Tailored Tours of Aiken

While on tour we and our guests are sometimes treated to extra special sights and Saturday didn’t disappoint. Call us for your tour of historic Aiken and let’s see what extras we might find together!

May we never forget those who so selflessly gave their lives trying to save as many innocent victims as they could.

Despite COVID taking so much fun out of life, we here in Aiken are still able to enjoy historic tours. All our driving tours offer masks and hand sanitizing wipes just in case our guests don't have their own. As we drive around town, we all have a good time seeing the sights and sharing the fantastic history of this one of a kind city. We always meet as clients/tour guide but leave each other as friends. And THAT'S what makes life in Aiken so wonderful.

Sweet smiles and laughter despite the wearing of masks, the sharing of Aiken's beauty and history, all make for a wonderful time with new friends and returning friends.

Don't we just have some of the best looking folks in all the land? We are so blessed to be able to tour despite the virus. With sanitized car, face masks, hand sanitizer, and lots of history and natural beauty around us, we all have a great time together. Be sure and book your tour, bring your own mask or use one we provide for you and be ready to have a ball while you fall in love with Aiken.

When touring we sometimes get little extra special sights and on one of our tours we were all treated to a scene where they were filming what's to be a movie about (or so I'm told) the Winter Colonists. Book your tour with us and let's see what extras we see together!

Serving our community and those who visit is a joy and treat for us. And meeting new friends, learning from them, and sharing our gorgeous Aiken is what makes life so grand. Because of y'all, we at Tailored Tours of Aiken are the luckiest people in the world!

God bless America and may He grant each of you happiness and health this 4th of July.🇺🇸🗽

Yes, we're opened for touring and we couldn't be more excited! New friends were made, our beautiful city was highlighted, and life is sweet. Our guests and friends are simply the best.

Many of them realize why the saying, "If you're lucky enough to live in Aiken, you're lucky enough" is so true. I think the saying applies to being lucky enough to visit Aiken too.💐

Beginning June 1, we will officially reopen for business!

Our touring van will be vacuumed and sanitized before and between each tour as it has been done since we first opened for business seven years ago. With COVID-19 currently altering our lives, we offer hand sanitizer, face masks, and contactless temperature readings for our guests.

A few things have changed: for now no one may sit in the front passenger seat, there may be no more than four passengers in the vehicle, and a walking tour will be the only availability for groups/families of more than four.

We do apologize for any inconvenience this may pose but please understand any changes are for your and your family's safety as well as the tour guide's. If and when the state gives the "all clear" we will gladly resume to full capacity.

Until then, call us to schedule your tour of historic Aiken to see and hear all about our beautiful city's colorful and fantastic history!

For the men and women who so selflessly gave their lives for their families and all who followed, we can never thank them enough nor should we ever forget them. May God grant them peace and at He bless America always.

Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina! Happy Birthday to our beautiful home!

Here’s wishing all mothers a much loved and joy filled Mother’s Day! You deserve it!💐

Last entry here we visited the great toilet paper scare of 1973. On a nicer note of toilet paper, did you know it used to come in colors and prints? Even tissue paper came in colors and prints too! Some of us may remember it, some are too young, and some just never paid attention; but yes, back in the late 1950's through the early 1980's toilet paper came in solid pastel colors and even colored floral prints.

Back in the early years bathrooms were made in colored tile usually with matching colored tubs, commodes, and sinks. The lady of the house wanted everything to match so towels would have been the color of the tile and of course, the toilet paper would have to match too. I remember as a small girl getting to "pick" the toilet paper for my mom - so long as I picked blue so as to match the blue tile walls and floor. I longed for green or pink but since it didn't match it didn't happen. As time and decor changed, ladies weren't so bent on matchy-matchy so colors didn't really matter and eventually some doctors questioned whether the dye was safe for one's backside and environmentalists said the dye wasn't good for the environment. By the early 1980's colors disappeared and what we now have is all white toilet paper . . . boring.

I think I'd like to see colors and prints come back. What do you all think?

Unfortunately this COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the ugly in many of us - literally and figuratively. The worst part deals with the hoarding of foods and toiletries not out of necessity but out of fear. Food? Okay, one could perhaps argue the point. But toilet paper? Why buy in bulk and then keep buying as though it were the next currency? But to each his/her own panic purchase, I guess.

You know the toilet paper panic buying of 2020 reminds me of the one in 1973. What? You didn't know there was a run on TP back in the day? Well read further and you'll find out all about it. And it had nothing to do with a pandemic and being shut in either!

Turns out that in December of 1973, a Wisconsin congressman, Harold Froehlich, while commenting about the gas and meat shortages in the nation, he stated, "The next thing we're gonna have to worry about is a potential toilet paper shortage." He wasn't saying there was, it was just an exaggeration. But a few nights later during his ever famous opening monologue on the "Tonight Show", Johnny Carson said, "There is an acute shortage of toilet paper in the good old United States. We gotta quit writing on it!" His writers left out the word "potential" and millions of people went scattering to their local stores buying up as much toilet paper as they could get! It wasn't until a month later that Walter Cronkite, the lead newsman for CBS News let people know that Scott Tissue was having trouble keeping up with the demand because people were buying it up even before it was hitting the store shelves which forced Scott to create "an allocation system for the national distribution of toilet paper".

When the gravity of the situation hit Johnny Carson he stated on his show, "For all my life in entertainment, I don't want to be remembered as the man who created a false toilet paper scare. Apparently there is no shortage!" People slowed their buying and everyone had plenty of paper with which to take care of matters. Let's hope people slow their roll (literally and figuratively) and only buy what they need so we can all share in the squeezable Charmin or ultra plush Northern again.

Although still in quarantine for Corona Virus doesn’t mean we can’t learn. Right?

Years ago Americans were terrified of polio. Children were kept indoors for fear they’d catch polio, thousands of people were hospitalized, many were placed in “iron lungs”, and many died as a result of polio. What does that have to do with a board game?

Candy Land is a game many of us grew up playing. But did you know it was designed in 1948 by a former teacher? Her name was Eleanor Abbott, and while she was recovering from polio in San Diego, California, she designed the game for and it was tested by the children suffering from polio in the same wards in the hospital. The children suggested that Abbott submit the game to Milton Bradley Company. The game was bought by Milton Bradley and first published in 1949 as a temporary fill in for their then main product line, school supplies. Candy Land became Milton Bradley's best selling game surpassing its previous top seller, Uncle Wiggly, and put the company in the same league as its main competitor, Parker Brothers. The original art has been purported to be by Abbott. I wonder what, if anything, will come as a result of COVID-19.

[04/06/20]   The Masters is now rescheduled and yes, we will be touring again, so make plans now for your private tour of Aiken!

Although our country is in non-travel mode, you can still make plans for future trips and you won’t want to miss Aiken! 2018 we were #1 small town in the south and this year we made #10 in top twenty small towns in the south. This quarantine won’t last forever, so go ahead and make plans to visit here and call us for a private tour of our beautiful town.

This week I was diagnosed with influenza A and the doctor put me on a five day quarantine so I wouldn’t share this nasty illness. As a result, I’ve had to cancel all this week’s tours. To those of you who so graciously understood my plight, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I take pride and joy in what I do and canceling tours upsets me horribly. Please know that I humbly apologize for not being able to serve you this week, but know I’m doing all I can to get better quickly. I hope you know too that your well wishes and prayers are really helping. Thank you all so much for your wonderful support!

It's been a while since we've posted but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy. Not rain - and we've had a lot of it - or cold or gray days stops our tours from rolling, and lucky for us we've had great times and wonderful people to chase the winter doldrums away.

Our wish for all of you . . .

Tinsel, Christmas lights, and ornaments galore are oh so shiny and fun, but none as pretty or as exciting as the guests/new friends we meet daily. We at Tailored Tours of Aiken are truly blessed.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Aiken! I know we’re prejudiced, but honestly our city is just the prettiest and best small town around!

You just never know who or what you'll see in and around Aiken! Today while touring one group got to see Santa posing for pictures at The Alley and another group got to see gorgeous horses with their ever so sweet riders. Do we live in a Hallmark town or what? All we need is snow now! 😊

Not every time but there are many times while touring my guests are treated to extra special sights. There's never a dull view in Aiken. Come tour with us and let's see what surprise we might find!

Dots of color among our evergreens helps to make Aiken our perfect picture of natural beauty. Come tour with us and see for yourself!

Aiken Civic Ballet Company

If you’re wanting that “Hallmark Christmas” look no further than your own hometown. Aiken has it all. And be sure to call us, Tailored Tours of Aiken, for your very own private tour of historic Aiken!

Great article about all of the great holiday happenings in City of Aiken, South Carolina Government including the Nutcracker presented by the Aiken Civic Ballet! https://www.ourstate.com/a-christmas-wonderland-in-aiken/

Temporary ice skating rink and holiday village officially breaks ground in Aiken

Are y'all looking for something to do after touring with us? Well look what's coming soon in Aiken!

aikenstandard.com Community members and officials celebrated the start of construction on Aiken's temporary ice skating rink and holiday village with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Citizens Park on Monday morning.

[10/31/19]   Parts of Aiken County is under a tornado warning! Be safe! It SHOULD be clear by 7:00pm.

No matter how beautiful our city's scenery and sights are, nothing beats the smiles and hugs given by our wonderful guests and friends. YOU and THEY are the reason why we keep doing what we do. If you haven't taken our tour, please do call us (803) 295-3870 to schedule your private driving tour of historic Aiken or a walking tour of haunted Aiken.

While on tour with us, you never know what extras you might see and especially if it’s near Halloween!

Historic Tidbit: few people realize that when President Franklin Roosevelt died at Warm Springs, Georgia, he had his lady friend, Lucy Mercer Rutherford, an Aiken Winter Colonist, with him as well as an artist friend of hers. That portrait was never completed due to his untimely death. And even though Eleanor was livid that FDR had been entertaining Lucy again, she later gave Lucy this painting of him.