Latest Discoveries from Drayton Hall will be Featured at Breaking Ground and Building Bridges Symposium

Join us on Nov. 21 and 22 for Breaking Ground and Building Bridges, a symposium that brings together leading scholars and institutions to present new research on the material culture of the Carolina lowcountry. Speakers will discuss exciting initiatives and current research projects made possible by collaborative efforts among local institutions and scholars. Trish Smith, Curator of Historic Architectural Resources, is the first speaker at the symposium and will present “High Fidelity: The Digital Restoration of Drayton Hall” on Friday at 1:15 p.m. Dr. Carter Hudgins, Deputy Director of Drayton Hall, will share his latest research in “Putting the Pieces Together: Multidisciplinary Discoveries at Drayton Hall“ on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Sarah Stroud Clarke, Archaeologist and Curator of Collections, will present “The Accomplished Woman: Charlotte Drayton Manigault’s Artistic Legacy at Drayton Hall” alongside Lauren Northup, Collections Manager of Historic Charleston Foundation, at 11:30 a.m.

The symposium is sponsored by Historic Charleston Foundation, Drayton Hall, The Charleston Museum, and The Preservation Society of Charleston. All proceeds will benefit the sponsoring institutions. Symposium tickets are $100/person for the general public and free for students.

Fall Distinguished Speakers Series Kicks Off with a Presentation by Colonial Williamsburg’s Ronald L. Hurst

By Tara White, Development Events Coordinator

As the oppressive heat and humidity of summer abates and the almost forgotten promise of a crisp breeze moves through Charleston’s streets, it is apparent that fall has thankfully arrived yet again. With the return of this more comfortable season also comes the return of Drayton Hall’s Distinguished Speakers Series. Beginning on September 18, the fall season will commence with Ronald L. Hurst, the Vice President for Collections, Conservation, and Museums and The Carlisle H. Humelsine Chief Curator at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Ronald L. Hurst, the Vice President for Collections, Conservation, and Museums and The Carlisle H. Humelsine Chief Curator at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, will be speaking to the Friends of Drayton Hall on Sept. 18.

Included in those lengthy titles is Hurst’s lengthy list of responsibilities. He oversees the foundation’s curatorial operations, educational conferences, conservation, architectural preservation, and museum operations, including direction of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and the Dewitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum. It is at the Dewitt Wallace where Hurst’s ties to Drayton Hall are presently the strongest, as this museum holds his latest curated exhibit, A Rich and Varied Culture: The Material World of the Early South, which features 27 objects from the Drayton Hall collections. His presentation at the Distinguished Speakers Series will highlight this exhibit and provide a look into the history of material culture at Drayton Hall.

Already seven months into its five-year-tenure, A Rich and Varied Culture: the Material World of the Early South has been hailed as a groundbreaking exhibit that is the first of its kind in 50 years. The exhibit highlights the breadth of the material culture of the 18th century – furniture, ceramics, metals, archaeological artifacts, and more.  The objects chosen from Drayton Hall’s Collections span the first and second periods of Drayton Hall when John (1715-1779) and his son Charles (1743-1820) were in residence. Included will be the most significant piece of furniture in Drayton Hall’s collection: a rare, English-made desk and bookcase, c. 1745. Described by Hurst as “the finest example of furniture to survive from Colonial America,” this exquisite piece is a testament to John Drayton’s wealth and sophistication, and his position as one of colonial America’s most significant merchant planters.

In addition to this exhibit, Hurst also oversees collections containing a myriad of British and American fine, decorative, and folk art,  millions of archaeological artifacts, and thousands of architectural elements. He has published articles and essays and curated multiple exhibitions relating to history and material culture.

If you should have any questions about Hurst’s presentation or the Distinguished Speakers Series please contact Tara White, Development Events Coordinator, by phone at 843-769-2627 or by email at twhite@draytonhall.org. Additionally, if you are interested in sponsorship opportunities please call Tara to learn about how you can keep making these presentations possible.

Know Before You Go

All Drayton Hall Distinguished Speakers Series programs will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. and will be hosted at South Carolina Society Hall, 72 Meeting Street, downtown Charleston.

Doors will open by 6:30 p.m., seating is limited, and a dessert reception will follow. This program is free to Friends of Drayton Hall and their guests.

The fall 2014 Drayton Hall Distinguished Speaker Series will bring another trio of accomplished academics, researchers and speakers to Charleston, with a September 18th presentation by Ronald L. Hurst, Colonial Williamsburg, entitled A Rich and Varied Culture: The Material World of the Early South; an October 16th presentation by Andrew O’Shaughnessy, University of Virginia/Monticello, entitled The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire; and a November 20th presentation by Architectural Historian Jill M. Lord entitled Improvement of the Americas: The Architecture of Colonial American Libraries.

Oral Histories: Continuing a Legacy

by George W. McDaniel, Executive Director

One of the wonderful things about working at a historical site is that one never tires of the questions it can raise. As is well understood today, one cannot research or interpret the history of a southern plantation without understanding the history of the people, both black and white, since both made the plantation possible. To deny one is to deny a complete and accurate  history of the site.

We are fortunate that members of the Drayton family left documentation and material culture that help us understand and present how their history evolved over time. But history of this site didn’t stop in 1865 or 1900, and our charge is to tell that more complete story. The exciting thing about the more recent past is that there are persons who can share their insights and personal reflections with us and add important human dimensions to the story. The Bowens family is an example, and to understand their heritage Drayton Hall has been actively involved in the research of archaeology, material culture, written documentation, photographic evidence, and oral history.

Richmond Bowens, born at Drayton Hall in 1908, sat in his rocking chair on the Museum Shop’s porch during the 1990s where he would recall his 23 years of life growing up on the property between 1908 and 1931 when Drayton Hall was still privately owned. The rocking chair is part of Drayton Hall’s collection.

When I arrived in 1989, I was fortunate to meet Richmond Bowens. Born here in 1908, Richmond was the grandson of freed slaves and a remarkable resource for oral history. He loved history and also loved sharing history with others. He was very careful in explaining history as he remembered it, and did not venture forth in conjectures about things he did not know. We recorded his recollections as he walked the grounds, touring the cemetery where his ancestors were buried and the site of the tenant house where he lived as a child. Historian Charles Joyner from Coastal Carolina University and its media staff videotaped him in the mid-90s as he advised the excavation of his tenant home site, and the film was shown on the History Channel and on SCETV as well as at professional conferences as a model for interdisciplinary research.

Richmond was the gatekeeper at Drayton Hall and took that job very seriously. He welcomed people to the site as an ambassador, and also stopped people who tried to slip in without paying! In the early 1990s, he transitioned from the gate to the museum shop where he served as our unofficial “historian in residence.” He shared his recollections with visitors so that they could closely relate to the world he was describing, and presented photographs, census reports documenting his family, and actual stalks of rice and ears of corn so he could explain agricultural practices he knew growing up here. According to his family’s history, his ancestors came over with the Draytons in the 1670s from Barbados, so his history parallels that of the Draytons in America. As a result of all this, people would sit on the bench by his rocking chair and talk to him for hours.

In 1998, Richmond passed away and is buried in the cemetery here among his ancestors.  To continue his legacy, we began Connections: From Africa to America and infused his recollections into that program. We’ve also recorded descendants’ stories of life here in the 20th century in order to better answer those many questions a southern plantation site may generate.

Richmond Bowens’ legacy is continued by his cousins Catherine Braxton and Rebecca Campbell as well as other descendants. The two sisters grew up in downtown Charleston and visited Drayton Hall from time to time. When Richmond was working here they came to visit him, and he shared his knowledge with them. They too are deeply concerned about the preservation of history and have helped Drayton Hall in a range of significant ways over the years to learn more about the history on the site and of specific individuals, as seen in the interactive DVD tour of the landscape.  For more insights into their thoughts about Drayton Hall,  I recommend watching the video produced by C-SPAN that features Catherine and Rebecca in the African American cemetery at Drayton Hall, which is available via this link.

Click the image above to watch the video by C-SPAN and American History TV. Featured in this video are interviews with Catherine Braxton and Rebecca Campbell, descendants of both freed and enslaved African Americans at Drayton Hall.