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- Discover the fascinating origin story of The Mills House Hotel, a Charleston icon that has welcomed guests since 1853. Before becoming one of the city’s finest hotels, it was the grand mansion owned by Charleston’s influential Grimké family. (Two of the family’s most famed members, sisters Sarah and Angelina, were avid women’s rights activists, a direct response to their father’s belief in women’s inferiority, as well as ardent abolitionists. They eventually went on to become the first white women to represent the American Anti-Slavery Society in front of a state legislature and remained the sole Southern white women actively involved in the abolition movement.) Eventually, the manor made its way into the hands of enterprising businessman Otis Mills, who saw its potential to become the finest hotel in Charleston. He invested some $200,000 in its reimagining, a sizeable sum in those days, adding innovative amenities like indoor plumbing, steam heating, and mounted gaslights. Unsurprisingly, the Mills House Hotel was a success from the time it debuted, attracting travelers from across the country. Notably, the first floor of the hotel played host to the barbershop of Joseph Rainey, one of the most prominent freedmen in Charleston and the first African American ever elected to Congress.
- Admire the remarkable resilience of The Mills House Hotel. Less than ten years after its opening, the Mills House Hotel came under siege with the start of the Civil War, which broke out across Charleston Harbor at Fort Sumter in 1861. The city became a battlefield, with nearly all its city blocks destroyed by the Union army. Still, with the war raging around it, the hotel endured and even continued welcoming guests.
- Marvel at the stunning Italian Renaissance Revival architecture of Mills House Charleston, Curio Collection by Hilton. Upon its grand debut in 1953, the hotel was hailed for its resemblance to a palatial Italian estate, with its intricate ceiling moldings, marble mantels, terracotta cornices beneath every window, and romantic iron balconies anchoring the front façade. In the late 1960s, after decades of disrepair, new owners sought to restore The Mills House Hotel to its former glory. They undertook a reconstruction process based on the hotel’s original layout, salvaging its iconic iron balconies, and bringing in plaster artisans to recreate the ornate ceiling and archway moldings. More recently, Mills House was renovated once again in, between 2017 and 2022, with the aim of preserving the hotel’s historical charm and elegant architecture for many guests to come.
- Walk in the footsteps of some of the hotel’s most famous guests. With its exquisite design and charming setting, Mills House Charleston, Curio Collection by Hilton has welcomed many illustrious individuals throughout the years. During the early 1900s, the hotel was the home away from home for President Theodore Roosevelt, who was in the city for the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition of 1902. However, he was not the only U.S. commander in chief to check in, as other presidential guests have stayed there, too, including Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Joe Biden. Fittingly, this palatial hotel has hosted both European and Hollywood royalty, too, such as Princess Caroline of Monaco, actress Elizabeth Taylor, actor Paul Newman, and singer Tony Bennett.
