Drayton Hall will close at 1:30pm on Saturday, December 21, 2024. We will return to normal hours on Sunday, December 22.
Voted the Best Place to See by Condé Nast Traveler.

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Celebratory Weekend

Donors, Drayton Hall Reimagined, Friends of Drayton Hall, New Facilities, Sally Reahard Visitor Center

For our grand opening weekend, Drayton Hall Preservation Trust was honored to host our most esteemed supporters. Contributors to Drayton Hall Reimagined — the campaign to improve the visitor experience, enhance the stewardship of historic resources and expand interpretation and public programming — made the Sally Reahard Visitor Center possible through their transformative, visionary donations.

Enjoying the beautiful evening in the new Lenhardt Garden.

Campaign donors shared dinner together and were treated to a concert by the Charleston Symphony Brass.

Drayton Hall took on a magical glow underneath a full moon.

A champagne toast with Drayton Hall staff concluded the celebratory evening.

 

On Saturday, we held a private event for Friends of Drayton Hall, including a picnic on the lawn and ribbon cutting attended by descendants of the Drayton family and the enslaved individuals who labored at Drayton Hall, our mayor and councilperson, as well as a representative from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It was a joyful day to celebrate the successes we’ve achieved and look ahead together at our path forward.

From L to R: Katherine Malone-France, Senior Vice President for Historic Sites, National Trust for Historic Preservation; Richard Almeida, Chair, Drayton Hall Preservation Trust; Charleston Mayor John J. Tecklenburg; Carter C. Hudgins, President & CEO, Drayton Hall Preservation Trust; Rebecca Campbell; Charles Henry Drayton III; H. Shelby Nelson; Addison Nelson; Chairman A. Victor Rawl, Charleston County Council, District 6.