A new portrayal of this 18th-century icon among America’s historic sites, Drayton Hall Stories: A Place and Its People is the first book in the nation to focus on a site’s recent history using interviews with descendants (both White and Black), board members, staff, donors, architects, historians, preservationists, tourism leaders, and more. Like different pieces of a mosaic, each interview combines with others to create an engaging picture of this one place, revealing never-before-shared family moments, major decisions in preservation and site stewardship, and pioneering efforts to transform a Southern plantation into a site for racial conciliation. Readers will come to see Drayton Hall’s people not as stereotypes, but as the real people they were — and are. Maps, photographs, lines of descent, interview questions, a how-to guide, and related website, all provide blueprints for readers who wish to undertake similar endeavors to build community in today’s world. This event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required.
To RSVP, fill out the form below or call 843-723-9912.
To purchase your copy of “Drayton Hall Stories” from Buxton Books, please click here.
About the Author:
George W. McDaniel, PhD, is the President of McDaniel Consulting, LLC, a strategy firm that helps organizations and museums build bridges within itself and to its broader constituents. For more than 25 years, he served as the Executive Director of Drayton Hall, a historic site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Charleston, South Carolina. A native of Atlanta, he earned a BA from Sewanee, a MAT (history) from Brown University, and PhD (history) from Duke. Interspersed through those years were travels to many places — Europe, Africa, Vietnam — where he saw peace and war and learned by experience about cultural differences and commonalities. Beginning with the Smithsonian Institution, he has built a career in education and history museums, earning awards at local, state, and national levels. A nationally respected museum professional and author, he helps organizations to use history, place, and culture to enhance community