The Hampton-Preston Mansion epitomizes the lives of the planter elite in antebellum South Carolina. Both the Hamptons and the Prestons moved in the highest social and political circles of Columbia society. Their wealth came from cotton plantations in Columbia and sugar cane plantations in Louisiana, on which hundreds of slaves labored.

Ainsley Hall, a wealthy Columbia merchant, built the house in 1818. After Wade Hampton I bought the property in 1823, he altered the house considerably. The exterior of the house received a stucco finish, scored to appear like cut stone. Mary Cantey Hampton, his third wife, designed elaborate gardens that surrounded the mansion.