COLUMBIA, S.C., Thursday, April 26, 2018 – May is full of exciting events, including the reopening of the Hampton-Preston Mansion on Saturday, May 12. This month’s calendar also features the return of Storytime in the Gardens, a Homeschool Friday on Hampton-Preston, a Victorian Tea Party at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home and a Sunday Stroll through the Robert Mills District East.
CALENDAR OF PROGRAMS & EVENTS:
Thursday, May 3 | 10 – 11 a.m. | Hampton-Preston Gardens
Join Historic Columbia and Richland County Public Library for a special outdoor Storytime in the Gardens! Enjoy stories and songs in the gazebo at the Hampton-Preston Mansion’s Henry Michael Powell Memorial Children’s Garden. In addition, participate in old fashioned historic games in gardens. This event is free and open to children of all ages. Visit HistoricColumbia.org, call 803.252.1770 x 23 or email reservations@historiccolumbia.org for more information.
Homeschool Friday: The Hampton-Preston Mansion
Friday, May 4 | 10 – 11:30 a.m. | The Gift Shop at Robert Mills
With the installation of new exhibits at the Hampton-Preston Mansion, this Homeschool Friday will explore the previous residents of the property. Wade Hampton I became one of the wealthiest planters in the country by the time of his death in 1835, owning more than 3,000 enslaved individuals. Wade II and Wade III, with the help of their extended families, continued this legacy. Documents show that the Hampton-Preston family enslaved more than 60 men, women and children at this site. Through artifacts, hands-on activities, and documents, students will encounter aspects of our troubled past as a slave-holding society. Homeschool Friday is $5 for members, $6 for non-members and $8 for both members and non-members day-of. The group will meet at the Gift Shop at Robert Mills, located at 1616 Blanding Street. Visit HistoricColumbia.org, call (803) 252-1770 x. 26 or email education@historiccolumbia.org to make reservations.
Sunday, May 6 | 2 – 3:30 p.m. | Woodrow Wilson Family Home
Children and their parents are invited to Historic Columbia’s Victorian Tea Party from 2 – 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 7 at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home. Families will have the opportunity to learn about Victorian customs, including calling cards and the language of the fan and make Victorian-inspired crafts, including herb sachets and paper dolls. The highlight of the day will be a Victorian tea for kids and their parents in which families will learn table manners and etiquette while enjoying a scone and tea! Tickets are $7/adult and $11/youth for members, $9/adult and $13/youth for non-members. Space is limited. To register, visit HistoricColumbia.org, email education@historiccolumbia.org or call 803.252.1770 x 26.
Wednesday, May 2 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 6 | 1 – 3 p.m. | SC State House
The City of Columbia, in collaboration with several community organizations, is hosting "Enjoy SC: An Experience of South Carolina Arts & Culture at the State House." This series of interactive events is designed to attract community members to meet, linger and socialize on the State House grounds in the heart of downtown Columbia. Historic Columbia will present an outdoor exhibit at the State House grounds of curated historic images of South Carolina’s Main streets. This outdoor exhibit will be available for the public to enjoy on from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2 and from 1 – 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 6. Staff from local history organizations will be on hand to talk with visitors about the images and will also help attendees interact with maps to show changes in South Carolina cities over time. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit EnjoySC.org or email EnjoySC2018@gmail.com.
Moonlight Cemetery & Secrets from the Grave Tours
Thursday, May 10 | 7:30, 8, and 8:30 pm | Elmwood Cemetery
Grab your flashlight and tour one of Columbia’s oldest cemeteries and discover centuries of stories etched in stone on the markers and headstones found within Elmwood Cemetery’s acres of carefully planned grounds. The perfect after-work activity, Historic Columbia’s Cemetery Tours are an event the whole family can enjoy. Choose from two tour options: “Secrets from the Grave Tours” and “Moonlight Cemetery Tours.” Tickets are $8/adult and $4/youth for members and $12/adult and $6/youth for non-members. To purchase tickets, visit HistoricColumbia.org, email reservations@historiccolumbia.org or call (803) 252-1770 x 23.
- Secrets from the Grave Tours, 7:30 p.m. –Study the symbols found on many of the markers and headstones in the historic Elmwood Cemetery.
- Moonlight Cemetery Tours, 8 & 8:30 p.m. – Tour Elmwood Cemetery and discuss the lives, burials, cemetery plots and tombstones of families and prominent citizens from Columbia's 19th and 20th centuries.
Saturday, May 12 | 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. | Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens
Join Historic Columbia for the reopening of the Hampton-Preston Mansion from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 12. Historic Columbia will debut updated interpretation, new exhibits, hands-on interactive elements, and expanded and enhanced public gardens. Historic Columbia will also unveil a new exterior paint scheme, an entry hall painted oil cloth and more. This event will commemorate the site’s 200th anniversary and will feature house and garden tours, special presentations, children’s games and crafts, a 1910s calisthenics class, quadrille dance lessons, a plant sale, food trucks and more! The reopening of the Hampton-Preston Mansion will follow more than a year’s worth of comprehensive work—from capital repairs to the former estate’s mansion, to massive additions to the gardens and grounds, to a holistic re-evaluation and restructuring of the site’s historical interpretation. Learn more about this transformative process. Tickets are $5/adult and $3/youth for members and $8/adult and $5/youth for non-members. To purchase tickets, visit HistoricColumbia.org, email reservations@historiccolumbia.org or call (803) 252-1770 x 23.
Second Sunday Stroll | Robert Mills District East
Sunday, May 13 | 2 – 3 p.m.
Join Historic Columbia for their Second Sunday Stroll, presented by Seed Architecture, through the Robert Mills District East at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 13. This guided walking tour will highlight the architecture and history of this historic neighborhood. Named after the first federal architect who designed the circa- 1823 Robert Mills House and the circa- 1828 Asylum, today’s Robert Mills District was listed in 1971 within the National Register of Historic Places as “Columbia Historic District II.” Bound to the west by Sumter, the north by Calhoun, the east by Barnwell, and the south by Taylor, this district contains approximately 113 historic structures embodying
more than three centuries of diverse residential and institutional architecture. The tour is 60-minutes in length and walk-ins are welcome! Tickets are free for members and are $8/adults and $5/youth for non-members. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit HistoricColumbia.org, email reservations@historiccolumbia.org or call 803.252.1770 x 23.
Preservation Workshop | Restoring Historic Homes
Saturday, May 19 | 10 a.m. – noon | 723 Laurel Street
Historic Columbia’s 2018 Preservation Workshop series, presented by Lucas Properties, returns from 10 a.m. – noon on Saturday, May 19. This workshop will explore the rehabilitation of a circa 1910 historic house located in the Arsenal Hill historic district and will showcase the project’s final results, which include restoring the original heart pine floors, interior moldings and the original windows. Guests will have a chance to hear insights and ask questions about the restoration and repair decisions and pitfalls that the property developer encountered along the way. The workshop will take place at 723 Laurel Street, and $5 members and $10/non-members. Parking is available on the street and in the adjacent parking lot to the east (behind 1801 Gadsden Street). Space is limited. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit HistoricColumbia.org, email reservations@historiccolumbia.org or call 803.252.1770 x 23.
Dollar Sunday | Woodrow Wilson Family Home
Sunday, May 20 | 1 – 4 p.m. | 1705 Hampton Street
Every third Sunday of the month, residents of Richland and Lexington counties are invited to tour of one of Historic Columbia’s house museums for just $1 on Dollar Sunday! This month, visit the Woodrow Wilson Family Home, the nation's only museum dedicated to interpreting the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and South Carolina's only remaining presidential site. The house will be open for guests to tour at their own pace, and guides will be available to answer any questions. General admission prices apply for any house tours after the first. Tickets can be purchased at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home, located at 1705 Hampton Street. General admission prices apply for any house tours after the first. Walk-ins welcome!
Alice Elizabeth Malavasic Author Talk & Book Signing
Tuesday, May 22 | 6 – 7:30 p.m. | Seibels House
Join Alice Elizabeth Malavasic, author of The F Street Mess: How Southern Senators Rewrote the Kansas-Nebraska Act (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017), for a talk and book signing from 6 – 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22. The focus of this talk will be on Senator Andrew Pickens Butler of South Carolina, who is most remembered in South Carolina lore as being the insulted party in a Senate exchange that caused his cousin, South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks to savagely beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, with a wooden cane. By centering on their most significant achievement – forcing a rewrite of the Nebraska bill that repealed the restriction against slavery above the 36° 30′ parallel – Malavasic demonstrates how the F Street Mess’s mastery of the legislative process led to one of the most destructive pieces of legislation in United States history and helped pave the way to secession. This event is free, but registration is encouraged, and includes a book signing and reception at the Seibels House, located at 1601 Richland Street. For more information and to register, visit HistoricColumbia.org, email reservations@historiccolumbia.org or call 803.252.1770 x 23.
HOUSE TOURS:
Historic House Museum Tours
Tuesday - Saturday: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. and Sunday: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Historic Columbia’s historic house museum tours offer a peek into the past! Tour the Robert Mills House & Gardens, Mann-Simons Site or the Woodrow Wilson Family Home to learn more about Columbia's history. Tours are free for members, $8 for adults, $5 youth (ages 6-17) and free for children under 5. For a more detailed tour schedule, visit historiccolumbia.org. Please note: Due to rehabilitative work, the Hampton-Preston Mansion is closed for public tours. The site will reopen for tours on Saturday, May 12. Learn more about the Hampton-Preston rehabilitative project.
About Historic Columbia:
In November 1961, a small group of individuals intent on saving the Ainsley Hall House from demolition officially incorporated as the Historic Columbia Foundation. Over the next five decades the organization, which was founded on the premise of preservation and education, would take on the stewardship of seven historic properties in Richland County. Today, the organization serves as a model for local preservation efforts and interpretation of local history. Visit historiccolumbia.org or find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram orYouTube for more details.
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