Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens consistently ranks among the top tourist attractions in Charleston, South Carolina. It is a preservationist’s paradise—a 464-acre ecological conservatory home to thousands of plant and animal species—and an archetype for horticultural innovation in America. Its status as a former plantation provides historical context fundamental to understanding the cultural dynamics of southern society and harsh realities of race relations in the United States.

Magnolia Plantation was established in 1679 by Thomas Drayton Jr.—an agrarian socialite who helped commercialize South Carolina’s rice-growing industry, which consequentially exploited the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Amidst the plantation’s expansive reservoirs and rice fields did the Drayton family establish their agricultural empire and generational homestead.

In 1825, Thomas Drayton (the eponymic great-grandson of Magnolia’s founder) willed the estate to his grandsons, Thomas and John Grimké, who were the nephews of Sarah and Angelina Grimké—two contemporary sociopolitical reformers who publicly advocated for comprehensive women’s rights, abolition, and racial equality. Tragically, Thomas died during a “hunting accident” in 1836, which left John the sole owner of his family’s lucrative South Carolina plantation. He later changed his surname to ‘Drayton’ to reflect his newfound social status.

While attending the Episcopal seminary in New York, John began courting Julia Ewing, the daughter of a prominent Philadelphia attorney. The two were married on July 9, 1840. Shortly after this joyous union, John contracted tuberculosis and decided to convalesce at Magnolia Plantation. Julia, a life-long urbanite, found great difficulty adjusting to the Lowcountry’s isolated and rural lifestyle. To ease this transition, John planted a formal garden containing a plethora of indigenous and non-native plant species, including azaleas—Reverend Drayton was the first horticulturist in America who planted Southern Indica azaleas outside the greenhouse environment, hybridizing dozens of varieties in the process. Eventually, Magnolia’s gardens expanded to showcase the South Carolina's natural beauty “[where] wilderness was glorified and enhanced, not tamed.”

In February 1865, Magnolia’s plantation house was burned by Union troops; however, its gardens were spared of any major destruction. During the immediate postwar years, Drayton sold all but 390 acres of his former plantation and briefly permitted phosphate mining companies to conduct business on the remaining property. After years of tedious landscape renovations, Drayton opened his botanical garden to the public in 1870. Adam Bennett—Drayton’s formerly-enslaved foreman—was employed as Master Gardener and integral to the estate’s revival as a tourist attraction. In 1900, the Baedeker Guide for America (a German travel publication) listed Magnolia Gardens alongside the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls as the three must-visit destinations in the country. As America’s oldest public garden, Magnolia continues to garner international acclaim for its biodiversity and historic charm.

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens ministers a multitude of landscapes that satisfy the affinities of environmentalists and historians alike. The estate’s main attraction is its romantic-style garden, which contains various horticultural collections including hardwoods, evergreens, flowering plants, native grasses, and of course, their world-renowned camellias and azaleas. Miles of picturesque pedestrian pathways meander through this 66-acre conservatory. For those wishing to observe the entirety of Magnolia’s diverse ecosystems, schedule a ride on the Nature Train. This 45-minute guided excursion—which navigates through blackwater swamps and centuries-old rice field reservoirs—is included with all general admission tickets.

For an additional fee, visitors may tour Magnolia's Plantation House. While the original Drayton mansion was destroyed during the Civil War, the current structure—a pre-Revolutionary War cottage formerly located in nearby Summerville—was disassembled and relocated here in 1873. The house museum, adorned with generational artifacts, chronicles the Drayton family legacy, Carolinian plantation culture, and the evolution of Southern aristocratic society.

Magnolia Plantation’s African American history is recognized through its From Slavery to Freedom tour—a nationally-acclaimed educational initiative that examines black experiences during the Antebellum, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights Eras. An essential component of this program is the Cabin Project, which features five meticulously restored slave houses that reflect how African American lifestyles and kinship relations evolved over time. Archaeological excavations are periodically conducted on-site, producing tangible sociocultural insights about black livelihoods at Magnolia.

Throughout its fifteen generations of Drayton family ownership, Magnolia Plantation has metamorphosized from an oppressive economic institution to a microcosm of symbiosis between mankind and nature. While the gardens symbolize renewed purpose, Magnolia does not neglect her convoluted past, offering diverse historical perspectives and contemporary interpretations of plantation culture.