Heyward- Washington House in Charleston, SC

The last history lesson:

They Heyward-Washington House was built in 1772, Daniel Heyward had this "Townhouse" built for his son, Thomas. It is of the Georgian style of architecture, which means that it is a square with square rooms. They were either single Georgian houses with one square room in the front and one directly behind it or in this case, a double Georgian house with a square room on  either side of the front door and two squares room behind them in the back of the house.

This home also retains the original furnishings where as the Joseph Manigault house had some original pieces and some that were just of that period but not original to the house itself.

As with the Joseph Manigault house, the first floor in front was the owner's offices and waiting room for clients, 2nd floor was master bedroom, drawing room and gentlemen's room aka man cave and the third floor for the children. They never had guest rooms because everyone they would socialize with would have their own townhouse, but this house did have a guest room because Thomas was gone so much that his wife had her sister come stay with her.

They were all close to the road with the yards and out buildings out back. The iron gate to the left is where the buggies would come in.

Looking at the back of the house.

The smaller building to the left was the privy, the larger taller building also on the left is the kitchen/laundry and again, the 2nd floor was the residence of the slaves. The building on the right is the stables.

This view is from the back of the house looking towards the gardens with the kitchen/laundry on the right and stables on the left.

Kitchen

Laundry

Kitchen on the right and down at the end is the laundry on the right. The steps lead up to the slaves quarters.

This is actually 3 chests on top of each other and in the waiting room in the front of the house.

That gorgeous large piece (and it is large...taking up most of that wall and the height of those rooms makes this rather tall too) was made by a German carpenter. It is awesome.

Again...the arches where only family can go beyond.

Owners office.

Master bedroom. The chair on the left is actually the toilet in this room. On the canopy spindles would be a carving that says what this bed is, this particular bed had wheat and so it was called the "Wheat bed." I forgot to mention that the Joseph Manigault bed was the "Rice bed."

 In the summer time the canopies would come off, the bed moved to the center of the room for the cross breeze, the plain headboard (they were all plain) was removed and mosquito netting was then put around the bed.

Not sure how much I like the colors of these rooms but these colors are original to this period of time.

The Drawing Room.

I am showing you this piece because this is generally where the owner would have his guns, at the bottom of the stairs on the first floor.

Now "why" this house has two names: because at one point George Washington came into town and did not want to stay with someone so he rented the house for a time.

This is the end...I hope you enjoyed going back in time. We were so lucky that our reservations at the B&B also included free admission to these two homes and the museum, FYI:  if you were to go on your own, the price is $10.00 each.