The Drayton Hall Preservation Trust is a privately funded nonprofit organization responsible for the operation and administration of Drayton Hall, A National Trust Historic Site. Drayton Hall’s main house is an icon of colonial American architecture and identity. Founded in 1738, it is the oldest preserved plantation house in America still open to the public and the nation’s earliest example of fully executed Palladian architecture. Through two wars, devastating earthquakes and hurricanes, and the impact of seven generations of family life, the main house has survived the centuries in near original condition and its grounds have been hailed as “the most significant, undisturbed historic landscape in America.” As you enter the site, you’ll see a Memorial Arch marking one of the oldest documented African American cemeteries in the nation, a sacred place for descendants of the enslaved. Daily guided house tours and programs, private tours, and educational programs bring to life the history of the site for visitors of all ages. Drayton Hall is a National Historic Landmark. The mission of the Drayton Hall Preservation Trust is to preserve, educate and inspire.