Drayton Hall Admission Ticket With Interpreter-guided Tour

Worth an hour and a half of your time to learn about the history of the house, the people who built it, lived in it, and maintained it and the preservation, not restoration efforts of the organization. You will walk away having learned something new.

It is under renovations and must book tours to see it. The house is wonderful but our decent don’t more time on the timeline info.

They bill the property as "preserved"- which is just a clever way of saying they have invested almost nothing in it. It is "preserved" as it was left by subsequent generations of a vile family in the 20th century. If you expect to get some idea of how it looked when it was an operating plantation, you will be very disappointed. It is an empty house, in poor condition, and not worth seeing.

What a lovely tour and our guide was so funny but knew her history. We spent about 2 hours on the plantation. It’s worth the time and was reasonably priced. Would do it again.

My wife and I had a wonderful experience at Drayton Hall. The reception and introduction was very informative, and our guide was terrific. We walked across the big lawn to the mansion itself and began the tour starting in the cellar area, which is the ground floor. In this area was located the giant fireplace, which was used for all the cooking and the cellar was usually occupied by only the enslaved people who worked at Drayton Hall. The guide did a great job of giving us the names of some of the enslaved people from Drayton Hall that appeared in John Drayton's journal entries and had a lot to say about their comings and goings and interaction with the Draytons. The upper two floors had been magnificent in their previous condition, and you got the feeling that you were in an opulent surroundings. We went up the staircase to the second floor and were able to peek in at where the current preservation activities were under construction, and we were not able to peek into the bedrooms. However, the view from all the windows was exceptional of the area around the mansion and to the north was the Ashley River. Overall, a fantastic tour and definitely worth the money

We had a wonderful tour of Dayton Hall with a wonderfully educated and informed young lady who has a degree in archaeology. She is so passionate about this home, its history, and the Drayton family through the generations. I highly recommend this great tour.

Breathtaking tour, currently under restoration but that just makes it so much more interesting. Our guide was like a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. My only advice is to bring water and make sure you empty your bladder at the beginning of the tour ❤️

It’s helpful to tour a building undergoing restoration. You are able to see the brick interior wall, servants staircase, window casings changes and upgrades, beam support structures and building framework as well as ornamentations.

Very informative , Tourist should wear comfortable shoes . They give a very good over view of life on a plantation. Tour takes about an hour.

Our guide, the grounds, the history, and the intricate woodworking made this trip a great one for us! Our guide Susan made a point to share our interests. Every single person we encountered was friendly and helpful! Five Stars!

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with Caroline. I’m so thankful that the home is in the care of the Preservation Society and that there is still ongoing research being done on this property.

It’s a beautiful estate. It’s very hot, bring water and go to the morning tour to really enjoy it…..

Very interesting....conservation at its best

Wonderful experience. Our guide was very knowledgeable. The gift shop is great and the exhibits are very impressive.

Beautiful property and exceptional tour guide! They have several things to see and have an archeological dig as well with many artifacts displayed

Went Friday at 12:30pm - not crowded at all - only 5 people in our tour group - was great - William was great - friendly place -check in at gift shop then walk up to a building just in front , you go into an AV room for quick talk then walk to the house -no AC but very interesting

It was great. The tour guide was very kind and knowledgeable. He answered all of our questions and knew a lot about the history of the homoand property.

Take time to ask about daily life of the family. Go down to the riverside to take pictures and view the home from the waterfront.

Loved the historical highlights. Really enjoyed our tour guide. I have a background in Art History as an instructor. Her body of information on the tour was right on. I appreciate intelligent information delivered in a tour and she was well prepared and knowledgeable.

Bring an umbrella if it's cloudy. It's beautiful and the tour was great. I would have liked to explore the grounds more than I was able to because of mobility issues.

Loved visiting this house - the preservation is ongoing and it is both remarkable & interesting. The trustees have also done a wonderful job with the additional modern facilities to support the site - empathetically done and a credit to all the staff who are great. Bree was fantastic and passionate and knowledgable- highly recommend her and the site

A short drive out of Charleston and you step back in time to Drayton Hall. No costumed characters or gimmicks. Simply amazing history explained by a knowledgeable guide and friendly staff throughout. The best gift shop of any historical place we have visited in the US. This is a must do location

Very informative. Learned many interesting facts about the Drayton family and the history of the house and property. Enjoyed the tour!

Our tour guide Caroline, was so knowledgeable and she made the experience a wonderful and vivid historical experience. The property was beautiful and the artifact gallery was really nice.

Very informative tour. Our guide was extremely knowledgable and entertaining.

Great experience and our guide was very knowledgeable. Drayton Hall was a highlight of our trip to a beautiful city with so much history.

Not that much to see, it was interesting about the renovation taking place and they're commitment to keep everything as original as possible. Plus the tour guides stories and knowledge was very informative.

This was a very interesting tour to see a house that is still in the same configuration as it was 300 years ago. The house has been preserved rather than restored. The entire time at the property takes about two hours.

This tour was a disappointment. The visitor's center might have been the high point. It provides a good introduction and history of the Drayton Hall property. The home itself is geared for those interested in period architecture. We did not get the chance to see the whole home as the upstairs was undergoing restoration, but the original architecture is all there is to see. There are no furnishings. It might have been a better experience with a different tour guide. Someone who could better relate what life was like living there during the 18th and 19th century. Our tour guide was not that good. The self-guided grounds tour is ok, with some interesting stories regarding the property. Overall, though, I was expecting more.

The house was in use thru seven generations beginning in 1738...remarkable! It has such an interesting history and is on a beautiful piece of property.

Family history is so interesting history; Cody, our guide, was wonderful. House is architecturally significant.

From the check in greeter to the tour guide my experience was great. Everyone was friendly, knowledgeable and genuine. The history at this site is definitely worth learning.

So interesting. Great tour with knowledgeable guide. Hall has not been restored and illustrates the reality of the time.

We enjoyed this tour. It was interesting as well as sobering to realize what those working there endured. We recommend it!

Interesting tour of a preserved home. We enjoyed the self guided walk before the tour. Interesting facts and easy walk. The home has been preserved and does not contain any furniture. We enjoyed the difference in touring a home where the emphasis was on the history and architecture as opposed to furnishings. We appreciated the balanced discussion of the enslaved persons who worked there as well as the owners.

One can see how properties change over time, including earthquake and changing styles and colors. Also changing economic conditions caused different decisions to maintain the property.

What a fascinating insight to the history of the area, house and family. Our guide was hugely knowledgeable and went away having learned something.

Built around 1752 by John Drayton. We loved Drayton Hall and happy to hear descendants still come here for family gatherings. Be sure to watch the short film at visitor's center and walk through the museum. The museum displays a few pieces of original furniture to the house/family. The furniture is from the 1700s with intricate woodwork. Your ticket also provides a self guided ground tour. All this sets the stage for the house tour. Our docent, Susan, did wonderful job sharing stories about each family member and the entire house. Interior photos allowed without flash. Restrooms on site and large free parking lot.

Five out of five because it provided everything expected: it is an un restored plantation so you get to see the original architecture. Tour guide was knowledgeable while it said likely to sell out we went the first week of January and had no trouble getting last-minute tickets. The prior week it was packed. Pro tip: go at least one hour before your tour and do the self-guided audio tour of the grounds at your own pace. This will make your guided tour of the plantation house, more understandable, and enjoyable.

Anyone with a love of architecture and archaeology would enjoy this tour. Rare historical plantation home that was not burned to the ground by Sherman’s March to the Sea. Only 5% of the plantation’s archaeology has been investigated. The tour guide gave an excellent summation of the unique original features of the house and upcoming restoration projects. There is also a self guided audio tour of the grounds that is worth your time as well as a small museum of restored furnishings and introductory film.

Excellent video setting the story line for the oral presentation. The presenter was knowledgeable, friendly and professional.

Excellent very authentic !! Loved the tour guide Thomas !! Very knowledgeable .. beautiful grounds !

really good tour with good highlights, good insight into the family, unique building and decorative features

Autumn Hall was a great tour guide. Her research is fascinating and her ability to use person first language to tell the story of the plantation in a historically and geopolitically accurate fashion really distinguish her from other tour guides I have experienced. I was super happy to hear her say that she will remain on staff after her fellowship.

It is a preservation, not a restoration, which we liked. The people are incredibly nice and love to answer questions. The archeologists at the on site dig are wonderful to talk to.

Beautiful area and great preservation work. A great experience will go back! Wonderful museums and exhibits too. The archeology was interesting.

Very knowledgeable guide. Not your usual plantation tour. This is not a Mount Vernon tour. More of an archeological progress. But still a great tour

This was a great tour. Our guide did a wonderful job of explaining the history of Drayton Hall. Easy place to get around and explore the grounds.

For me this tour was disappointing. It was merely a shell of a house with no furnishings and not much about what life was actually like. The two main themes emphasized almost exclusively and repeatedly were the plight of the enslaved peoples and the unrelenting vanity of the original builder as shown in the layout and architecture. I gave this 3 stars (although for me it was two) because there were a few in the group who seemed interested in the structural design of the different eras. If this is not you I would skip this tour.