Carlyle House Historic Park

I got my Keys to the City pass from the visitor's bureau, which opened at 10:00 am. My first stop was the nearby Carlyle House, which honored my Keys coupon. I noticed that tours start on the hour. It was around 10:10, and I didn't want to wait 50 minutes. Without any special request, a personal tour was begun for me at 10:10. Wow! Geoff was a wonderful historian. I thought he must have a decade of experience, but he actually was fairly new to the property. The tour was informational. The house is well-preserved, and the artifacts were helpful in imagining the lives of the contemporaries. There was a slave sleeping quarters shown, and I would like even more information about the enslaved people who created the wealth, did all the building, and worked on maintenance. There was good information about the roles of women in managing the household.

I had a great experience visiting Carlyle House Historic Park. The site is very well maintained and full of history. I took a guided tour with one of the staff members, who was friendly and very knowledgeable. The explanations were clear and interesting, and they really brought the history to life. There is also a nice gift shop with a good selection of souvenirs, books, and small historical items. The prices were reasonable, making it easy to buy a souvenir or gift without spending too much. I learned a lot about the house and the people who lived there, and the tour was never boring. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who enjoys history or wants a unique experience. The guided tour is totally worth it!

We visited the house the day after Thanksgiving and were very happy we chose this tour. It was fascinating, full of interesting facts and stories. It was a good balance of history, family life and it also described the slave situation. The furniture and displays were awesome, I can't believe it was only $8.00 admission for adults and $3.00 for children. Tour guides are great.

A wonderful historic house to visit. Built even before Mount Vernon and restored beautifully. The tour guide was very knowledgeable. It is only a short walk to this house from the waterfront.

Guided tour of the house or self guided (free) admission of the basement. Great stop for those interested in the local history.

Great tour. A knowledgeable docent gave us a comprehensive tour of the house with early history of Alexandria and America.

We took a wonderful tour of Carlyle House. Joe was our guide and he was full of information. We enjoyed the tour and hearing how the house was renovated and saved from being torn down. We enjoyed hearing about the reconstruction, seeing the original parts of the home, and furnishings from the colonial period. Highly recommend.

I've lived here all my life, and this was the first visit to this piece of history. The house has been beautifully restored to the original time it was built. The docents were so very knowledgeable, which helped to bring the house to life.

What a fun stop! Personal tour of the house, including entry to all but one bedroom. Wonderful, detailed tour of this historic home. Museum is decorated in 1700's items, some original and some replicas. There's also a stop that shows the architecture/layers of materials from the home. Tour includes the history of the original owner and his family, the changes of ownership and disarray the house fell into, restoration and current state. $3 for children 6+ and $7 for adults. Tour begins with a short video and then a 45-50 minute walk through of the home. Must be able to walk stairs. There are specific chairs throughout the home to sit during the tour if needed.

The Congress of Alexandria- General Braddock & Five Colonial Governors https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Alexandria Quite Educational but also Entertaining - firing squad

*based on the advertised trick-or-treat* We arrived right at 4pm and were guided up to a table to get a treat bag. That was it. There were some costumed T-rex walking around so my son had some fun with that for a few minutes. We walked back to the garden, which was very well maintained, and then left. We were there a total of 15 minutes. We went down to the waterfront and returned to our car parked next to Carlyle House around 5:15 and all of the candy must have been handed out as there was no one in the yard. I'm glad there is other stuff to do in Old Town, because this was a bust.

Pretty house, gated. Nice gardens. What we were able to see in the garden. There's an old cannon in the front yard. The gardens are closed today for a private event. It's a simple but nice looking house even still today. It has a large property, considering the area. There is an omission to go inside of the house.

Woohoooo a veritable oasis!!! Sadly, the Carlyle 'gardens' are being used as a storage for CAT bulldozers, metal drums, coils and cranes. All the surrounding houses, are gutted: they store metal posts, cones, dust, waist-high lumps of debris, garbage and tools as if it was a shed! Unsightly. The saving Grace, are the gardens - but you can't access them, due to the bulldozers, machinery.. it is a real let-down that a construction zone has now developed, right during a post-shut summer! Rebel review: 4 gardens

Quite honestly the most boring tour of my life. Tour guide was monotone and kept correcting himself as he misspoke and very little interesting information or things to see. Save yourself some money and skip this tour...

Nice tour of the house by guide Jeff. Been working in Old Town for years, but never went in. Went by all the time. nice to hear the early history of Alexandria. The house history is neat. As is Mr. Carlyle and his path in life. I would like to have heard more about the "save" but only so much to fit into 60 minutes. time well spent.

I love history. I love stories. This place has it all. My tour guide was Steve K. He had so much to say I may have actually reached my information peak. I had questions he had all the answers. I did get a one on one tour. I went on a very slow day. I would recommend this tour while you are in town. When you go tell Penny I said, Hi. I'm absolutely sure she still lives there.

After you are done visiting Washington DC, make sure to visit Carlyle House museum in old town Alexandria, Virginia! John Carlyle was once a mentor and later a friend of George Washington. Carlyle was one of Alexandria's founding fathers whose house was the site of a meeting of a British general and five colonial governors, the latter of which were instructed to tax their people to pay for the cost of the French and Indian War. The house is decorated as it was when it was occupied in the 1750's and our tour guide was very knowledgeable and engaging! Don't miss a visit to Carlyle House. It'll be worth an hour of your time.

If you get yourself a "key to the city" pass, this is a worthwhile house to visit. Or it's $5 otherwise and you get a little video, a nice thorough tour of the house, and some really nice old furniture and architecture. It's not crucial to know who John Carlyle was, but it is a great example of a home from the mid-18th century. My only complaint was the tour guide went on a little long, most of these local houses have tours on the half hour, so I need tours to be under a half hour so I can get to the next place without a lot of wasted time. Still, I like a guide who has a lot to say. It's on a quiet street where you can likely find parking in front or since there is a lot to see around, park elsewhere and take a nice stroll around the neighborhood.

I have walked by the Carlyle House several times, and never even thought about stopping in. Today we happened to come in for a tour, and I am SO glad we did! Barbara gave us an excellent tour. She was incredibly knowledgeable, and very personable. The tour was really interesting, and you get an up close glimpse into life in the past. If you have any interest in history, or the American Revolution this $5 tour is more than worth it.

My fiancé and I took the "Death Comes to Carlyle House" your tonight and it was fantastic! For anyone looking for something different and a bit eerie, I highly recommend it. It's like stepping back in time and visiting the home of a recently deceased person and witnessing what the family did during mourning. The home has a fascinating history- a haunted one! The staff is super friendly and very knowledgeable. They've also taken all Covid precautions. I believe they're only doing these tours for the month of October, but I'll definitely go back for other events and yours!

3.5. The house is located in a busy area and we were fortunate to come on a day when there was a farmers market across the street. Then you can walk the area, there are some restaurants etc all around there. The house itself is a lot lesser land obviously than when it was built. Carlyle owned two massive plots but now it's less than one. He was a merchant in town. The house itself typical for the time, but was once the most elegant house in the area as he was a very wealthy merchant. Most fascinating part of the story was what happened to the property after the family was out of the picture. it went through a lot, including housing poorer people. A bank built in front of it, hiding it's view from everyone from all angles. It was basically lost to history... things like that fascinate me. Tiny gift shop, small garden in the back. The staircase and windows are grand but they'd been rebuilt to what they think it looked like. Some things original there. Like most places, some is and some is not original. Worth a look if in the area. The Gadsby Tavern is across the street as well. You can do both in well under 2 hours.

This historic home is named after its owner, John Carlyle. Mr. Carlyle was a merchant during colonial times. As we learned on our tour here, the house was taken over during the British invasion and a general by the name of General Edward Braddock made this place a headquarters for strategy planning of the French and Indian War. The Carlyle House is the only mansion done in this particular style (Georgian Palladian) in Alexandria. The furnishings in the space are authentic from the period, some were actually used in the home. If you take a guided tour (well worth the cost of four bucks) you will hear about how merchants, slaves and servants lived during the late 1700's and early 1800s. Outside, there is an 18th century style garden.

This was pretty good and everyone played their part very well and knew what alot about the era. They were very friendly and and fun to visit.

What happens when you've exhausted all the tourist destinations in the District? You move on to the smaller local historic sites, hence my visit. I'm really glad I had the chance to visit but it's not a "must-see" if you're short on time. I'd recommend it for locals and/or anyone interested in early American history. Tour: I'm terrible with names but want to say my docent was Shelly. She was very engaging, knowledgeable about the house, projected her voice well, and gave a very informative tour. Don't expect this to be anything like what was built in England for wealthy families or like 19th American century houses. However the scale and finishes for the 1750's on this side of the Atlantic are beautiful. Walking around the rooms really gives you a sense of how differently people lived. I learned a number of interesting things on the tour. I've always wondered why chairs often line the walls of rooms and the guide said it was because rooms were multifunctional. Sleeping arrangements were extremely close and odd by today's standards, which was interesting. I could have done without knowing chairs retrofitted with chamber pots were placed behind screens for guests, most notably; however, that little fact made me truly appreciate being born post-indoor plumbing! The house also has connections to both the Revolutionary War with George Washington and the Civil War with the Green family. I confess that while I enjoyed Mercy Street, I didn't know about the connection until I visited (a pleasant surprise). After learning the history, I'm amazed the house survived. Each room is setup to give you a very good feel for how it would have looked originally, with one exception. My favorite room is the one upstairs that shows the house in its raw form. I'm fascinated by old building techniques and restoration work, so seeing how the walls and floors were made was really interesting. Great idea to leave one room showing the construction methods of the time. Length of Visit: Budget about 90 minutes here. In addition to the tour and the introductory film, they have a nice exhibit set up that describes the house's history, its owners, and the restoration work. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to read through everything and a few minutes to walk around the house. Cost: Very reasonable at $5. Location: Extremely easy to find and located near most of the other historic sites. If you're planning on doing multiple tours (recommended), it's easy to get between locations quickly.

First I saw a 15 minute movie then came the detailed tour. The length was almost 75 minutes. I like learning who the local streets are named after. John Carlyle married Miss Fairfax ( she was from a wealthy family) and the home stands on Fairfax Street. No children survived, therefore no heirs.

Very historic, but skip the tour. It took way too long, time you can use exploring the rest of the city.

1.located in alexandria, virginia. 2.there is a very small fee of 5$ for an almost hour long tour. 3. I believe its mostly for adults but anyone who has an interest in history will get a decent fill going in. 4. What makes the site is john carlyle's house and amazing garden with a gazebo in the back. 5. I went on april 29th 2017 6. I gave it four stars because i enjoyed touring the area. Touring a house that survived the revolutionary and civil war and walking through his garden was amazing.

This review is really just for the mother's day tea that is held annually at the Carlyle House. The advertisement for the tea said that it would be catered and that there would be a live harpist. The tickets were $40 per person, so I assumed some of that was for the food, tea and venue - and some of it was for the harpist. I purchased four tickets at $160 and was disappointed to find that there was no harpist on the day of the event. I was really hyping up that part to my Mom for Mother's Day so it was a bit of a let down. Also, when you take out the harpist, those tickets are very overpriced. It's a nice venue, but there was not a lot of food included in the price. The tea cups were cute, but the silverware was plastic so it wasn't super fancy or anything. After the event, an email was sent out asking attendees to send any feedback they had to carlyle@nvrpa.org. I emailed that address asking about the harpist and was told "We also thought the harpist would be in attendance as she has been here previously and it was included in the advertising". They did not give a reason why the harpist was not there and no apology. I responded by saying that I thought we should have been informed of the change of plans and possibly compensated for it somehow but received no response. I would not attend this event again.

Combine this with a tour of nearby Gadsby's Tavern and nearby Christ Church and you'll have a great mini-Colonial walking tour of Old Town Alexandria. The City of Alexandria saved this colonial gem from the wrecking ball and lovingly restored it to its glory days. The folks here are doing a great job of telling Alexandria's story! Active schedule of events and re-enactments, including a mock funeral of John Carlyle and a Halloween program, among many other events.

Amazing venue, we just had our civil wedding there, the place is just amazing for pictures, 100% recommended is your planning your wedding!

Alison and Penelope are fantastic, and the garden and house are beautiful! Truly an asset to the community.

Hidden gem of Alexandria. Great history review of Alexandria and how America has changed/transformed. Beautiful building and interiors. Also beautiful yard.

What a treat right here in Old Town Alexandria... for you lovers of Mt Vernon, this is a local, easy, lovely place to visit... You enter in the basement with warm staff, cute shop & nominal entrance fee... 10 min video, 50 min tour... tons of interesting facts, history and Alexandria context... Best part is you actually enter all the rooms because they want you to feel like you're stepping into history... Loved it!

Great tour, very friendly. The guide was knowledgeable and tailored her sharing to our group demographic. I recommend if you are interested in History or architecture.

I made reservations for their Mother's Day afternoon tea and they cancelled without notice. This was a very special Mother's Day for me considering I am getting married and moving to Wisconsin and will not be close to my mother anymore. The only explaination I was given was "I only work here once a month, I don't know what happened". NEVER trust this place for any special events, because they will find a way to ruin it. I called to confirm my reservations on Mother's Day morning at which time I was told there was nothing they could do. Terrible customer service. I have worked in catering and the establishments I have worked at would have NEVER been so unprofessional! We made it a point to be accommodating!!

I was looking forward to it, but when the docent made rude, flippant comments about my home town, I left. Southern hospitality? Clearly not. This was an older woman who should have known better than to speak to paying guests like that. Happily, I only wasted $5, which I don't mind giving to the museum.

Loved touring the Carlyle house and learning about all the history that took place within its walls! Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the Carlyle house as well as information about Alexandria itself. Definitely a must see in Alexandria!