Drayton Hall is one of America's premier Palladian inspired architectural structures and one of the few 18th century structures to survive both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. It used to have two side buildings that flanked the main house connected by walkways but those were destroyed. While the house has sustained significant damage, it has been lovingly maintained and repaired through the years.
It has beautiful gardens and lots of these gigantic oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. David desperately wants one of these massive trees in our yard.
The house was built by John Drayton between 1747-1752. He grew up on the nearby Magnolia Plantation but as the third son, he had to strike out on his own. He was a wealthy landowner and rice planter. Drayton was his country estate but none of his cash crops were grown there.
Like the Aiken-Rhett house, Drayton hall is preserved not restored. And though it is bared boned and stark, it is not depressing.
Before our tour of the house started, we attended their daily program on slavery at Drayton. It was very informative and the educator gave our house tour right after. She was a very good docent and knew her material and history very well.
What I can't believe is that the Drayton family lived in the house for seven generations, painstakingly caring for the home for 200 years. They never modernized or updated the home, but tried to preserve it's original structure. When that became too difficult to do on their own, they allowed the National Trust for Historic Preservation to oversee it.
But amazingly, members of the Drayton family still visit the home frequently. In fact, they still let them come to mark their heights on their family growth chart which has recorded the growth of seven generations of Draytons. I can't even imagine having such a physical connection to seven generations of my family.
So if you're ever in Charleston, I highly recommend a visit to Drayton Hall.
Our final stop of our vacation was Middleton Place which has one of the oldest landscaped gardens in America. They also have a working stable and farm area and extensive land. Our Heritage Pass gave us admission to the grounds, but you had to pay extra for the house tour.
Since much of the original house was destroyed by fires and hurricanes and war, a house tour wasn't a must see. Besides, we didn't have the time.
We did stop at their Middleton Place Restaurant, famous for lowcountry Southern fare. I thought the food was delicious but the service was slow and their lemonade weak. I ordered their pulled pork and David got their fried chicken.
After lunch, Benjamin was eager to do some walking.
This sheep was just hanging out in the stable area and as soon as he heard the corn grounding, he came running.
The goats amused me the most though.
We wandered through more of the gardens and grounds but the hour was getting late and we needed to hit the road. (Plus it was still super humid and hot.) We traveled on backroads to Augusta and then rode the I-20 the rest of the way home. We made good time and the kids were champs.
Overall, we had a fantastic vacation. I loved Charleston and am so glad we got to spend the whole week there. I hope we get to take another vacation like this soon. It's been too long.
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