Preserving a Historical Landscape

A Balanced Approach

Initial efforts to care for Drayton Hall's grounds had the primary goal of preparing the site for visitors — clearing underbrush, pruning trees and bushes, and repairing and rebuilding the entrance gate and drive. But the value of those early efforts lay beyond simple preparation. Those first steps made it possible for the Trust to reveal landscape features that had survived for decades, and in some cases even centuries.

In a letter written in 1974, National Trust President James Biddle described the importance of those first steps to Miss Sally Reahard, who would later become Drayton Hall's benefactress: "The allee is gradually being resurrected from the underbrush of the last few decades. The lawns begin to take shape, and our long time dream is about to be realized."

Today's efforts are encompassed within the Heritage Landscape Project funded by a generous endowment created by Gail and Parker Gilbert of New York and Charleston. The goal of this project is not to restore or recreate the landscape as it appeared at one point in time, but rather, to establish a balance between the 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century landscapes.

The result of such a philosophy is a layered landscape. Visitors today see a Victorian garden mound and reflecting pond, live oaks that are over 250 years old, a camellia planted by Richmond Bowens in the 1920s, and the ha-ha, a landscape feature created as a barrier to keep sheep and other livestock out of the formal gardens in the 18th and early 19th century. They have the opportunity to understand how the grounds have changed over the course of time.

The Landscape Master Plan in Action: The River-Front Lawn

1890 view of River-Front lawn

A view of Drayton Hall's river-front lawn, c. 1890. Pictured are Eliza and Charles Henry Drayton along with their children Eliza, Charles, and Charlotta standing beside the matchstick bridge that once crossed the ha-ha, a sunken trench not visible in the prospect of the gardens from the main house that served as a barrier to keep sheep and other livestock out of the formal gardens. The clear view to the to the Ashley River still visible in this photograph was key to John Drayton's conception of the house and grounds as one entity.

c. 1950 to 1974 view of the River-Front lawn

In the first quarter of the 20th century, the Drayton family redesigned the river-front landscape by planting an allee of azaleas, shaded by an almost contiguous canopy of trees, along the river-front axis.

c. Mid 1970s view from the River-Front lawn

By the mid-1970s, the azaleas along the allee had grown to heights approaching 20 feet, entirely obscuring the view to the Ashley River.

After Hurricane Hugo, 1989

It was nature that redesigned the landscape the next time around. When Hurricane Hugo struck Charleston in September, 1989, the storm's high winds destroyed the tree canopy that protected the azaleas, and their resultant exposure to the intense South Carolina sun caused their gradual decline.

Winter, 2006

In accordance with recommendations from the Landscape Master Plan, Drayton Hall's grounds staff transplanted azaleas from across the river-front lawn to the allee in the winter of 2006. The goal is to redefine two distinct historical layers of the landscape and enable visitors to better understand how the lawn appeared in both the 18th and 20th centuries.