Drayton Hall

Built around 1738, Drayton Hall is a masterpiece of Georgian Palladian architecture, and remains the country’s oldest example. The building’s organization believes in preservation (keeping the house from deteriorating further) rather than restoration (recreating the house to resemble how it must have looked in its heyday). As a result, the house contains no furniture or decorations, and the gardens are long-gone. The structure, which was built by John Drayton for his family, has a beautiful but haunting quality. The house is the only one on Ashley River to have survived both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.