Drayton Hall

A series on historic residential buildings around the world that have been turned into museums.



Miles away from England's workhouses, literally and on the socioeconomic spectrum, this old brick plantation house just outside Charleston, South Carolina preserves layers of early American history. 23 year old John Drayton, the son of British immigrants, built a Georgian-Palladian style mansion on 350 acres of farmland several decades before the American Revolution, and his grandson and great-grandson (both named Charles) lived through the cultural battles over slavery leading up to the Civil War. In the early 1800s, the family owned about 26 slaves. This virtual tour tells their stories, and those of the seven generations of Draytons who managed the property before it was sold to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1974.

-posted by Liana Grey