Landscape Information
A property of the Thomas Drayton family since 1676, this Lowcountry plantation included a residence and small garden completed in 1680, eventually becoming the oldest public garden in the country.
Throughout its history, the house burned multiple times but the gardens remained reasonably intact, including the formal French Flowerdale, a live oak allée extending through the site of the original house along the Old Boardwalk to Ashley River, and an 18th century herb garden. In the early 1800s, the Rev. John Grimké Drayton expanded the gardens in a more informal English style. His 1840s plantings of azaleas and camellias are possibly the first successful outdoor instances of either shrub in the U.S. After the house was again burned in the Civil War, Magnolia opened its gardens to the public in 1870, at the urging of Charles Sprague Sargent, director of the Arnold Arboretum. Around 1900, European editions of Baedecker’s travel guide grouped Magnolia with the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls as the three foremost attractions in America.
In 1975, a 500 acre wildlife sanctuary was created, not inclusive of the 50 acre Audubon Swamp Garden. The plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
