Woodrow Wilson Family Home, Presidential residence in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Woodrow Wilson Family Home is a house in Columbia, South Carolina, completed in late 1871 and the only home Wilson's parents ever owned. It is furnished with period pieces from the 1850s–1870s, though only a few belonged to the Wilson family, including the bed on which Wilson was born. Since 2014 it has interpreted the Reconstruction era as experienced by the Wilsons and other Columbia and Richland County residents.
The house was completed by late 1871 and was the only home Woodrow Wilson's parents ever owned; the family lived there until his father resigned as pastor four years later. A grassroots campaign in 1928 stopped its scheduled demolition, and it opened as a museum in 1932. Historic Columbia took over stewardship in 1967, and after a renovation completed in 2013 the reinterpreted site reopened in 2014, renamed the Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Home in 2020.
Since 2014 the house has interpreted the Reconstruction era as lived by the Wilsons and other Columbia and Richland County residents after the Civil War. In 2020 Historic Columbia renamed it the Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Home, one of the few museums in the country devoted to that period.
The home is open to visitors with guided tours that provide insight into Wilson's life and educational programs for different age groups. It is helpful to check tour times in advance and whether reservations are needed.
The house holds the bed on which Woodrow Wilson was born, even though he was not born in this house. Most furnishings are period pieces from the 1850s to 1870s, and only a few were owned by the Wilson family. The site is one of the only museums in the country dedicated to the Reconstruction Era.
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