Managed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Drayton Hall Plantation is a historical landmark that dates back to 1738, having been occupied by seven generations of the Drayton family before being turned over to the Trust in the 1970s to ensure preservation.

The house and surrounding grounds serve as a tourist destination and an educational experience for thousands of students each year, and is purportedly the only plantation house on the Ashley River to survive both the Revolutionary War and Civil War. The plantation was built and operated using both paid and slave labor, and historically used to grow and harvest such crops as indigo and rice, typical for this region of the Low Country.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has taken care to preserve the grounds and house in such a manner as to reflect the way it would have appeared in the eighteenth century. There are guided tours as well as a gift shop, and the facility is located fifteen miles outside of downtown Charleston, west of the Ashley River.