Drayton papers

The Draytons were one of South Carolina's foremost families during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The branch referred to herein established a plantation home named Drayton Hall, around 1738, fourteen miles from Charleston. The mansion is considered one of the finest examples of Palladian architecture in the United States and has the rare distinction in South Carolina of surviving both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.

John Drayton (1715-1779), the builder of Drayton Hall, married four times. His second marriage produced William Henry Drayton (1742-1779), an outspoken patriot and member of the Second Continental Congress (1778-1779). In 1784, another son, Charles Drayton I (1743-1820), acquired Drayton Hall. Charles I was succeeded by two further generations of "Charles Draytons": Charles II (1785-1844) and Charles III (1814-1852). By the Civil War (1861-1865), Dr. John Drayton (1831-1912) and his brother Thomas Drayton (1828-1867) were Drayton Hall's tenants-in-common. In 1883, Drayton Hall passed to their nephew, Charles H. Drayton (1847-1915). At Charles' death, the estate was divided between his wife and three heirs. Charles' daughter Charlotta Drayton (1884-1969) outlived her fellow inheritors and shortly after her own death, ownership of Drayton Hall devolved to her nephews Charles Drayton and Francis Drayton. In 1974, they transferred the property to The National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Drayton Hall was the centerpiece of the Drayton's vast network of estates stretching well beyond Charleston County to the Edisto and Wateree Rivers, and also into Georgia, Kentucky, and Texas. On these plantations, slaves cultivated rice, indigo, cotton and other crops. John Drayton's extensive holdings - in land and slaves - diminished gradually over subsequent generations and by the Civil War most of the plantations had been sold. Beginning in the 1870s, Drayton Hall was extensively strip mined for phosphates and by the early twentieth century Drayton Hall ceased to be a working plantation. Today, The National Trust for Historic Preservation owns, operates and preserves the site, and also interprets the grounds for visitors.