National Historic Landmark · house · Charleston, South Carolina

Robert Barnwell Rhett House

Historic house in South Carolina. Added to the National Register in 1973, and a National Historic Landmark.

National Historic Landmark Listed 1973

Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 6 in the Commons category

1fire
active

C-74 Fm Rx (prescribed burn) · 29 miles away

Interagency incident data as of 2026-10-17

Map ↓

What it is

The Robert Barnwell Rhett House is a historic house at 6 Thomas Street in Charleston, South Carolina. A National Historic Landmark, it is significant as the home of Robert Barnwell Rhett, a leading secessionist politician. He opposed John C. Calhoun to lead the Bluffton Movement for separate state action on the Tariff of 1842. Rhett was one of the leading fire-eaters at the Nashville Convention of 1850, which failed to endorse his aim of secession.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

Register name	Rhett, Robert Barnwell, House
Property type	Building
Address	6 Thomas St., Charleston, SC
County	Charleston County
Listed	Nov 7, 1973
Listed for	Politics and government
Level of significance	National
Reference number	73001691
Type of place	house
Designations	National Historic Landmark
Contributing resources	1 building

The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗

Visiting

Address	6 Thomas St., Charleston, SC
Coordinates	32.7863° N, 79.9423° W · Directions ↗
Also in Charleston	111 listed places in Charleston → · walking tours →
Nearest national park unit	Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park · 5 miles · on Park Atlas
Federal campgrounds nearby	Buck Hall Recreation Area 28 miles

Listing on the Register does not open the door. Unless a museum or park runs it, treat this as private property and see it from the sidewalk.

At a glance

State: South Carolina
County: Charleston County
Listed: 1973
Type: Building
Landmark: Yes

Cell signal

Verizon: 4G LTE
AT&T: 5G (fast)
T-Mobile: 5G (fast)

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

Sister site

Park Atlas

Every unit of the National Park System, with its fees, hours, alerts and campgrounds.

Open Park Atlas →

This record is built from National Park Service sources, re-read every Saturday, and Wikidata, re-read on the first Saturday of each month. Register Atlas is independent and is not affiliated with any agency, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. How the data is built →

Explore

Map

Nearby in Charleston County

All listings in Charleston County →

Building · 0.1 km

St. Mark's Episcopal Church

BuildingListed

Building · 0.2 km

Old Bethel United Methodist Church

BuildingListed 1975

Building · 0.3 km

Bethel Methodist Church

BuildingListed 1974

Building · 0.3 km

Nicholson, James, House

BuildingListed 1974

Local history books for Charleston

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

The Huguenot Church in Charleston
Margaret Middleton Rivers Eastman and Richard Donohoe & Maurice Eugenie Horne Thompson, 2018
Find at Bookshop.org
St. Philip's Church of Charleston
Dorothy Middleton Anderson and Margaret Middleton Rivers Eastman, 2015
Find at Bookshop.org
Charleston's longest green line
Donald M. Williams, 2011
Find at Bookshop.org
Six miles to Charleston
Bruce Orr, 2010
Find at Bookshop.org
Vital signs in Charleston
Carolyn B. Matalene and Katherine E. Chaddock, 2009
Find at Bookshop.org

Guidebooks to historic places in South Carolina

Classic Carolina road trips from Columbia
Thomas M. Poland, 2014
Find at Bookshop.org
Columbia Civil War landmarks
Tom (Historian) Elmore, 2011
Find at Bookshop.org
Touring the Carolinas' Civil War sites
Clint Johnson, 2011
Find at Bookshop.org
A tour of historic Sullivan's Island
Cindy Lee, 2010
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

When was Robert Barnwell Rhett House listed on the National Register?

Nov 7, 1973. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.

Source: National Park Service

Where is Robert Barnwell Rhett House?

6 Thomas St., Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina. The nearest national park unit is Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, 5 miles away.

Source: Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park

Where is the nomination form for Robert Barnwell Rhett House?

The National Archives holds the nomination form, the document that made the case for listing.

Source: National Archives

Are there campgrounds near Robert Barnwell Rhett House?

One federal campground is within reach, Buck Hall Recreation Area, 28 miles away.

Source: Campsite Atlas

Is there cell service at Robert Barnwell Rhett House?

FCC coverage maps show Verizon 4G LTE, AT&T 5G, and T-Mobile 5G at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Is there a wildfire near Robert Barnwell Rhett House right now?

1 active incident within 50 miles as of 2026-10-17, nearest C-74 Fm Rx, 29 miles away.

Source: Map

Sources

Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 73001691. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.