Arcadia Publishing

Drayton Hall: The Creation and Preservation of an American Icon

As the most significant 18th century estate assembled in the British American colonies still in existence, Drayton Hall is an icon of American history, design and preservation. Its story is told through archaeological artifacts, architectural research and documentary investigations, with a focus on the inhabitants and their connections to the wider Atlantic world. A multitude of scholars contributed to our understanding of Drayton Hall as the first complete example of Palladian architecture in North America, its placement at the intersections of the European Enlightenment and America's slave society and as a family home where extraordinary events became landmark historic moments. Today, Drayton Hall is valued as the most authentic pre-Revolutionary southern plantation that helps examine the creation of American identity.