Kelton House Museum and Garden

Kelton House Museum and Garden is a brick residence built in 1852 that combines Greek Revival and Italianate architectural elements. Inside, rooms are arranged with original furnishings and family possessions, while the garden outside displays plants typical of the nineteenth century.

Built in 1852, the house became a safe stop for people fleeing slavery when Fernando and Sophia Kelton offered shelter to travelers on the Underground Railroad. This connection to the freedom movement gave the home an important role in the local community.

The house shows how wealthy families lived in nineteenth-century Columbus, with rooms filled with original furniture and objects from that period. The way the spaces are arranged reveals what daily routines and social customs meant to the Kelton household.

Visitors can explore the house through guided tours that walk you through furnished rooms and the garden outside. The best time to visit is in warm weather, when the period plants in the garden are at their fullest.

Grace Bird Kelton, the last family member to live there until 1975, was one of the first interior designers in America and helped redesign rooms in the White House. Her work shows how the house and its residents were connected to broader changes happening in the country.