Built in 1676, Magnolia Plantation is the oldest plantation in South Carolina. It also boasts the oldest estate garden in the United States. The first manor house was built by Thomas Drayton, Junior, in 1680. Later, the plantation was expanded to over 3,000 acres in 1760. This addition included five rice plantations.
The first manor house burned in 1811. The current main manor house was originally built in Summerville as the Drayton’s summer home. It was moved to its current location by barge in 1873. After the Civil War, the gardens were opened as a public space.
The plantation is still owned by a descendant of the original owners.
Historical Marker Inscription
Magnolia Plantation
1676
Fountainhead of the Drayton family, which played so important a part in America’s Colonial, Revolutionary, and Independence history. Its original plantation house, credited by contemporary historians as having been the earliest in the Carolina colony, along with its famous garden, now America’s oldest, were built by Thomas Drayton in the 1680’s. It remains a working plantation utilizing scores of workers, and is still owned and operated by a direct family descendent.
Historical Markers of the World 