This is the first of the two plantations we visited during our stay in Charleston. The plantation dates to 1676, when Thomas and Ann Drayton built a house and small formal garden on the site. The oldest plants today in the garden were planted in 1680. Magnolia was originally a rice plantation, with extensive earthworks of dams and dikes built in fields along the river for irrigating land for rice cultivation. It became known for its gardens after the Reverend John Grimke’ Drayton inherited the property in the 1840s and developed them. The original plantation house was burned during the Civil War most likely by Union troops. The plantation remains under the control of the Drayton family after 15 generations.).
