Carlyle House

We took a wonderful tour of Carlyle House. Joe was our guide and he was full of information. We enjoyed the tour and hearing how the house was renovated and saved from being torn down. We enjoyed hearing about the reconstruction, seeing the original parts of the home, and furnishings from the colonial period. Highly recommend.

My husband and I held our wedding ceremony at Carlyle House and it was absolutely beautiful! The staff were fabulous to work with and Jaclyn did a wonderful job working with our wedding coordinator to make sure the ceremony and photos went smoothly. We are so happy!Visited onWeekdayWait timeNo wait

I've lived here all my life, and this was the first visit to this piece of history. The house has been beautifully restored to the original time it was built. The docents were so very knowledgeable, which helped to bring the house to life.Visited onWeekdayWait timeNo waitReservation recommendedNo

Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. Very interesting visit that makes you understand more about Alexandria’s history. Beautiful gardens and neighborhood.Visited onWeekdayWait timeNo waitReservation recommendedYes

Great tour guide. Nice way to spend an hour or so. Get the city key for $20 and it’s included.Visited onWeekdayWait timeNo wait

It is hard for me to write this review. I dont usually write negative things, event after many negative experiences. I Have been here multiple times as a wedding, and engagement photographer, and every time I've had a problem working with this venue. Like most venues you are required to have a photography permit, which we always pick up in person as a way to greet the venue staff. This is fine, and we always try to go by the rules. However, some of the staff is incredibly rude every time, not just to me but sometimes to my clients. I am a very soft spoken person, and i never retaliate. I deal with stressful situations all the time as I am a wedding photographer, so this truly is unique to this venue. During our most recent event we noticed that they had placed a whole bunch of signs for a small story walk which is quite charming, but not for an elopement. We asked if we could remove them, and the person at the front desk said yes. We said we would put them back after the ceremony. However, right before the ceremony 2 minutes before, a staff member came outside scolding us. Looked up and down at us, and said "no no no, you people are not allowed in here. Do you even have a permit?" As a professional I was astonished, of course we do. Our client booked the event with you, and if we needed an extra permit you never communicated that with them. The person hissed at us like a cat and asked us to immediately place the signs back. Which we did, as we always avide by the rules, but wondering how could a venue allow this? You could tell the stress level on the bride just went nuclear. To make matters worse, they turned the sprinklers on, during the ceremony. At 2:00 pm. I think this just makes it clear we were not welcome, which is astonishing. If you are planning to have a wedding or any elopement, I would recommend any of the other places in the DMV. The level of unprofessionalism from the staff will have an impact on your special day. I hope the carlyle house addresses this, as it is a very beautiful and popular venue.

I am a harpist and I recently played for a wedding on the back veranda of the Carlyle House. It was easy to wheel my concert grand harp around the right side of the building and set up my instrument with the exquisite garden as my backdrop. It was the perfect area for a small wedding and even with the no electronic amplification policy, my harp was perfectly able to fill the space acoustically. I highly recommend this venue for a simple yet elegant wedding ceremony.

We really enjoyed our tour & visit of The Carlyle Historic House in Alexandria VA recently. It was a nice surprise to find it close by to us. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon activity. We love visiting historic sites & learning more about our history!! Such a wonderful surprise!!! Thankful it was restored & preserved for us to learn and enjoy!!

I'm an Alexandria based wedding photographer and have photographed several elopements and engagements at Carlyle House. Both the elopements I'm sharing photos from were cloudy days, but the beauty of the house and garden still shines through! It's smaller and easy to get around, but still offers a good variety of backgrounds for photos! Also, because it's in the heart of Old Town Alexandria, you always have the option to get photos at Carlyle House, then venture the streets of Old Town! You need a permit to have your photos here, so be sure to connect with their office early to get the time/date that works best for you and your photographer!

The tour was great, highly recommendedVisited onWeekendWait timeNo waitReservation recommendedYes