Drayton Hall, Plantation house in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States
Drayton Hall is a mid-18th-century mansion along the Ashley River in Charleston County that displays Palladian design elements. The west facade features a double projecting portico, while the interior rooms connect in a symmetrical arrangement.
John Drayton Sr. bought the property in 1738 and built the house for his grandson. Long thought finished in 1752, its attic timbers were felled in the winter of 1747–48, suggesting occupation by the early 1750s. It is the only plantation house on the Ashley River to survive both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars intact.
The name Drayton Hall comes from the family that owned it for seven generations, beginning with John Drayton Sr., who bought the land in 1738. The 630-acre site once held 13 slave cabins believed to have housed about 78 enslaved people, who grew indigo and rice. The house passed to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and opened to the public in 1976.
The house stands on Ashley River Road (State Route 61), about 15 miles northwest of Charleston, with the land-side entrance facing the road and the river behind. The site covers 630 acres, and the flanking outbuildings are gone, so allow time to walk between the house and the grounds. The house opened to the public in 1976 under the Drayton Hall Preservation Trust.
Unlike many other estates in the region, the house was never fitted with electricity or running water. This intentional choice preserves the building in a state that better reflects daily life in the past.
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