Hammond Harwood House Museum

Our second historic house - built as a fashionable townhouse by a local tobacco grower - Mathais Hammond. Seems not to have been a family home - rented by various families, and then the last owner died without a will and the furniture was auctioned off. St Johns College bought it, then it was bought by the group that made it a museum. Apparently, in dribs and drabs, the auctioned off furniture, a lot of it original to the house, is being returned, which no-doubt makes the current managers very happy!
However, it means that this is a beautifully furnished museum, that is not particularly kid friendly, especially when the 3 yo is acting a little crazy. Chairs that are invitingly along the hall can't be sat on, bits of china are the real deal expensive antiques, and the bed, that someone in our family asked if they could jump on, is an antique from England and one of the original furnishings... you get the picture. It is beautifully painted specifically to show off the wood carvings, because the interest in this building is less the owner or the occupiers, and more the architect, and the architectural details, woodcarvings, and the beautiful furniture (and original old oil paintings). I honestly hadn't picked up that they called themselves a museum, and luckily hubby hadn't, or we probably wouldn't have visited.
I think I would enjoy seeing this house again without the children, and not the last tour of the day, which was very large, but a bit hurried. We didn't get to linger in the garden because the tour took all of the available time before the house shut for the day.