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(July 2008) Twenty-five years after Francis Silas Rodgers, one of Charleston's wealthiest and most prominent post-Civil War businessmen, built a four story, 24-room, red brick residential mansion, it was described as "one of the handsomest" in the city in a 1911 edition of the Charleston paper.

Today Rodgers' former home is known as the Wentworth Mansion, a AAA Five-Diamond rated accommodation located in downtown Charleston. It still remains one of the most impressive structures in a city world-famous for its historical architecture.

History
The Mansion, so named because it is on Wentworth Street, opened in 1998 as a 21-room classic country inn after a $6 million, 18 month renovation that preserved 95% of the original home while subtly converting former family and servant bedrooms into unique, deluxe guest quarters.

Unlike movies or history books, a stay at the Wentworth Mansion is a visual and tactical reminder of Southern aristocracy and wealth in the late 1880s when cotton was king and those who made fortunes lived with elegance amid casual opulence.

Rodgers' 24,000-square-foot home was built in 1886 during America's Gilded Age when the rich often made an ostentatious display of their wealth. (It was only nine years later that George Vanderbilt finished the Biltmore House. Today, you can visit the Biltmore House, but you can stay overnight at the Wentworth.)

Rodgers built his home in the French Second Empire style, often defined by a mansard roof double sloped with steep sides on the lower roof portion and flatter on the upper roof portion to gain more interior space.

Back Entrance
Today, guests approach the Wentworth's carefully cultivated grounds from Smith Street through two gouged and chipped original marble posts (just wide enough for a horse-drawn carriage). An intricate wrought-iron fence provides privacy around the 1.5-acre estate.

Parking on the paved rear lot holds 21 vehicles (extra parking for another 20 vehicles is available nearby) and guests enter through a rear door after taking in the sight of the towering four-story mansion and the manicured back yard with healthy green grass, flower beds and a magnificent, still-blooming magnolia tree that dominates the yard.

Brick pathways overlay the lawn and lead to an upward flight of a dozen white marble steps at the rear entrance.

Interior
Inside, immediately on the right before the concierge/check-in desk, an open doorway leads to the Harleston Parlor (so named because the area was known as Harleston Village from 1760 until the 1790s). It is here where complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres are served nightly from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Like everything about the Wentworth Mansion, the wine is first class. Our choices were a 1997 EccoDomani Merlot or a Stonehaven Chardonnay. They complemented a roast beef crustini with horseradish cream sauce.

The parlor's soft ambiance includes an original grandfather clock owned by the Rodgers family in one corner, a working gas fireplace surrounded by imported Italian marble mantle topped by a beveled mirror, six shelves of hardback books and an oil painting of a mausoleum with Charleston's Ashley River in the background. Huge oak pocket doors sunk between the walls pull out and seal the parlor when necessary.

A couch, four stuffed easy chairs and two cushioned corner chairs provide places to sit and relax where afternoon tea and lemonade are served daily from 2-4 p.m. One wall of the parlor contains a glass-enclosed curio sideboard (an original piece from the Rodgers family) with Wentworth memorabilia for sale, like a needlepoint doorknob hanging pillow that reads "Do Not Disturb" for $10. There is a robe for $50 and note cards for $6. The oak ceiling is wrapped with original hand-carved plaster moldings.

The beautifully appointed sun porch attracts guests in the afternoon to relax and enjoy the sunlight and brandy, port and sherry which are available complimentary during the day and evening.

Down the public hallway is the Rodgers' Library, named after Mrs. Rodgers, with walls of leather-bound books, soft leather chairs, and a writing desk offer a quiet retreat for guests to relax and read,

Off the library is a small outdoor sun porch where smoking is allowed at a wrought-iron round table.

On the Garden level of the house, a small executive board room big enough to hold ten people seems the perfect place for a high-powered meeting. Floors throughout the house are natural wood, the same as when the family moved in.

One particular feature of the Wentworth Mansion is a cupola on the top of the house that is reached by first taking the elevator to the top floor and then climbing circular iron steps to reach the most spectacular view in the city of Charleston with its aspiring church steeples, syncopated skyline, harbour and rivers.

The cupola has a varnished interior wooden walk-around with windows from the waist up offering a 360-degree view. A bench and a phone offer a chance to call home.

A glass handrail encloses the outside walk-around with benches along the wall to sit upon. Smoking is also permitted here. (Knowledgeable diners at Wentworth's Circa 1886 restaurant have been known to take after-dinner drinks and cigars to the cupola to savor the romantic view.)

While all the Wentworth public areas are worth sampling, it is the sumptuous rooms that make guests yearn to return. With each room uniquely shaped and furnished, guests can return to a favorite or try another room for a different experience.

Rooms
All rooms have mahogany king-size beds with soft Italian Frette linens; 51-channel televisions; wireless Internet access; stereo/CD players (we had three CDs to sample: a Miles Davis Collection, Lydian Symphonies and the Steve Miller Band); phones with two lines; small refrigerators stocked with half-a-dozen sodas, two bottles of water and roasted local peanuts, and large baths with marble floors and oversized whirlpool tubs. Most rooms have working gas fireplaces with marble mantels; most bathrooms have glassed-in showers; some rooms have a sun porch sitting room; most rooms have high ceilings (some tin, some plaster, some wood); some rooms have day beds or sofa beds.

Typical bathroom amenities include Gilbert and Soames glycerin soap, hydrating body lotion and shampoo and conditioner. A loofa scrubbing brush, shower cap and sewing kit are provided. There is also Wentworth soap for the Jacuzzi and a shell bowl full of bubble bath salts.

The typical bathroom has a waist-high movable silver towel rack, a cushioned bench, a silver trash can and a weight scale. The marble shelf holds a silver bucket for cotton balls, a silver tissue holder, a make-up mirror anchored to the wall above, and a beveled mirror over the single sink. The checkered floor is a tasteful combination of black, white and tan marble.

Magazines include Leading Estates of the World, Charleston Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Charleston Gateway and Vacation Charleston.

Turndown (between 7 - 9:30 pm.) includes a postcard with the next day's weather forecast and a pair of truffles from the Wentworth's restaurant, Circa 1886.

Guest Services
Complimentary breakfast is served in the property’s on-site restaurant, Circa 1886, from 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. daily with offerings that vary. While staff is there to help, guests help themselves to such items as: three types of dry cereal, three types of jar jams and jellies, five juices, eight types of tea, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, salmon, assorted cheeses and fruit, six different types of bread (multi-grain, cheese, country bread, poppy seed, whole wheat and cinnamon), cinnamon rolls, Carolina sticky buns, muffins, shrimp and grits, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and ham streudel, decaffeinated and caffeinated coffees. Wentworth class shows with Wedgewood bone china and Oberon silverware.

"We want guests to view this as a destination resort," said owner Rick Widman, president of Charming Inns, which also includes the historic John Rutledge House Inn, Kings Courtyard Inn, Fulton Lane Inn and Victoria House Inn, all in Charleston.

Wentworth is away from the hub-bub of downtown, situated in a quiet, relaxed residential neighborhood, yet Market Street and Charleston nightlife is only a ten-minute walk away.

Special Features
Tourists often are brought by on tours to see the wooden parquet floors, Italian marble fireplaces, mahogany wainscotting, massive oak staircase, Tiffany-stained glass transoms and windows, Oriental rugs and imported chandeliers.

The two original chandeliers in the Grand mansion suite were made in Europe and the builder sent a man to Charleston to see that they were property installed. The parlor of this huge suite is often used for receptions and private parties.

It was once the office of Robert Scarborough, president of Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Company, which owned the house for 57 years. The company sold the house to Widman in 1997.

Front Entrance
While the parking lot is in the rear, some visitors first enter from the Wentworth Street front entrance.

Semi-circular granite steps lead upward to the tiled floor portico flanked by four Corinthian columns. On each side are azalea bushes, crepe myrtle and maple trees, flowers and shrubbery.

When today's visitors enter through the 12-foot-tall mahogany double doors, they encounter a small parlor between the front door and the lobby, with mahogany walls and cushioned seats on each wall. The massive wooden interior door is topped with stained Tiffany glass. Once inside, a guestbook atop a marble table records gushing comments from guests.

An oriental rug sits atop Aztec ceramic tile (there is a cotton plant on one tile, symbolizing the source of Rodgers' wealth). Against one wall rests a 19th-century hat and coat stand, original furniture of the house, with umbrellas to counter sudden thunderstorms.

Another marble table with beveled mirrors above holds fresh cut flowers and brochures of small luxury hotels. On walls throughout the public areas are lithograph prints, landscape paintings and photographs of the house and the Rodgers family.

No matter which entrance you use to see Wentworth Mansion, you will be impressed.

Rates
Rates range from $245 a night during the off-season and $295 to $705 for the Grand Mansion suite during the season. (Updated July 2008)