Drayton Hall Southern Plantation
Drayton Hall Southern Plantation
What is a trip to Charleston without a stop at the exquisite and highly popular Drayton Hall Southern Plantation? This estate is an icon of American history, design, and historic preservation and is oftentimes considered to be the most significant and undisturbed historic landscape in the state, even the country. Drayton Hall Southern Plantation takes up 350 acres and is the very 1st executed example of Palladian architecture, an idealized English landscape mixed with some of the most incredible design in the area. The home is storied and well preserved, with tranquil grounds and a historic African American cemetery. The property was received from the Drayton family in 1974 and has since then been kept in meticulous, near original condition by the National Trust. Not only is Drayton a spectacular site architecturally, but it is a historic ground zero of sorts, seeing periods of time ranging from colonial to American revolution, from antebellum to reconstruction, the civil war, the 20th century, and beyond!
This journey through history will teach your group about the past life of John Drayton and his sons, settling here in the early 1750s. During the time this estate was considered no less than a ‘palace and gardens’ in the Charleston Gazette, popular timely news journal. This, the oldest preserved plantation house in America strives to protect and preserve the estate for future generations, making it ‘a place where time stands still’, as your group will see. Discover the secrets and stories this home has to tell after 2 wars, multiple earthquakes and hurricanes, and 7 generations of family living. Before you go be sure to check out the Memorial Arch, marking one of the oldest documented African American cemeteries in the nation!
