Arthur Middleton signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, when he was 34. When Charleston fell to the British in 1780, he was arrested and held as a prisoner in St. Augustine, Florida. During the same war, four people held in slavery on Ashley River Road made the opposite choice. Samuel and Catherine Drayton and John and Lucy Banbury fled and sided with the British to win their own freedom.
Both stories come from two properties a few minutes apart on the same road. On Saturday, November 21, the two institutions that care for those properties will tell them on one stage.
One lecture, two houses, four paths to liberty
Land, Liberty, & Loyalty: The Drayton Hall and Middleton Place Legacies is a one-hour talk at Drayton Hall, 3380 Ashley River Road, starting at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for members and $10 for nonmembers. The guided house tour is not included.
Amber Satterthwaite, Drayton Hall's Curator of Education, will present with Brandon M. Stone of the Middleton Place Foundation. Their subject is William Henry Drayton and Arthur Middleton: the friendship between them, how their politics took shape, and the different contributions each man made to independence. The booking page adds a second thread. While those two men fought for political sovereignty, the people they held in slavery faced choices with very different stakes. Samuel and Catherine Drayton and John and Lucy Banbury used the upheaval of war to take a different road to freedom.
This joint talk anchors the season. Neither site can tell the whole story alone. Middleton Place has the signer, Drayton Hall has the Drayton family, and both have records of enslaved people whose idea of liberty did not match the one the founders put on paper. Most of the other programming along Ashley River Road this fall fills in one piece of that picture.
Middleton Place sets up the context in the two weeks before
If November 21 is the main event, Middleton Place's talks in the weeks before it are the background reading. Two of them are free.
- Friday, November 6, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Michael W. Twitty at Middleton Place. The culinary historian and James Beard Award winner spends the day on the grounds. The ASÉ Garden exploration runs from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and covers African foodways and crops. A cooking demonstration at Crane Pool runs from 12:30 to 2 p.m. and looks at how enslaved cooks shaped Southern cuisine. A book signing for Recipes from the American South follows at the Museum Shop from 3 to 4 p.m. All of it is drop-in with no registration. It is free for members and included with general admission.
- Sunday, November 8, 3 to 5 p.m.: Indigenous Groups' Role in the American Revolution. Dr. Alice Taylor-Colbert covers Cherokee, Muscogee, Catawba, Pee Dee, and other Indigenous perspectives. The talk is free, and preregistration is required.
- Sunday, November 15, 3 to 4 p.m.: Generals Thomas Gage and George Washington: Their Rubric on the Eve of the American Revolution. Deborah Gage discusses colonial ties and the world the two generals moved in before the war. This talk is also free with preregistration.
The talks belong to the Conversations of Freedom series. It shares its name with an exhibition that opened in April 2026 in Middleton's South Flanker House Museum, funded in part by the SC 250th Commission. Charleston Daily reported that the exhibition displays 18th-century textiles worn by Henry and Arthur Middleton, along with a rare silk edition of the Declaration of Independence. It sets the Middleton family beside the many people they enslaved, and it is included with general admission. If you go through the exhibition before November 21, you'll already know half of the lecture's cast.
Middleton's November also has events that have already sold out. Saturday's Third Annual Bourbon and Bluegrass and the Thanksgiving Buffet at the Middleton Place Restaurant, priced at $119 for adults and $50 for children ages 5 to 12, both showed as sold out, and the buffet has a waiting list.
Drayton Hall's December 12 free day shows the work still underway
The joint lecture tells Drayton Hall's 18th-century story. The free day on Saturday, December 12, shows how much of the site's history is still coming out of the ground. Admission is free, and visitors can meet the archaeologists excavating a late-1600s well. That well is older than the Revolution the November lecture covers. Visitors can also talk with the preservation team about its work on the Great Hall ceiling. Colonial games, demonstrations, and walks under the live oaks along the Ashley River round out the day.
You do need to plan for it. Preregistration is required and space is limited, and you register through Drayton Hall's free day page. The free days are funded by the Decorative Arts Trust Prize for Excellence and Innovation. The series had three dates this fall: October 10, November 3, and December 12. December 12 is the last of the three.
That Saturday is also one of the five dates for Christmas at Drayton Hall, a seasonal tour in which the curator answers questions about Christmases past and present. The other dates are December 4, 5, 11, and 18. Earlier in the season, Drayton Hall offers Candlelight Tours on November 28, and Holiday Sip and Shop and a Wreath Building Workshop on November 29. The Annual Oyster Roast is on December 6.
Charles Towne Landing and Magnolia cover the rest of the century
Drayton Hall and Middleton Place cover the Revolution. The other two sites on this stretch of the Ashley reach further back, to the 17th-century colony and to the crops that paid for the houses.
At Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site, Colonial Trades and Harvest Day runs Saturday, November 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the fortified area. Costumed interpreters will be on hand, along with crafts, colonial games, foodways, and black-powder demonstrations. On Saturday, December 5, Great Guns on the Ashley fires replica 17th-century cannons at the Gun Platform on the History Trail at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. It is free with park admission. The park's program calendar also lists smaller archaeology and artifact programs on several November and December dates.
At Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, the indigo exhibit closes Sunday, November 15. The exhibit presents indigo as a crop and as a 360-degree experience. Magnolia's November 7 Introduction to Indigo Dyeing and Make, Dip & Dye for Adults workshops already show as sold out. The same Saturday, the West Ashley Quilting and Sewing Group and the Island Quilters Guild hold the Airing of the Quilts from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The weekends where the calendars overlap
The four sites post their calendars separately, so it's easy to miss when they pile up on the same days. Three weekends are especially busy:
| Date | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| Sat, Nov 14 | Charles Towne Landing | Colonial Trades and Harvest Day, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Sat, Nov 14 | Magnolia | Stretch & Sip, 9 to 11 a.m.; Wine Stroll with Raven Station, 3 to 5 p.m. |
| Sat–Sun, Nov 14–15 | Magnolia | Blueprint: The Art & Science of Cyanotype Printing |
| Sun, Nov 15 | Middleton Place | Gage and Washington talk, 3 to 4 p.m., free with preregistration |
| Sun, Nov 15 | Magnolia | Last day of the indigo exhibit |
| Sat, Dec 5 | Magnolia | Bark the Halls 5K, 8 a.m. |
| Sat, Dec 5 | Charles Towne Landing | Great Guns on the Ashley, 1, 2 and 3 p.m. |
| Sat, Dec 5 | Drayton Hall | Christmas at Drayton Hall |
| Sat, Dec 12 | Drayton Hall | Free Day, preregistration required; Christmas at Drayton Hall |
On November 15, you could see Magnolia's indigo exhibit on its last morning and still get to Middleton for the 3 p.m. Gage talk. On December 5, you could fit the Bark the Halls 5K and a cannon demonstration into one day. Magnolia also has A Gospel Christmas with Oh Happy Day on the evening of Thursday, December 3.
Ticket availability can change, and several events on these calendars are already sold out. Before you set your plans, check each event on its own page at Middleton Place, Drayton Hall, or Magnolia.
If family is visiting this fall, the afternoon when Drayton Hall and Middleton Place tell their story together is a good one to plan around. If you'd like to talk through which of these dates fits your visitors, or anything else about life along the Ashley, Michele Moriarty is glad to help. Let's Connect.
