Interiors Magazine, Spring 2021 from Drayton Hall Preservation Trust in Charleston, SC

PA I D O

F R I E N D S of D R A Y T O N H A L L

INTERIORS SPRING 2021

Upcoming Events APRIL

MAY

APRIL 1, 2021 - VIRTUAL EVENT Nighttime on the Plantation

MAY 1, 2021 - IN PERSON EVENT Historic Landscape & Lenhardt Garden Walk

APRIL 3, 2021 - IN PERSON EVENT Prosecco on the Portico of Drayton Hall

MAY 8, 2021 - IN PERSON EVENT Prosecco on the Portico of Drayton Hall

APRIL 8, 2021 - VIRTUAL EVENT Drayton Hall and the Civil War

MAY 13, 2021 - VIRTUAL EVENT Life in the City - Houses of Rebecca Perry Drayton

APRIL 15, 2021 - VIRTUAL EVENT A Tale of Two Draytons: New Perspectives on the Denmark Vesey Conspiracy APRIL 20, 2021 - VIRTUAL EVENT Virtual Book Club – 101 African Americans Who Shaped South Carolina APRIL 22, 2021 - VIRTUAL EVENT Using Architectural Paint Analysis to Help Decipher Historic Buildings APRIL 24, 2021 - VIRTUAL EVENT FOR SOCIETY OF 1738 MEMBERS Scottish Country Houses and Their Influence on American Architectural MAY Treasures APRIL 29, 2021 - VIRTUAL EVENT The Reverberatory Kiln

New in The Shop & available online

Spring tables set in elegant blue & white Blue & White Punch Bowl

MAY 22, 2021 - IN PERSON EVENT Historic Landscape & Lenhardt Garden Walk

JUNE JUNE 3, 2021 - VIRTUAL EVENT Virtual Book Club – The Shell Builders For more information and registration visit draytonhall.org Sponsorship packages can be tailored to align with your strategic and marketing priorities. To learn more, please contact Caroline Schultz at cschultz@draytonhall.org or 843-769-2611.

Blue Italian Pitcher

Blue Italian Large Melamine Handled Tray

Available now in The Shop and online shop.draytonhall.org

3380 ASHLEY RIVER ROAD | CHARLESTON, SC 29414 | 843.769.2600 | draytonhall.org | @draytonhall

Blue Italian Placemats, Set of 4

The Search

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f note

At Drayton Hall Preservation Trust, preservation is literally and figuratively our middle name.

It is unquestionable that some enslaved people lived inside of the Drayton Hall main house during this period. But, the exact location of the homes of the larger enslaved community has remained a mystery. As an organization, we are fully committed to identifying the sites and stories that have remained hidden for generations. To date, our work with chainsaws and loppers has uncovered evidence of 14 buildings, multiple trash pits, wells, and artifact scatters. Our next steps will be to conduct an archaeological survey of this 18-acre portion of the site. Such work will shed tremendous light on our shared American past, and I encourage you to follow this work as we move forward. Of course, these efforts would not be possible without the philanthropic support of the Friends of Drayton Hall.

Years of hard work lay before us. With each step towards discovery, we are closer to providing clarity and answers about the enslaved at Drayton Hall; as important a story as any which will ever be told here.

Sincerely,

Carter C. Hudgins, Ph.D. President and Chief Executive Officer

In early 2019, Drayton Hall Preservation Trust, Lowcountry Land Trust (LLT), and the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) announced the permanent protection and planned restoration of a 104-acre Figure 1: A rendering of how the Drayton Marsh, arcoss the Ashley River plot of land now referred to as from Drayton Hall might have looked once it was developed.

“Drayton Marsh.” This plot includes 4600 feet of frontage on the Ashley River which lies immediately east across the Ashley River from Drayton Hall in the direct viewshed of the main house. The importance of this piece of Lowcountry land to the understanding of history since prehistory cannot be overstated.

Thanks to your support, Figure 1 did not become reality. However, The Drayton Marsh property includes a semi-impounded marsh originally constructed in the 1940’s for waterfowl habitat.

Now, with the goal of restoring the site’s natural hydrology, a local environmental firm has been contracted to break the dike in several places, plant native grasses and treat an invasive European plant, Phragmites australis, to encourage the reestablishment of native plants. Such work is being funded by a settlement paid to NTHP as part of a regional mitigation project.

ear Friends,

Thanks to your support, Drayton Hall will launch a number of significant preservation projects this spring and summer including repairing the roof of the main house and repainting the complete exterior, not to mention further study of the stairs of the stair hall and the ceiling of the great hall ahead of physical conservation of these spaces. Such are essential undertakings, and their methodologies will be groundbreaking, but so too are our efforts to search for the enslaved community that lived and worked at Drayton Hall in the 18th and 19th centuries. Building on cartographic and archival research undertaken in 2019 and 2020, in January and February of this year Drayton Hall’s staff, trustees and volunteers began to clear vegetation from a portion of the site where we believe Drayton Hall’s enslaved community lived.

Drayton Marsh

Such property, consisting of three parcels, was acquired between 1994 and 1996 with the assistance of the Friends of Drayton Hall. At the time, threats from development were growing, and Figure 1 illustrates how Drayton Hall’s viewshed could have been permanently impacted by modern construction.

D

But what does preservation mean? Ask 100 people to define historic preservation and you will get 100 different answers. At Drayton Hall Preservation Trust however, we are committed to protecting, acknowledging, and interpreting the complete history of those that lived and worked on this important site in order to educate the public and strengthen our modern society. This means leaving no literal or figurative stone unturned. From tangible resources such as furniture, extant architecture, landscape features, prehistoric and historic ceramics, to intangible resources such as oral histories from the descendant communities, our team takes a multidisciplinary and absolute approach with the goal of enriching our understanding of the past and particularly the people of the past.

SPRING 2021

B OA R D O F T RU S T E E S William B. (Bill) Bodine, Chair Marilynn Wood Hill, Vice Chair Thomas W. (Woody) Rash Jr., Vice Chair H. Montague (Monty) Osteen Jr., Treasurer Betsy Halstead, Secretary Richard Almeida Nathan (Nate) Berry Mary (MeMe) Black Catherine Brown Braxton John T. Cahill Amelia (Mimi) Cathcart Matthew Cochrane-Logan Frank B. Drayton Jr. Shannon C. Eaves Katherine Malone-France Benjamin P. (Ben) Jenkins III Risè Johnson Cynthia (Cynnie) Kellogg Kristopher B. King Douglas B. (Doug) Lee Benjamin F. (Ben) Lenhardt Jr. Fulton D. (Tony) Lewis Jr. W. Hampton Morris Margaret Beck Pritchard Henry B. Smythe Jr. Anthony C. (Tony) Wood

MUSEUM PROGRAMS Sarah Stroud Clarke, Director of Museum Affairs Amber Satterthwaite, Curator of Education and Museum Programs Historical Interpreters: Zachary Ford, Rosemary Giesy, Bev Hildreth, Nicole Houck, Lauren Ketelhut, Mary Jo Lautier, Betsy McAmis, Diane Miller, Veronica Pieretti, Shanon Stroer, Jordan Yale

Patricia Lowe Smith, Curator of Historic Architectural Resources Eric Becker, Manager of Landscapes, Horticulture, and Modern Facilities Cameron Moon, Assistant Curator of Historic Architectural Resources Corey Heyward Sattes, Wexler Curatorial Fellow Raymond Nesmith, Landscape and Horticulture Technician Tom Eline, Landscape and Horticulture Technician

DEVELOPMENT

Michael B. Prevost, Trustee Emeritus Carter C. Hudgins, Ph. D., President and Chief Executive Officer

VOLUNTEERS

FINANCE Paula Marion, Chief Financial Officer Michelle Johanek, Finance Associate

G U E S T S E RV I C E S

Jerry Bridges, Amy Buckley, Judy Canonico, John Chadwick, James Cline, Susan Cohen, Charlotte and Bill Collier, Christine Cronin, Deborah Dammer, Will Erickson, Eileen Fitzpatrick, Stephanie Gentile, Margaret Harris, Rob Hoak, Carter L. Hudgins, Maryjane and Tony Islan, Robert A. Johnson, Elaine and Steve Knapp, Paula Knecht, Paul Lautier, Toula Latto, Elaine Lovett, Colana Mathis, Catherine

Kate Ludwig, Director of Retail and Admissions Emily David Hendrix, Event Coordinator Guest Services Associates: Caroline Cannon, Christine Cline, Fran Hummel, Marilee Mohr

McCravy, Solveig McShea, Faye Merritt, Gail Morrill,

C O M M U N I C AT I O N S AND MARKETING

Wiessner, Norm and Lynn Wheeler, Rita Wilkie, Ellen

Catherine Coughlin, Communications and Marketing Manager

Since the inception of this initiative in the early 1990’s, Friends of Drayton Hall like you partnered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Drayton Hall Preservation Trust to maintain a strong presence in matters affecting the entire Ashley River with specific attention on maintaining the view prehistoric and historic residents saw from the land upon which Drayton Hall sits.

P R E S E RVAT I O N

Halley Cella Erickson, Director of Philanthopy Caroline Schultz, Advancement Manager Lela Gee-Boswell Solomon, Advancement Manager

Pamela Brown, Executive Assistant

We are pleased to announce work on this important environmental project has begun and is now visible from the river side at Drayton Hall.

Frank Osusky, Roxanna Petrus, Ian and Judi Purches, Dawn and Chris Rosendall, Marlene and Joe Rotter, Josephine Tapia, Sherry Timko, Hammond Unger, Brandy and James Vallance, Dominick Ventrella, Gary Mary Wilson, Carol Wood, Joan and Stan Younce, Matt and Diane Zender

ALL IMAGES WITHIN ARE COURTESY OF DRAYTON HALL PRESERVATION TRUST UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

CONTENTS 02 LETTER FROM PRESIDENT CARTER C. HUDGINS 03 OF NOTE 04-06 THE SEARCH: UNCOVERING THE LOCATION OF THE ENSLAVED COMMUNITY 06 RECOVERING CLUES 07 THE ANNUAL REPORT A YEAR IN PHILANTHROPY 08 UPCOMING EVENTS NEW IN THE SHOP AND ONLINE

It is with sincerest gratitude and great relief that we report that nearly thirty years of work and your commitment as Friends of Drayton Hall has led to this milestone in the mission of Drayton Hall Preservation Trust and the history of the mighty and critical Ashley River.

Figure 2: The Drayton Marsh today, under protective easement and safe from development: The view from Drayton Hall since prehistoric time is maintained.

Celebrating the gifts of time, talents, and treasure: Stephanie Wilson Gentile Friends of Drayton Hall Stephanie and Michael Gentile first visited Drayton Hall at the recommendation of a hotel concierge in the early 2000s. Immediately drawn to Drayton Hall’s preservation philosophy, Stephanie said: “Drayton Hall caught my eye because it’s so different from the other historic homes we visited. It’s preserved and conserved, not recreated or restored. That makes Drayton Hall unique.”

A proud alumna of Northwestern University, Stephanie worked as a teaching assistant for the Center for American Archaeology in Kampsville, Illinois. After a few years as a practicing archaeologist for the Illinois Department of Transportation, Stephanie transitioned into a 30-plus year career in software development for financial services.

Retiring as leader of a global, 80-plus team member operation in May of 2020, Stephanie became involved at Drayton Hall to stay active and build her Charleston-based network: “I’m not ready to sit at home,” she said. “I want to make a difference.”

By January 2021, Stephanie was a regular donor and weekly webinar attendee. Trading in her laptop for loppers, she spent several days clearing vegetation and debris from the overgrown wilderness surrounding the main drive of Drayton Hall. Stephanie joined President and CEO Carter Hudgins and a team of volunteers as they undertook this critical step in preparation for the archaeological examination of the possible sites of the slave houses.

As this issue of Interiors highlights, archival evidence points to this freshly cleared area as the location of the homes of the enslaved and the 19th century phosphate laborers. “So much of what we see in Charleston was built by enslaved people. Their stories need to be told. That’s why I volunteered to help with the vegetation clearing,” Stephanie said. Plus, as she points out, the work is pandemic-friendly: “You can be outside and socially distanced, wearing a mask.” draytonhall.org

Opposite page: Bricks uncovered at the possible location of the 18th century community of Drayton Hall’s enslaved.

On the Cover: Sketch of Drayton Hall property, possibly by Charles Drayton, ca.1800.

Drayton Papers Collection.

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T

implemented them in the slave houses as well.

he Search: Uncovering the Location of the Enslaved Community

As we embark on the initiative to identify and investigate the archaeological evidence of the enslaved community at Drayton Hall, it is important to understand not only the resources guiding us today, but the past research conducted on this topic. Admittedly, for decades the search for the enslaved community was superseded by research on the main house and surrounding landscape.

Over the past several years, we have turned our attention toward learning more about the enslaved population at Drayton Hall. It is imperative to interpret a holistic history; one that does not separate slavery from the narrative but integrates it into the very reason that Drayton Hall and the plantation economy existed. To that end, uncovering where the larger enslaved population lived on the property is paramount to better understand the inner workings of the plantation and the relationships between enslaved individuals and the Drayton family.

While this is the first intensive search for the location of the enslaved community on the property, archaeologists made preliminary predictions about enslaved housing at Drayton Hall in a post-Hurricane Hugo Survey in 1990. Archaeologists hypothesized two possible locations of slave houses, one during John Drayton’s ownership from 1738 to 1779, and the other during his son Charles’ ownership from 1784 to 1820. They surmised that the slave houses constructed under John Drayton’s direction were located in the southwestern corner of the lawn on the land side of the main house.

They hypothesized that enslaved people had lived in this area while Francis Yonge owned the property prior to John Drayton from 1718 to 1733. However, they referred to this location as the “lower backyard” because they believed the front of the house faced the river. They had studied other plantations with extant slave houses and observed they were often located behind the “big house,” which led to the conclusion that that was the case at Drayton Hall. However, we now know the front of the house faces Ashley River Road, not the Ashley River.

Further, no slave houses were depicted in front of Drayton Hall in a 1765 watercolor of Drayton Hall (Figure 3).

Figure 3. 1765 watercolor of Drayton Hall by Pierre Eugène Du Simitière.

Courtesy of J. Lockard.

Drayton Hall

After Charles Drayton’s diary entries in 1804, there is no documentation about slave houses on the property until 1860. The 1860 Slave Schedule shows that John Drayton (1831-1912) owned thirty-two enslaved people and ten slave houses were on the Drayton Hall property. These ten houses could plausibly have been the houses constructed in 1804 if they had been maintained and continuously inhabited. However, they may have been newer houses built under Charles Drayton II, or Charles Drayton III’s, ownership of the property.

Cartographic materials including historic maps, lidar, and aerial photography have informed our search for the location of the enslaved community. One compelling sketch, likely drawn by Charles Drayton around 1800, shows a 10-acre burial ground south of the avenue (Figure 5). When overlaid on a modern map, the burial ground matches the location of the African American cemetery. This cemetery was for members of the enslaved community, and the African American community that lived on the property after the Civil War continued to use it throughout the twentieth century.

Possible location of slave houses during Charles Drayton’s ownership (1784-1820)

Charles Drayton’s diaries reveal that new slave houses were built on the property in 1804. He penned the first reference to these houses on June Figure 4. Possible location of slave houses during Charles Drayton’s ownership (1784-1820).

11, 1804, writing “Carpenters came from Sava[nnah Aerial LiDAR of Drayton Hall property.

Plantation] to D.h. to erect Barn, negroe houses [etc].” These houses were built by a team of enslaved carpenters, including Quash, Cimon, and Toby, and an enslaved bricklayer named Carolina. Charles Drayton described the houses as wood-framed with brick chimneys and brick piers. On November 12, 1804, in his last entry about the houses, Charles wrote, “Carolina began to build the chimneys in the Negro barracks. I laid them out according to Count Rumfords plan.” Charles was referring to Sir Benjamin Thompson’s (Count Rumford) fireplace design, which had shallow, angled sides that reflected heat into a room more efficiently than fireboxes with straight, deep sides. Two years earlier, Charles wrote about the alteration of three fireboxes in Drayton Hall to the Rumford style. The Rumford style fireboxes proved to be more efficient in the main house, so Charles Continued 0 4

While Charles recorded useful information about the materials used to construct these houses, he omitted information about their size, quantity, and most frustrating to us today, location. In 1990, archaeologists theorized that the houses Charles wrote about in his diary were constructed on the bluff above the large pond because they found Colonoware, brick piers, and other antebellum materials on the ground’s surface (see Figure 4). While Colonoware, brick piers, and antebellum materials indicate the presence of structures that enslaved people used, those elements alone are not enough to conclude that slave houses were located there and no archaeological excavations were pursued in this area.

On the ca.1800 sketch, a road borders the cemetery, which likely corresponds to MacBeth Road, a path running perpendicular to the main avenue (see Figure 5). MacBeth Road also appears on a USGS map from 1896. Eleven houses in two rows line the west side of the road (Figure 6, page 6). According to Richmond Bowens (1908-1998), who grew up at Drayton Hall and whose grandfather, Caesar Bowens, was enslaved on the plantation, several families lived in these houses along MacBeth Road in the first half of the twentieth century.

Among these families were the McKeevers, Dennises, Washingtons, and Johnsons. Of those eleven houses, only two stood in 1919 (Figure 7, page 6). This illustrates that many families moved off of the property between 1896 and 1919, and their houses were either deliberately dismantled or fell into disrepair.

Figure 5. Sketch of Drayton Hall property, possibly by Charles Drayton, ca.1800. “BG Field” and road in blue.

Drayton Papers Collection.

In 2019, we uncovered the base of a firebox on the east side of MacBeth Road, which likely corresponds to one of three houses on the 1896 map (see Figure 6). That discovery catalyzed us to search for the other eleven houses Continued 05

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draytonhall.org

The Search, continued on the west side of MacBeth Road. To kick off 2021, we launched a coordinated effort to clear the thick vegetation and underbrush from the area surrounding those eleven houses. After six weeks, we have uncovered evidence of fourteen structures, trash pits and a well, most of which align perfectly with the houses on the 1896 map.

What we do not know, is if these sites were built as slave houses that were later repurposed as phosphate miners’ housing, or if they were built after the Civil War for phosphate miners. The only way to find out is through archaeology.

Meticulous archaeological investigations will continue in these areas over the next few years beginning with surface collections to examine the time periods of the artifacts closest to the surface of the potential house sites, mapping the areas with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and lidar technologies, and conducting an archaeological survey of the area to help determine further concentrations of occupation and time as we believe these areas of the property were occupied by centuries of free and enslaved people. Unearthing potential house sites of the enslaved and postbellum free Black community at Drayton Hall reflects the interpretive trajectory of Drayton Hall as we work to tell the full breadth of stories of those who lived, worked, and died on this property. We hope that you will join us on this journey.

ANNUAL REPORT FISCAL REPORT 2019-2020 J U L Y 1, 2 0 1 9 - J U N E 3 0, 2 0 2 0 Earned Income Unrestricted Gifts Restricted Gifts Grant Support Endowment Draw Investment Income

$481,782 $912,549 $337,435 $26,604 $1,027,036 $6,317

Program Administrative Fundraising

$1,812,028 $433,355 $332,649 $2,578,032

$2,791,723

Figure 6. Map of Drayton Hall in 1896 showing eleven houses along MacBeth Road and the location of the firebox located in 2019. Adapted from Charleston and Vicinity South Carolina, USGS, 1896.

- Cameron Moon, Assistant Curator of Historic Architectural Resources

Figure 7. Map of Drayton Hall in 1919. Two of the eleven houses in a row survive, but five houses on the north side of the avenue and four houses on the southern end of MacBeth Road survive.

Adapted from USGS, 1919.

Recovering Clues

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As the search for slave houses begins on the expansive Drayton Hall property, one of the first things the archaeologists look for are visible clues to the past. Occasionally they are large clues such as standing chimney stacks, but more often they are small clues under our feet.

One such clue was recently recovered from the surface of the ground, fragments of a German stoneware bottle dating from 1852-1878. The bottle, marked with an impressed stamp reading: “Apollinaris-Brunnen M-W and Georg Kreuzberg, Ahrweiler, Rheinpreussen” once contained mineral water, bottled by Kreuzberg from a natural spring he discovered in his vineyard (this same spring is now owned by Coca-Cola). This bottle was found in an area where the Drayton Hall archaeologists are looking for housing once inhabited by the enslaved and was also the location of homes of Black phosphate miners and their families after the Civil War. The dates of this bottle span slavery and freedom; as you look at this object, think about its larger context: how it traveled from Germany, across the Atlantic Ocean and into the hands of either an enslaved or recently freed person. Did its contents quench the thirst of someone who had labored in the heat of the South Carolina sun? Whose hands held it before it was forgotten to the understory in the forest? These are questions that archaeologists try to figure out from the artifacts they recover—the stories of the people who used these objects in the past. Stay tuned for more discoveries as this project continues and remember if you find an artifact at Drayton Hall, please leave it in its place as context is the most important factor to understanding the past.

A Year of Philanthropy Bookended by dual crises (Hurricane Dorian in September and the onset of COVID-19 in March), fiscal year 2020 (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020) could have been a catastrophic one for Drayton Hall Preservation Trust. However, thanks to the generosity of the Friends of Drayton Hall, donors and volunteers, fiscal year 2020 was a remarkable period that saw recovery, perseverance and progress.

The first accomplishments you brought to us during this period were survival and recovery in the wake of Hurricane Dorian. Perhaps as iconic as Drayton Hall itself are the historic live oaks that adorn its 350-acre property. In addition to the constant and specialized attention these 300-year-old giants require, your support funded the removal of at least 30 less significant and more modern trees and other debris laid to waste by Hurricane Dorian. The health and beauty of our historic landscape is a testament to the power of your philanthropy.

Along with the nearly 15,000 individuals who visited the site in fiscal year 2020, you helped usher in a new era for the Drayton Hall experience.

Your philanthropy expanded the Drayton Hall narrative to recognize contributions made by African Americans across the site. You also helped us adapt our tours, contributing to the safety and health of visitors as well as to the preservation of the main house. Finally, because of you, we were able to create a new way to access Drayton Hall through our virtual education programs.

Reflecting on the extraordinary impact of philanthropy at Drayton Hall in fiscal year 2020, Drayton Hall Preservation Trust Board Chair Bill Bodine said, “Annual Giving and Membership gifts are not only the financial lifeblood of a cultural institution, they are a means by which the staff and the Board of Trustees are able to judge our community impact. Financial support is a major indicator of the place Drayton Hall holds in the hearts and minds of our audiences, and I want to express our gratitude for the generosity of all our donors during this most difficult year.”

Thank you for preserving Drayton Hall’s potential for discovery, for keeping our visitors safe, and for giving us new stories to tell. It is with deepest appreciation and honor that we introduce Drayton Hall’s virtual donor lists, recognizing the more than 2,210 individuals, corporations, and foundations for their gifts of time, talent or treasure throughout fiscal year 2020. Visit https://www.draytonhall.org/give/ today to witness the incredible number of friends, families, and organizations that played a role in Drayton Hall’s perseverance and progress. draytonhall.org

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