Tour Woodrow Wilson's family home | Arts & Culture

On December 28, 2011 at 11 am, Historic Columbia Foundation will be offering a behind-the-scenes tour of the Woodrow Wilson Family Home.  This special tour is being offered in honor of the 155th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s birth. Those interested in taking the tour may reserve their place by email at reservations@historiccolumbia.org or by phone at 803.252.1770 ext. 24.  The cost of the tour is $6 for adults. Reservations are recommended but not required, as the tour is expected to fill quickly.  Tour attendees will meet at the Museum Shop located at 1616 Blanding Street.  
 
Early in the New Year Historic Columbia Foundation will continue rehabilitation work on the property. During this second phase of a multi-phased project the site will receive new systems (HVAC, electrical, fire suppression and plumbing) and the addition of a support structure that will offer restrooms, a catering kitchen and storage space.
 
Those not able to attend the tour are encouraged to take a virtual tour of the Woodrow Wilson Family Home at http://www.WoodrowWilsonFamilyHome.com.  Through this virtual tour, Historic Columbia Foundation offers guests access to the dramatic story of all Columbia residents - black and white, male and female, native and transplanted - in the crucible of Reconstruction. The virtual tour is made possible in part by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Richland County, and the Humanities Council, SC.  
 
The Woodrow Wilson Family Home is South Carolina's only presidential historic site.  This distinctive circa-1872 Italian villa-style residence was home to a 14-year-old boy named Tommy Wilson. Here his father Dr. Joseph Ruggles Wilson and his mother Jeannie Woodrow Wilson raised the young man who would come to hold the United States executive office and guide the nation through World War I as the first modern world statesman.
 
Standing at the southeast entry to the Robert Mills Garden District the Woodrow Wilson Family Home is a tangible link to the watershed Reconstruction era. Its history is embedded in the story of a southern community struggling to rebuild following the Civil War. At this historic site, experience From Dreams to Visions and Hopes to Purposes: Woodrow Wilson and Columbia, which addresses the Reconstruction era environment; the development of Thomas "Tommy" Woodrow Wilson from boy to man; and the historic preservation movement as experienced in South Carolina's capital city.
 
About the tour, Sarah Blackwell, Director of Programs for Historic Columbia Foundation says, “Historic Columbia Foundation is happy to offer a special tour to honor the 155th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s birth.” She goes on to say,  “This will be a wonderful opportunity for guests to view the Wilson Family Home before we begin the second phase of the rehabilitation process.”