Drayton Hall Plantation - Impressions #1

Drayton Hall Plantation House - side view

Looking out to the wonderful park.

A view trough the window.

A pretty stucco ceiling.

The ball room for gorgeous banquets and elegant balls.

The wooden floors are original and still in a beautiful condition.

The hallway to the two stairways to the 2nd floor.

The stairways were partially replaced and are not original anymore.

A big terrace gives you the fantastic view over the huge park and
all the old oak trees.

And to the left side you can enjoy the view to the little pond where a lot of big white Heron birds are fishing.

This house has and had NO air conditioners (of course), only to open all the windows helps on a hot summer day, to get some fresh air rotating in the house.

View from the basement window to one of all those impressive old oaks.

Drayton Hall Plantation House

If these walls could talk... Let our guides introduce you to a house that has survived for over 265 years-the only 18th-century plantation house on the Ashley River to survive intact to present day.

Examine the architectural details-the mahogany swags, the hand-carved molding, the plaster ceilings-that make the house renowned.

Meet the families-both white and black-who lived and worked here for generations. Learn about the preservation efforts that keep this house in near original condition today.

Read more about online here

A visit to Drayton Hall Plantation

View of the Plantation House at Drayton Hall

Drayton Hall, in the Carolina "Low Country" near Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the most handsome examples of Palladian architecture in North America. The house was built for John Drayton, begun in 1738 and completed in 1742, using both free and slave labor. The seven-bay double pile plantation house stands in a 630-acre site that is part of the plantation based on indigo and rice.

Drayton Hall is the only plantation house on the Ashley River to survive the American Revolution and Civil War intact. Seven generations of Drayton heirs preserved the house in all but original condition, though the flanking outbuildings have not survived: an earthquake destroyed the laundry house in 1886 and a hurricane destroyed the kitchen in 1893 [1].

The house has a deep recessed double portico on the west "front" (actually the rear of the dwelling, though this elevation faces the approach from Ashley River Road), shading the house from afternoon sun and offering open-air summer living space. The floor plan of Drayton is Palladian, with a central entrance stair hall, containing a symmetrical divided staircase, backed by a large saloon, flanked by square and rectangular chambers [2]. Pedimented chimneypieces in the house are in the tectonic manner popularized by William Kent. There is fine plasterwork in several of the rooms of the main floor, which is raised above a half-basement.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.^[1][3]

The South Carolina Department of Archives and History claims that Drayton Hall is "without question one of the finest of all surviving plantation houses in America".^[4]

Drayton Hall is managed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which opened the house to the public in 1977 and presents both sides of the historic plantation economy exemplified by Drayton, black and white. A first guide to the house, Drayton Hall was published in 2005.

It is located on State Route 61 and is included in the Ashley River Historic District.

It was often considered one of the best gardens in the United States.