to showcasing the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and is housed in South Carolina's only remaining presidential site. Through a multifaceted interpretation, The Museum of the Reconstruction Era interprets Columbia’s late 19th-century history in order to dispel the myths of Reconstruction that are so prevalent in society today.

  • Times & Tickets

    Tours of The Museum of the Reconstruction Era are available: 
    Wednesday – Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. 

    ** Historic Columbia will be closed on Sunday, April 23, 2023. The Gift Shop will be closed and no tours will be offered on this day.

    Tickets may be purchased in advance online up until midnight the day prior to the tour, OR tickets may be purchased the day of the tour at the Robert Mills Gift Shop. All tours begin at the Robert Mills Gift Shop, 1616 Blanding Street; please plan to arrive 10 minutes before your scheduled tour time. Tours are guided and last approximately 60-75 minutes.

  • Location

    1705 Hampton Street 
    Columbia, SC 29201 

    All tours begin at the Gift Shop at Robert Mills. 

  • Rentals

    The Gardens at the Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home are an intimate setting for smaller weddings and corporate events. 

    Venue Pictures and Details

  • Gardens

    Inspired by Italian villas, the Gardens at the Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home are open to the public. Our horticulture experts have cataloged every plant on our six historic properties—view the garden database. 

History

Completed in 1871, this Italian villa-style residence was home to a 14-year-old boy named "Tommy" Woodrow Wilson —the future 28th United States President. During the height of Reconstruction, Wilson's parents built this house, the only one they would ever own. Although the home has changed hands many times since 1874, today it stands as a reminder of the complicated racial history of one of the most misrepresented and misunderstood periods of American history. 

Previously promoted as the “Woodrow Wilson Family Home,” in 2014, Historic Columbia shifted the narrative at the site to explore the racial, social, and political landscape of Columbia and Richland County during the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era (1865-77). Following a nine-year, comprehensive rehabilitation, the site reopened in 2014 with 21st-century exhibits that interpret the racial, social, and political landscape of Columbia and Richland County during the Reconstruction era (1865-77). 

The repositioning of this site allows Historic Columbia to take a more forward-facing role in addressing the ongoing dialogue around the importance of the Reconstruction Era and the connection to current events. It foregrounds Historic Columbia's work on this pivotal era and more directly acknowledges the organization as a resource for those in search of a deeper understanding of this transformative period in American history. Visitors to The Museum of the Reconstruction Era are immersed in the context of Columbia in the 1870s as they explore how Columbia’s 9,297 residents, black and white, navigated the profound political, social and economic changes of Reconstruction. Through panel exhibits, interactive technologies and guided tours, visitors learn that this was a time when African Americans participated in government, founded churches, claimed access to education and negotiated new terms of labor. African American leaders are highlighted throughout the museum, including Charles M. Wilder, one of the first African Americans appointed as postmaster and Richard Greener, first black graduate of Harvard and the first black faculty member at the University of South Carolina, to name just a few. 

Gardens

While little documentation of the original landscape exists, a design inspired by the work of Victorian landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing has been installed. As was typical of houses of this size, the landscape is divided into a formal pleasure garden to receive guests and a working back yard, which included vegetable and flower beds as well as a kitchen house, privy and carriage house. Current plant selections are derived from period nursery catalogs and include Osmanthus fragrans (Tea Olive), Magnolia grandiflora (Southern Magnolia), Ligustrum sinense ‘Weeping’ (Chinese Privet), and Syringa vulgaris (Common Lilac) as wells as several heirloom chrysanthemum cultivars. 
 
Our horticulture experts have cataloged every plant on our six historic properties—view the garden database.

Photo Gallery

  • WWFH reconstruction exhibit
  • WWFH exhibit
  • WWFH exhibit
  • Summer camp at WWFH
  • Summer camp at WWFH
  • Summer camp at WWFH

Virtual Tour

Special thanks to KnowItAll.org for this virtual tour of The Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home.

Awards

The Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home has received the following awards:

  • 2016 Victorian Society in America Award
  • South Carolina African American Heritage Commission’s 2016 Preserving Our Places in History Project Award
  • South Carolina Federation of Museums’ 2015 Award of Achievement
  • Confederation of South Carolina Local Historical Societies’ 2015 Award of Merit
  • 2015 South Carolina Heritage Tourism Award
  • American Association of State and Local History's 2015 Award of Merit
  • 2014 South Carolina Historic Preservation Honor Award

Newsletter Signup

newsletter signup

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter for events, news, and updates from Historic Columbia!

  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Flickr
Historic Columbia

© 2023 Historic Columbia

Administrative Offices
1601 Richland Street
Columbia, SC 29201

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

Questions? Call (803) 252-7742.

Website by Cyberwoven