The house was purchased in 1929 by The Charleston Museum and restored with the aid of the Preservation Society of Charleston, then known as the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings. It opened the following year as Charleston's first historic house museum. To the rear of the home, a courtyard is created by flanking outbuildings which once were used by slaves to run the household. The building pictured below served as the kitchen, laundry, and slave quarters. Kitchens were located in detached buildings in order to contain a fire if one were to get out of hand. The building across from this served as the carriage house; a formal garden sits beyond the outbuildings.
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Thanks to Dr. Elaine Herold, who did significant volunteer archaeological work at the Heyward-Washington House in the 1970s, we are able to pinpoint 1772 as the construction date for the house. In her research, she found advertisements in the South Carolina Gazette by James Taylor, a book binder, who managed his business on the other side of Church Street from Heyward’s lot. His October and November 1772 advertisements noted that he was across from Colonel [Daniel] Heyward’s new building.
Becoming Americans
The property features the only 1740s kitchen building open to the public in Charleston as well as formal gardens featuring plants commonly used in the South Carolina Lowcountry in the late 18th century. The Heyward-Washington House in historic Charleston was the city’s first house museum. The Georgian home was built between 1770 and 1772 by rice planter Daniel Heyward for his son, Thomas Heyward. Thomas Heyward was an artillery officer in the American Revolution, and even more notably, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Historic Textiles Gallery
Heyward had the Milner house leveled and constructed the three-story brick house, which we now know as the Heyward-Washington House. Recent research indicates that the kitchen building and carriage building were erected at approximately the same time as the main house. Lacking modern power tools, such a project would have been highly labor intensive and taken months to complete. First, the Milner house would have to be physically torn down and the debris hauled away by wagon.
City Under Siege
Thomas Heyward, one of four South Carolinians to sign the Declaration of Independence, acquired this property just north of Tradd Street from his father, rice planter Daniel Heyward, in 1770. After razing an older dwelling on the site, Heyward began construction of a three-story brick residence the following year. He retained the prior residence’s kitchen and stable outbuildings that frame a courtyard at the rear of the new structure. Brick jack arches over the windows are the only exterior ornamentation of the central hall, double-pile house. Following the pattern of many Charleston merchant/planter residences, Heyward placed the principal entertaining rooms on the second floor. There, a large, fully paneled drawing room and a smaller withdrawing room overlook Church Street.
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In the Natural History gallery you will see an extraordinary array of birds, reptiles and mammals that have called the South Carolina Lowcountry home since prehistory, including contributions from noted naturalists. In the Historic Textiles Gallery, the Museum features regularly rotating exhibits from its rich historic textiles and clothing collection, one of the finest in the southeastern United States. It was acquired by the Museum in 1929, opened the following year as Charleston's first historic house museum, and was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1978. By the end of the nineteenth century, a bakery operating out of the house installed a storefront sales room on the first floor, enlarging the windows and installing a door in the three southernmost bays.
President George Washington stayed in the house during his visit to Charleston in 1791. The three-story brick double house features four rooms plus a central hall on the first floor. The second floor features a drawing room and a smaller withdrawing room in front and two chambers in the rear; additional chambers are found on the third floor. In the 1880s the Fuseler family converted the property to a bakery, radically altering the first floor of the house to include a storefront.
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Furnished for the late 18th century, the house includes a collection of Charleston-made furniture. The house presents a massive block appearance since it is nearly square in plan and has a low pitched hipped roof pierced by only a single dormer on the street front. The high chimneys are corbeled, and all windows are topped by brick jack arches. The “double house” plan is a local name used to identify the common Georgian “four room” or “center hall” floor plan.
President George Washington rented this residence when he stayed in Charleston for a week during his 1791 tour of Southern states. At least two structures predated the Heyward-Washington House, both built by the Milner family. John Milner was a successful gunsmith, who repaired firearms for South Carolina’s colonial government. His son, also John, inherited the property and built a brick two-story house there, but, lacking the business acumen of his father, lost it due to excessive debts. Enter Daniel Heyward, one of the wealthiest rice planters in the colony, who purchased the lot at public auction in 1770, paying 5,500 pounds, the equivalent of $1.03 million today. After retiring from public service, Heyward sold the property to John Grimké, an officer in the Revolutionary War.
In the Museum’s Armory, see excellent examples of historic weaponry, dating from 1750 to the twentieth century, with uses that ranged from military to more personal applications such as hunting and dueling.
If you plan to visit the Charleston Museum or the Joseph Manigault House, you can buy combo tickets and save money. A combo ticket for 2 sites will be a savings of $6 and a combo ticket for 3 sites will be a savings of $11. Built in 1772, this Georgian-style double house was the town home of Thomas Heyward, Jr., one of four South Carolina signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Some of them also have beautiful gardens that you can walk through and small restaurants that serve delicious southern delicacies and dishes. SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. When the Heyward-Washington House was opened to the public following its restoration, it became Charleston’s first historic house museum. It is owned and operated by the Charleston Museum and remains open to the public.
This website serves as a permanent digital archive of over 2,300 South Carolina landmarks – and counting. The revolutionary war veteran became involved in politics and served in various branches of government. Heyward also hosted President George Washington during his tour of the country in 1791. The Charleston Museum is pleased to present Kidstory, a fun and exciting, hands-on exhibit for children, where the fascinating history of Charleston and the Lowcountry comes alive. In November 1773, Taylor posted another advertisement, but this time he noted that his shop was across the street from Thomas Heyward’s house. Tradition holds that Daniel Heyward gifted the house to Thomas as a wedding gift.
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