COLUMBIA, SC
Two South Carolina holiday tours are included in Southern Living magazine’s “The South’s Best Historic Christmas Home Tours.”
The list of 15 tours is comprised of trips through historic abodes around the South. Among them is Historic Columbia’s holiday house tour, which includes stops at the Robert Mills House and the Hampton-Preston Mansion, located across the street from each other on Blanding Street.
At the Robert Mills House, guests see how a home of that size was decorated in the 1820s at a time before Christmas trees were popular, according to the Historic Columbia website. At the Hampton-Preston Mansion, guests will see how different — and similar — traditions were during a Victorian-era Christmas, which included eggnog, poinsettias and Christmas trees.
Also listed in the magazine’s roundup are the “Christmas in Charleston” tours, which show guests how historic homes in the Holy City are decked out in holiday garb, including holiday traditions from the city’s earliest families and Gullah spirituals and holiday songs, according to the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau website. Guests can take their pick from historic home tours, fishing and harbor tours and a holiday pub crawl.
The Historic Columbia holiday house tours and the Christmas in Charleston tours run through Dec. 30.