Nathaniel Russell House

What a gem! Great historical tour of well restored Charleston home. The attention to detail is incredible! The garden is exquisite and the floating staircase is a modern and historic marvel!

My wife and I visited the Nathaniel Russel House during a Valentine's Day getaway to Charleston. The house is a restored facility, which means that it is brought back to its past glory and looks much as it would have when in use in bygone days. A good example of a preserved house is the Aiken-Rhett House. That house is intentionally kept in a the same state in which it was found, prevented from further decay but not "fancied up." Both styles of museums are valuable and we were happy to have toured both.

The Nathaniel Russel House offers a self-guided tour that takes about 45 minutes to complete. Devices with headphones are distributed at the hospitality lobby, and the house is easy to navigate. The story is told of the wealthy owners as well as the enslaved persons who worked the property. We found the experience to be well worth our time and are glad that museums such as these exist to tell the truth of our nation's complicated past.

Well worth the price of admission the tour we were on was hosted by a local Docent. She did a marvelous job of explaining life in the late 1700's in Charleston and this marvelous house. I was fascinated by the cantilevered staircase. We visited the house in November and the crowds were small-- a nice time to visit Charleston too.

Breathtakingly beautiful house museum. They have really worked hard to keep/restore this house to how it was in the early 1800's. There are two touring options: a guided tour or an audio tour with earphones, we utilized the audio option and it was very informative and easy to do. Every room in the main house was beautiful and elegant. I particularly liked the spiral staircase and ceiling decoration. Everyone working there was very nice and helpful.

The rooms in the house have been immaculately restored to its original condition in beautiful detail. There are two impressive rooms in the house. The tour guide was extremely informative and more knowledgeable than most

Very historic home built in the early 1800's. The tour guides were excellent and gave you an amazing glimpse into life in Charleston two centuries ago. I'm so glad we toured the home!

We took the self guided audio tour. It's fairly short and concise. You can tell that Nathaniel really spared no expense constructing his home.

This is a great example of a large house where terrible white people lived. Just seeing the amount of opulence they enjoyed while owning other human beings was staggering. The guided tour did a great job of showing the price the enslaved people paid for the family to afford the luxuries they had. Also, in the back of the house seeing the conditions the people they enslaved lived under were sobering and eye opening and atrocious all at the same time. A very good way to see the terrible history of this section of Charleston life.

Fabulous tour by Marylou. She 100% made this a great visit for our family (including two 13yo boys—a hard age to capture their attention). Beautiful house, fascinating history and engaging tour. Absolutely recommend!

It's a beautiful house that takes you back to 18th century Charleston times.

Our visit was 11 August 2022. We had been on a Carriage ride early during the week and this house was brought to our attention. We took the tour of this house and it was very informative. The staff are very professional, pleasant, and knowledgeable. The stairwell which it is known for was beautiful. The whole house is lovely and puts you into the mind set of that period. We enjoyed chatting with staff and learning some interesting information. I would bring friends & family to this location again.

Very beautiful home to visit for a tour.

Nathaniel Russel House fills you with different emotions. While your jaw will drop at the history of the man, your eyes will pop at the interior of this house. Do the guided tour with an actual person instead of the headphones and you will be captivated by every step and moment. The only stairway (according to the guides) in th world that is build without any base - and nobody knows how it was done. Lots of facts show that this house was built without an official architect so it may have been built by slaves at the time. It is just a rich and marvelous step into history. The preservation society does a magnificent job . Don’t rush, enjoy this!!

Beautifully preserved historical home. Barbara was a great guide.

We bought a combo ticket to see this and the Aiken-Rhett House. This house was spectacularly restored. The audio tour proved great insight to the excavation and archeological process to bring the house back to its original glory. They did as much original as they could, even using old hand brushes for the walls as they would have done back then. The staircase is an architectural wonder. The detail of the molding is art on its own. I felt like I wanted to put on a dress and stay for a ball. And the gardens are well kept too.

Our tour guide did a great job presenting the architectural restoration of the Russell house. I thought she also made the best effort possible detailing the daily lives of everyone (enslaved and enslaver) who lived in the house considering that no historical records exist involving the Russell family. Remember to tip your tour guide.

We had a blast here and loved the audio walk along. Price was 12 a person and totally worth it. If you aren't into history, then you may be bored. Like my 7 year old, I wouldn't have been there as long if he was there. My girls would have enjoyed it. But they are older. A lot of extra stories on the audio too.

Very cool house with great history.
We did the guided tour & it was worth it. You can really tell the dedication the staff puts forth to make sure all restoration is authentic.

Beautiful historic home. Lots to see and photograph. Many other historic sights within walking distance. Highly recommend.

This house tour was a great way to see restoration efforts and to understand the life of a wealthy business owner. The audio tour was a bit long but you have the ability to skip and advance on the rented iPhones, plus read a ton of extra material or listen to bonus recordings. The tour is well done - or stop by and see the garden for free.