robert mills house & gardens

The Robert Mills House is a beautiful historic home and taking a tour is a great way to spend an afternoon in Columbia! Tours are informative and engaging with lots of interesting antiques to view. The grounds around the house are also lovely.

My mother and I are huge Downton Abbey fans. For Christmas, I took her on the tour of historical homes in Columbia. I named it "Downtons of the South" and she loved every minute. The tour guides are friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate about preserving these homes and landmarks that hold a special place in the South's history. The gorgeous gardens, grounds, and homes and the exciting stories of the families who lived and worked in them made for a really fun ladies outing!

Stunning house-it's red exterior really looks sharp. The gardens are beautiful. Tours are good and informative. Nice to see old places in Columbia still preserved for educational and historical needs. Solid history lesson of the house and Columbia is learned from a visit/tour of this house.

Nice grounds, and you get to go through a couple of the antique homes. There is a limited amount of staging (furniture and artifacts) in the homes. Strangely, the tour guide locked the tour group inside the homes with a skeleton key during the tour, which was dangerous should an emergency have occurred.

There was ample time to enjoy many displays set up outside the house. Our grandchildren particularly enjoyed seeing all the Halloween scarecrows that were there.

a great opportunity to learn more about the history of Columbia and Soth Carolina. Knowledgeable guides are happy to answer questions and the grounds are lovely for a stroll.

During my visit to Columbia, SC I had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful and historic Robert Mills House. The house was designed in 1823 for merchant Ainsley Hall and his wife. Unfortunately, Hall died before the house was completed and the house was sold to the Presbyterian Church. The mansion eventually became the sight of the Columbia Presbyterian Seminary. Woodrow Wilson's father (Joseph) was both a student and professor at the school. During my visit to the Robert Mills House, the tour guide gave me an informative, hour long tour. I learned some very interesting facts about upper class (merchant/plantation) society of early Columbia and about the unique architectural innovations Robert Mills included in the design of the home. The furniture, portraits, and architecture were beautiful. I happened to be the only person on the tour that day, so in a way, I got a private showing of the house. When the tour guide and I were on the second floor, I hear a lot of loud footsteps coming up the main staircase. I assumed someone was working in the house or that another tour group was coming through. The tour guide said he didn't hear anything; however, he didn't deny that I did. He said that other people had similar experiences at the Hampton-Preston House across the street. The house was empty except for me and the guide, so I was never able to explain where the footsteps were coming from. I know the mansion had served as both college classrooms and dorm rooms at one time. I got the impression that the mysterious footsteps coming up the stairs was a large group of people....perhaps spirits of earlier students going about their daily routine. I wasn't afraid...it was actually quite interesting. P.S. Make a point to explore and photograph the beautiful sculptured gardens behind the mansion.

When you enter the foyer your first impression is the symmetry of the doorways and no visible stairway to the upstairs area. This home was designed by the architect of the Washington Monument. Heather, the docent, was very knowledgeable and entertaining throughout the tour. Heather challenged us to be involved in guessing the purpose and use of some of the items on display. The tour is an hour and tickets are sold at the gift shop next door. I enjoyed the history, period furnishings and tales of the occupants.

This is a great showpiece for South Carolina history, All of the old homes that have been rehabilitated and managed by the Columbia Historical Society are beautiful.

It is so pleasant and interesting to visit the Robert Mills House.Much can be learned and the skills of the architect can be appreciated. There are very fine exhibits, not overpowering. In the middle of the city, there is a calm that allows you to meditate and ponder of how life was at the time it was built. There are very informative tours. Wonderful selection of souvenirs.

Visited the Robert Mills house one afternoon and enjoyed the tour very much. Our guide had lots of stories and you could tell she enjoyed her work which made it fun for us. I especially liked the curved back door entry with 2 doors! Tours were only on the hour so we walked through the garden while we waited.

Very interesting tour of the Robert Mills and House & Gardens and Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens. Both docents were very knowledgeable and entertaining and I learned a lot about the lifestyle of the planter-class in the pre- and post- Civil War era just by the objects in the house and how they were used. Many fascinating stories attached to the history of both the Mills and Hampton-Preston homes. Everything in both houses was either from the original owners or donated by other families of Richland county. Going back tomorrow to tour the Mann-Simons Site, home of an African-American entreprenuerial family of the same era.

We visited the Robert Mills and Hampton-Preston houses on 6-25-13. Mitch, the manager at the gift shop, was great in arranging the tours for the day. Ann A., our guide at the Mills house, was very knowledgeable and gracious on a very hot day. She generously spent some extra time with us after the tour discussing the Woodrow Wilson house that is still being renovated. This was a highlight of our time in Columbia.

We recently attended a wedding held on the grounds of this beautiful estate. The buildings on the property are beautiful, old, and well-cared for, with the exception of whatever utility building housed the restrooms and kitchen. The restrooms are a little beat up looking. The highlight for us was the general beauty of the grounds and the gardens. There are two or three beautiful fountains, a lovely garden with paths and shaded little alcoves with benches for enjoying the afternoon. The reception was held under a tent in the large grassy yard and there was still room out of the tent for extra seating under the shade of some large old trees. It was a beautiful location for a wedding reception.

While passing through Columbia, we decided to tour the Robert Mills House.We arrived just in time for the last tour and it was about to rain. We only had about 15 minutes to tour the grounds before the tour. Since time was of the essence, we were frustrated that the worker selling tickets at the museum gift shop did this long speech about joining the foundation before we could receive the tickets. Because of this, we never had time to shop the gift shop or truly tour the gardens. I realize the contributions to the foundation support the homes but the timing of his presentation was terrible. Most tours mention joining the foundation at the end of the tour and you are not held captive waiting to receive your tickets.The docent conducting the tour was sweet but forgot many facts of the house and had to stopand try to remember. Some new exibits had been added about Woodrow Wilson and she stopped with us to read the plaques. She commented that she had not done this tour in a while. She is more familiar with the Hampton-Preston house across the street.Since she volunteers, we were patient with her and overall the tour was informative.Unfortunately, when the tour was over, the museum gift shop was closed and it was raining. We really wanted to see the gardens so we grabbed our umbrellas and walked the grounds.We hope to go back just to view the gardens.