A Replica of the Original Oval Office Comes to Charleston
A replica of General George Washington's Revolutionary War tent, which served as the country's first Oval Office, will be on the College of Charleston's Rivers Green, June 12-14. A ticketed evening reception and sneak preview will be held Friday, June 12, and tours of the tent and other interactive programing will be available to the public free of charge on June 13 and 14 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A replica of General George Washington’s Revolutionary War tent, the office and sleeping quarters that he used as the command center of the Continental Army, will cover Rivers Green on the College of Charleston campus June 12-14, 2026.
Made possible by Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution, the First Oval Office Project features a hand-stitched replica tent and associated camp equipage and furnishings that promise to connect the Charleston community to the living legacy of America’s founding.
The tent will be pitched on Rivers Green, located behind the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library.
A private, ticketed evening reception will be held on Friday, June 12, at 5:30 p.m. and offer an intimate experience to explore the tent and interact with the Museum’s historical interpreters. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be provided. This event is exclusively for guests 21 years and older.
On June 13 and 14, the tent and its interactive programming will be available to the public free of charge from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Throughout the weekend, a boutique exhibit will be available for viewing in Addlestone Library with items rarely, if ever, on public display, including a first edition copy of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. These archival materials tell the stories of everyday Charlestonians during the Revolutionary War and explores the legacy of America’s founding ideals from the perspectives of women, African Americans, Jewish communities and more.
The exhibit’s treasures are drawn from the holdings of the College of Charleston Special Collections, the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture and the South Carolina Historical Society.
“This is exactly the kind of experience a library hopes to create — where something isn’t just read about, but experienced,” says John White ’99, dean of College Libraries. “Moments like this remind us that history is layered. The tent represents leadership and decision-making at the highest level, while the materials in the exhibit reveal how those same events were experienced by people in Charleston from all walks of life and backgrounds.”
The timing could not be more fitting. The First Oval Office Project will take place just days before Carolina Day, which commemorates South Carolina’s pivotal 1776 victory at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, and amid the nationwide celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
“The First Oval Office Project reminds us all of the determination and commitment of soldiers from a variety of backgrounds in the American Revolution, who often faced extraordinarily difficult odds and extreme hardships across all thirteen colonies,” says Sandra Slater, professor of history and director of the Program in the Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World. “Immersive experiences allow all of us, not just scholars of early American history, to imagine the lived realities of our founding generation in ways more tangible than the written word.”
Partners for the First Oval Office Project event include the College of Charleston’s Libraries, the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program, the South Carolina Historical Society and the Museum of the American Revolution. General George Washington’s original sleeping and office tent from the Revolutionary War is on permanent display at the Museum of the American Revolution in historic Philadelphia.
