Historic Columbia - Columbia, South Carolina

Elly L.

Historic Columbia and their team are wonderful!! I had correspondences with John, Kat and Jeff - they were all phenomenal. We were looking for a history tour to do because we were stopping in Columbia for a night and hadn't explored it. There were many wonderful sites to see on their website, but we just wanted an overview of the city and to learn more about the history - like we do in most cities we visit.

We didn't see one online, but reached out and they connected us with one of their volunteers - Jeff P. - he did a wonderful tour and had tons of pictures from years back. We could clearly tell he's passionate about what he does.

Kat was kind enough to suggest some wonderful restaurants and local spots to try out while we were in!!

We truly loved our experience of Historic (and beautiful) Columbia. Thank you again, John, Kat and Jeff for making our trip so special!!

Diana W.

Do not just show up up here. Check the website to see if you can figure out when and how to visit some of the historic homes and gardens. Or contact them to ask... it definitely requires more planning ahead than I like to do on vacation. On your adventure, you can hope to learn about Columbia while you see architectural styles spanning three centuries. Or maybe you just wander through the neighborhood admiring the old homes on your own.

Matthew R.

Toured the Hampton-Preston Mansion. Our tour guide Denise was an extremely knowledgeable. She went out of her way to answer all of our questions and really took the time to make our experience memorable. I am proud of the strides that historical Columbia has made to include the stories and experiences of enslaved workers that built and ran these properties. Highly recommend to anyone visiting.

Lynda

This hard working group has preserved historic buildings for Columbia's citizens to enjoy. Their tours are fantastic. They stepped up and prevented our iconic landmarks from being razed when no one else would!

Alton R.

The Historic Foundation saved several of the historic homes 50 years ago and prior to 2015 the tours gave great detail about those who lived in the homes and how they lived. Today the tours are more about political correctness.

rl S.

We went to the candle light Christmas evening event it was a let down it was supposed to be how people of columbia celebrate Christmas but most of the decorations were plastic most of the tour guides were not as knowledgeable ha some would think Hampton Preston home -Robert Mills plastic reefs on the front doors it was a chaotic experience the horse and buggy ride we paid for was around the block in a wagon drawn by mules or donkeys veey short and uncomfortable ride soaking wet seats so we went on the tour with wet pants the staff was in running at the last minute unprepared .they did have a choir that really sound good while we should out in the rain waiting what seemed like a long time to finely get in only to get only one Christmas Carol when we did get in the house no one would take the time to tell where to go or what to do then the rushed us through the house it was over before it started it seemed I will say that one tour guide did do a great job was very knowledgeable Rose Mary she is English sad a brit knows more about the history of our land marks then the rest of the.lical tour guides who didn't seem to know anything only rushed us through and where not very friendly my advise for next year to the poor folks that were there with us is save your 50.00 dollars next year and go across the river to the Lexington museum were the Christmas event is free long lasting friendly in coustum guides and plenty of free food and refreshments with real demonstrations of how it was in those days lit fire places blacksmith and even enslaved people working in the kitchen columbia historic said there would be hot chocolate we saw none

Tommy W.

The Seibels House is a beautiful historic home and the christmas party was a great event to have there.

Victoria V.

I went to the Mann-Simons House. It was an awesome experience and the museum was incredibly well kept.