A native of Bristol, Rhode Island, Nathaniel Russell (1738-1820) arrived in
Charleston as a young man in 1765. As an agent for northern merchants, he quickly set about amassing a huge fortune in his adopted city. The Russells were benefactors to many of the city's charitable associations. Mrs. Russell's beneficence aided the establishment of one of America's first churches for the exclusive use of the poor. Mr. Russell was a founder and first president of Charleston's New England Society, a fraternal and philanthropic organization of Charlestonians with New England ancestry that still thrives today.
The Nathaniel Russell House interprets the lives of both the Russells and their African-American slaves through the workings of a grand Federal townhouse in one of the antebellum South's premier urban centers.
The house is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday and 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.