Nov 5, 2015
Lake Aire RV Park
Charleston, SC
We headed to downtown Charleston to see the houses we missed yesterday due to car repair. Our first stop was the Nathaniel Russell House built in 1808 on Meeting Street.
Nathaniel Russell was born in Bristol, Rhode Island and settled in Charleston at the age of 27 in 1765. Becky was interested in this family history since many of her ancestors were Russell from Massachusetts. Russell made his fortune in shipping staples such as rice, indigo, tobacco and cotton. He also participated in the African slave trade both before and after the American Revolution.
He married Sarah Hopton (1752-1832) at the age of 50 and had 2 daughters. The house stayed in the Russell family until 1857 when it was sold to Governor Allston. Later, it served as a school for the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy until 1905. In 1955 The Charleston Foundation purchased it and began restoring it to it's 1808 glory.
The house view from the gardens.
No pictures were allowed in the house but I snuck a picture of the photo on the wall in the visitors area of the staircase that goes up 3 floors. An amazing thing to see.
I did get in trouble for sneaking this shot from the ground floor to the ceiling above.
The house is beautiful with period furniture. It cost $10 for a guided tour.
Flowers in the garden.
A view of a courtyard next door to the Russell house.
James Simmons house on Meeting Street. It was hard to get a good picture because of the trees.
The house colors have to be approved by the Charleston Foundation. This one really captured the eye with its bright coral color.
Everyone said we needed to see Rainbow Row so this is it. Each house a pastel color.
It was hard to capture the view with all the trees and cars in the way.
More of Rainbow Row.
There are some beautiful mansions facing the Battery.
We loved the balcony on this one.
We decided to take another tour of this house. The mansion was completed in 1876 at a cost of $200,000. It is the largest single family residence in Charleston, consisting of 35 rooms and 35 fireplaces and enclosing 24,000 square feet of space.
Three stories high in Italian style with rope moldings adorning every door and window signifying the merchant and shipping wealth of the owner. It was built for George Williams, who passed it down to his daughter Sarah and her husband Patrick Calhoun.
Formal gardens surround the house.
Fountains and pools at every corner.
The Main Entrance Vestibule. The woodwork of satinwood and black walnut, the Minton tile floor and the leaded glass showcase the mansion's three themes. Throughout the interior of the structure, the woodwork is inlaid with clover leaf and rope moldings.
The Minton tile on the vestibule floor. The mansion passed through many hands until it was purchased in 2004 by a prominent and successful Washington attorney, a native of South Carolina, to house his art collection. He needed all 35 rooms!
We were hoping to see a historical residence, but this house was definitely a museum of a crazy rich man's crazy collections of art, artifacts, and antiques from around the world, from all time periods.
It was so full of clutter it was almost impossible to see the underlying house or appreciate the design. It was hard to imagine anyone even living in this house as there was little room to move around. Every surface was covered with stuff. Then there was more stuff on top of the other stuff with even more stuff crowded in between even more stuff.
This sky light in this room was beautifully restored after it had been hidden by a false ceiling during WWII.
It was a blatant display of wealth. If you visit Charleston, cross this one off your list of places to see, unless you want to see lots of stuff, crowded with other stuff, etc.. I couldn't believe they charged $15 per person to see this collection of collections. But then I guess this crazy rich guy needs all of the income to buy more stuff.
Tomorrow we are off to see the plantation district. Stay tuned for more...
Becky and Lonnie
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