“One of America’s finest pieces of architecture.”
3380 Ashley River Road
City Directories and History: Drayton Hall is without question one of the finest of all surviving plantation houses in America. Its early date, 1738-42, makes its architectural sophistication all the more remarkable. It is far in advance of the great Virginia Georgian plantation houses for which those of South Carolina have a natural affinity. Because Drayton Hall has been barely touched with “improvement” in the ensuing 200 years, it remains for us one of the most treasured of eighteenth century structures. John Drayton, a member of the King’s Council, acquired the land on which Drayton Hall was built in 1738. Perhaps because of their relatively comfortable position in South Carolina society at this early date, the Drayton’s were able to

Image courtesy of: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, New York Public Library. Collection of images and prints of Charleston, S.C.
Image courtesy of: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, New York Public Library. Collection of images and prints of Charleston, S.C.
Image courtesy of: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, New York Public Library. Collection of images and prints of Charleston, S.C.
invest in the house a degree of architectural elaboration very rare in America in the first half of the eighteenth century. The house has a most distinctive instrumentality achieved through its spacious four room plan and the somewhat vertical proportions of its two-story elevation on a high English basement capped by a double hipped roof. The land side (west) of the house features a carefully proportioned projecting two-story pedimented portico with superposed Doric and Ionic orders. The river façade lacks a projecting portico, but it has a classical central pediment to emphasize the main axis. Most of the rooms on the inside are fully paneled and the mantel pieces and classical cornices throughout are the highest quality. The house further features rich plaster detailing in the ceilings, and a remarkable fully paneled richly carved double staircase. Listed in the National Register October 15, 1966; Designated a National Historic Landmark October 9, 1960. [Courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives and History]
The Honourable John Drayton, who has been mentioned in connection with Magnolia, as the grandson of the original Thomas Drayton who came from Barbados in 1679, was even more closely connected with Drayton Hall. This same John Drayton purchased 350 acres of land from a John Greene on March 2, 1738, and on this tract he established his residence and country seat, on which he erected his mansion house known as Drayton Hall. On December 13, 1742, he purchased an additional 132 acres from Benjamin Stanyarne and 117 acres of marsh land from Robert Brewton in 1745. It is believed that the house was constructed by John Drayton prior to 1758 but the exact date is unknown. (One account gives the date as 1742.) It has already been said that upon the death of the Honorable John Drayton, the Magnolia property was passed by will to his son, Thomas. At the same time, it seems that the Drayton Hall property was willed to his second son, Dr. Charles Drayton, which was contrary to his promise to his eldest son, William Henry Drayton. William Henry’s son, John (II) endeavored to overset his grandfather’s will to claim his inheritance of Drayton Hall as heir of law. Although he had good grounds, he found that he would not be able to sustain the facts for oversetting the will, so he discontinued the suit.12 Dr. Charles Drayton (I), in turn, willed the property at Drayton Hall in 1820 to his son Charles Drayton (II), who was also a doctor.18 14The original house as it was built, probably in 1742, by the Honourable John Drayton still stands today. Family history states that during the War Between the States when almost all of the Ashley River plantations were burned, this house was saved due to the ingenious and quick thinking of Dr. Charles Drayton, the owner at that time. It is said that when Dr. Drayton received word that the Yankees were coming down the river, burning the country estates along the way, he calmly went out to the gate and posted a sign reading, “SMALLPOX.”
When the Federal troops reached Drayton Hall and read the sign, they kept on marching! From Charles (II), Drayton Hall was left to Charles Henry (III); then it passed on to Charles Henry (IV). The last Charles Henry passed the property by will to his daughter Charlotta and his son Charles Henry (V). When Charles (V) died, Drayton Hall then fully belonged to Charlotta Drayton, who is its present owner. The Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, who in 1796 made a trip up the Ashley River to see the plantations of the area, gave the following account of Drayton Hall: We stopped to dine with Mr. Drayton, at Drayton Hall. The house is an ancient building, but convenient and good; and the garden is better laid out, better cultivated and stocked with good trees, than any I have hitherto seen. In order to have a fine garden you have nothing to do but to let the trees remain standing here and there, or in clumps, to plant bushes in front of them, and arrange the trees according to their height. Dr. Drayton’s father who was also a physician, began to lay out the garden on this principle; and his son who is passionately fond of a country life, has pursued me same plan. The prospect from the garden is like all other views in this part of the country.Mr. John Davis, an Englishman who was for quite some time a tutor to the Magnolia Draytons, in his book 15 Travels of Four Years And A Half In The United States of America, written in 1798-1802, says of the Draytons at Drayton Hall, “Indeed, I was now breathing the politest atmosphere in America, for our constant visitants were the highest people of the State, and had more house servants than there were inhabitants in Occoquan. . . . These people never move but in a carriage, and are always attended by their negroes to fan them with a peacock’s feather.”In he News and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina, Mr. Thomas K. Waring in an editorial quoted Henry Francis duPont, the world’s greatest collector of American antiques, as saying that Drayton Hall is the “greatest house in America.”
(Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)
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IMAGE GALLERY via photographer Bill Segars – 2008
Drayton Hall – Privy Schematics: Photo contributed to R&R by Gazie Nagle @ www.fineartbygazie.com
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