March 15, 2018 - March 18, 2018
There is the Blue Grass Country of Kentucky and there are winter resorts, the kind one finds in Florida. Put those two together and you have Aiken, South Carolina. Historically speaking, Aiken was established in the 1830s and became an attraction particularly for wealthy Charlestonians who wanted a “place of retreat from the heat and malaria of unhealthier regions.” Aiken recovered quickly from the Civil War, though it was the site of one of General Sherman’s rare defeats. By the 1870s the town was attracting wealthy northerners, who were lured by the opportunities for equestrian sports and a mild climate, thus establishing Aiken’s celebrated “Winter Colony.”
Today, Aiken retains a sophisticated aura of southern charm and house-party hospitality with fashionable and historic homes in town, as well as an outlying region enhanced by impressive country estates, beautiful Georgian houses, thoroughbred stables, polo fields and racetracks. The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art in collaboration with Classical Excursions invites you to discover this unique community with rare entrée to some of its finest homes.
