Ashley River Road (SC 61) Scenic Drive

Verified September 28, 2026 against the Federal Highway Administration’s America’s Byways program, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, and the official sites of Drayton Hall, Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Middleton Place and Old St. Andrew’s Parish Church. Hours, tours and admission change, so check each site before you go.

Some drives are about where you end up. On this one, all 11 miles are the destination.

Ashley River Road (SC 61) is a two-lane byway along the Ashley River just outside Charleston, under old oaks heavy with Spanish moss. It passes Drayton Hall and Middleton Place, both National Historic Landmarks, and Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, which first opened its gardens to visitors in 1871. It began as a Native American trading path, the colony’s Lords Proprietors authorized it in 1690, and it may be the oldest road in South Carolina still in use.

It is also the history drive, and not an easy history. Rice, indigo and enslaved labor made the Ashley River plantations some of the wealthiest in British North America, and the families who lived here enslaved thousands of people. The sites along the road now tell those people’s stories. Here’s where to find them.

Where it starts and ends

The byway begins where SC 61 crosses Church Creek in West Ashley, in Charleston County, and runs 11 miles northwest, ending just short of SC 165 (Bacons Bridge Road) in Dorchester County, near Summerville.

• From downtown Charleston: Cross the Ashley River on US 17 and bear right onto SC 61. After about 3 miles, keep right on Ashley River Road where Glenn McConnell Parkway splits off to the left. About 2.8 miles later you cross Church Creek, and Old St. Andrew’s Parish Church appears on your right. You’re on the byway.
• From I-26 or Summerville: Take SC 165 south to SC 61 and drive the byway from the top, with the stops in reverse order.

How long it takes

Straight through, about 25 minutes. With stops, half a day to two full days.

Pick one or two for the day. Mind the clock: Drayton Hall is closed on Tuesdays and its front gate closes at 3 p.m., and Magnolia’s house tour spots are limited, so arrive early.

The stops, in driving order

1. Old St. Andrew’s Parish Church, 2604 Ashley River Road. Built in 1706, it’s the oldest surviving building used for worship south of Virginia and South Carolina’s only remaining colonial cruciform church. It’s an active parish, so visit like a guest: scheduled tours run only during its Tea Room each spring, and visitors are always welcome at services. Office: 843-766-1541.
2. Drayton Hall, 3380 Ashley River Road. Founded in 1738, it’s the oldest preserved plantation house in America still open to the public, kept unrestored, imperfections and all. The one-hour house tour focuses largely on African American history. Afterward, visit the African American Cemetery, a burying ground on record since about 1790 and left natural at the wish of Richmond Bowens, a descendant of people enslaved at Drayton Hall. The gate doesn’t take cash.
3. Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, 3550 Ashley River Road. Magnolia opened its gardens to the public in 1871, making it one of Charleston’s first tourist attractions. Expect 6 miles of walking and biking trails, a boardwalk through the cypress and tupelo swamp of the Audubon Swamp Garden, a Wildlife Center, and something in bloom every day of the year. Admission includes the 45-minute From Slavery to Freedom tour (book a spot online or at the Welcome Center), which covers slavery, the domestic slave trade and daily life on a rice plantation, then leaves you to explore the restored cabins. The Nature Train and the seasonal Wildlife Boat Tour cost extra.
4. Middleton Place, 4300 Ashley River Road. Henry Middleton began America’s oldest landscaped gardens here in 1741: 65 acres of gardens, where terraces step down to the Butterfly Lakes and the river. Arthur Middleton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, lived here. The Stableyards tell of the skilled enslaved artisans who made tools, pottery and clothing. Eliza’s House, a Reconstruction-era freedman’s home named for its last resident, Eliza Leach, holds the permanent exhibit Beyond the Fields. General admission covers the gardens, the Stableyards and daily guided tours, including Beyond the Fields.
5. The finish, near SC 165. The byway ends just before the SC 61 and SC 165 crossroads, where General Nathanael Greene camped his troops during the Revolution. Turn around and drive it back. The oaks look different going the other way.

The history, told straight

By the early 1800s, the Draytons, Middletons and Bulls, some of South Carolina’s most prominent families, lived along this road, and their wealth came from the people they enslaved. John Drayton, who built Drayton Hall, owned more than 100 plantations, and the people he enslaved likely numbered in the thousands. At Magnolia, Carolina Gold rice grown by enslaved people made the family rich, and enslaved workers built the gardens, including the white Long Bridge in the 1840s. Rice succeeded here largely because enslaved West Africans knew how to grow it.

Their names survive in fragments. Charles Drayton’s diary mentions the carpenters Toby and Quash and the cook Dumplin, by first name only. Middleton Place spent ten years recovering the names of more than 2,800 people the Middleton family enslaved between 1738 and 1865, and a panel in Eliza’s House lists them.

Most of the plantation houses along the road were burned in 1865. After the war, newly emancipated African Americans founded churches along the road, including Springfield Baptist, St. Philip’s AME and Ashley River Road Missionary Baptist. Freedmen mined phosphate along the Ashley, and families from that community lived at Drayton Hall until 1960, keeping the place alive. When Magnolia opened its gardens, its early visitors were guided by people who had formerly been enslaved.

All three big sites include this history in regular admission. Don’t skip it. To go deeper, read our Plantations of South Carolina and visit Penn Center & the Gullah Geechee Trail.

When to go

• Winter: camellias. At Middleton they bloom from November through March, and Magnolia’s collection starts in early winter.
• Spring: azaleas fill both gardens, and so do the crowds. Magnolia calls spring its busy season, so arrive early.
• Summer: hot and buggy. Go early in the day and bring insect repellent. Drayton Hall’s main house has no air-conditioning.
• Fall: comfortable walking weather, plus color at Magnolia from Japanese maples, sweetgums, bald cypress and black tupelo.

Road notes

• Two lanes under big trees. The oaks form a canopy over the scenic stretches, so keep your speed down and let a passenger do the sightseeing. We couldn’t find official notes on curves or speed limits for the byway, so drive the posted limit and watch for cars slowing to turn into the sites.
• Stop at the sites, never the shoulder. No photo stops in a travel lane or on the shoulder. Not every historic gate you pass welcomes visitors, so stay out of private drives, too.
• Expect traffic. Suburbs have grown up around the road since World War II. Leave extra time and check 511SC before you go.
• Fuel, food and signal. Top off before you start. Food is at the sites: Magnolia’s Peacock Café, Drayton Hall’s shop, picnic tables at both, and Middleton Place Restaurant for visitors with admission. We couldn’t confirm cell coverage along the byway, so save your tickets and map offline.
• Fees at the stops. The byway is free, and so is parking at all three big sites. Each charges admission, so check current rates at Drayton Hall, Magnolia and Middleton Place. Drayton Hall’s gate takes no cash, and it sells a combination ticket with Middleton Place. Magnolia’s Nature Train and Wildlife Boat Tour cost extra.
• A little perspective. Garden visitors could still come to Magnolia by boat until the 1920s, and the road wasn’t paved until the 1930s. Your air-conditioned car is living in luxury.

Drive for every body

The drive is the easy part: the view comes to you, and you decide when to stop. The stops are harder. All three big sites have unpaved paths (dirt, gravel or sand), and none of their historic houses is accessible for wheelchairs or scooters.

• Drayton Hall: The exhibits, garden, shop and walking trails are accessible, though wheelchairs, walkers and scooters may struggle on the unpaved paths. The house tour starts up the portico steps, and personal wheelchairs and scooters aren’t allowed on it. The main house has no heat or air-conditioning. Call 843-769-2600.
• Magnolia: The self-guided garden tour, gift shop, Wildlife Center, Peacock Café and Nature Train are accessible, and the train shows you the wetlands without the walk. Paths can be rocky or bumpy. There’s handicap parking and accessible restrooms, but no wheelchairs or scooters to rent. Service dogs can’t enter the Wildlife Center or the cabins on the From Slavery to Freedom tour. Magnolia also runs a free Sensory-Friendly Hour for guests with sensory sensitivities and a companion, with early entry, a narration-free Nature Train ride and no mowing. Call 843-571-1266, ext. 2100, for the next date.
• Middleton Place: Ask at the Visitor Center for the accessibility map, which marks a wheelchair-accessible route. Handicapped parking and restrooms are next to visitor parking. Middleton doesn’t permit electric or motorized wheelchairs, citing safety, so if you use one, call 843-556-6020 first.
• Old St. Andrew’s: The church and office buildings are wheelchair accessible.

Questions about the byway itself go to the Charleston Visitor Reception Center, 843-853-8000. For more easy-access trips, see our Accessibility Guide.

Bring the dog?

• Drayton Hall: Leashed pets are welcome on the grounds and nature walks, but not in any building.
• Magnolia: Leashed dogs (6-foot leash maximum) are welcome in the gardens and the Audubon Swamp Garden, but not on tours.
• Middleton Place: No pets, because of free-roaming livestock and natural predators. Service animals are welcome.

Help keep it this way

People have protected this road for three centuries. A 1721 law protected the shade trees along its route, and preservationists later stopped a planned I-526 exit onto it. The river beside you is a State Scenic River. Your part is easy: stay on the paths, leave the cemeteries as you find them, and pack out your trash.

Make a day of it

• Pair the drive with our Fort Sumter Visit Guide for a full day of Charleston history.
• Need more oak? Angel Oak to Botany Bay makes a Lowcountry day out of one very old tree and one wild beach.
• Next byway: the Edisto Island Scenic Byway ends at the beach. See all four national byways on our Scenic Drives hub, and more history on Historic South Carolina.

Now go outside and play. Under the oaks, slowly.