The original land grant for the plantation was granted in 1678, and John Drayton purchased the property in 1738. The plantation’s size grew within a relatively short period of time, and the Drayton Hall house was constructed and occupied by 1744. The Draytons owned a network of fifty or more working plantations, and Drayton Hall is believed to have served as a home seat for the family. A Continental Army General occupied Drayton Hall as his headquarters for a brief period in 1782, and the entire plantation sustained significant damage from the Revolutionary War. In the late 18th century, owner Charles Drayton cultivated a strong interest in botany which influenced the landscape architecture at the plantation. Drayton Hall became a working plantation focusing on cotton and rice in the mid-19th century, and land was also leased to phosphate mining companies. Most of the mining occurred south of the main entry road and across Ashley River Road, since Drayton’s mining company was greatly involved in mining land at Magnolia Plantation. Sand mining and commercial logging also affected Drayton Hall’s landscape in the 20th century. The property remained in possession of the Drayton family for seven generations before being sold to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the State of South Carolina in 1975. The plantation house and its grounds were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Numerous historic resources exist on the Drayton Hall plantation. Drayton Hall, built in approximately 1738-1744, is considered one of the finest surviving examples of Palladian architecture in America. Adjacent to the plantation house is a portion of the brick cellar of an early residential structure, with a nearby v-bottom ditch likely constructed for defensive purposes in the 1680s. Two small two-story brick dependency buildings remain only as foundations, and a small brick privy with an elaborate drainage system remains in use as an office nearby. The plantation features a ten acre African American cemetery dating to the late 18th century and a house site the late 19th century house site of an African American family who worked at Drayton Hall for several generations, both enslaved and emancipated. Other sites and archaeological resources include the Malcolm boat site, a 19th century structure thought to be a store, and the site of a late 19th century barn. Landscape features on the Drayton Hall plantation include the Ha-Ha from 1789, a ditch that served as a fence and a drain for livestock, and the early 19th century circular drive and Victorian mound that define the approach from Ashley River Road to Drayton Hall. A mid-19th century azalea allee grows between the main house and the Ashley River. Several sites remain associated with the phosphate mining process, including a storekeeper’s house site, remnants of a barn, a tram road, and phosphate ditches. Finally, a half-mile long earthen berm serves as the Drayton historic property boundary.
The south side of Ashley River Road was historically owned by the Drayton family, but was sold by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism in 1975. This area features a tram road, phosphate ditches, and another earthen property boundary.