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11 Most Endangered
Ashley River Historic District
Year Listed: 1995
Location: Charleston , South Carolina
Current Status: Favorable
Threat: Development
Thousands of dwellings are proposed for the Watson Hill tract, not far from this stretch of Ashley River Road near Charleston, S.C.
Credit: Courtesy of Drayton Hall
Significance
A 13-mile corridor bound by the Ashley River Road and the Ashley River northwest of Charleston, the area includes 53 properties and archaeological sites tracing history from Native American habitation to 18th century African-American settlements to Civil War fortifications. More than 420,000 tourists, residents and scholars each year are drawn to the beauty of the area's slow-flowing streams, bright green marshes, moss-hung live oaks, stately plantation houses and colorful gardens. Unfortunately, the region is threatened by development pressures and a lack of coordinated regional planning, both of which threaten to overwhelm the tranquility of the Ashley River Road, a National Scenic Byway, and historically significant sites such as Drayton Hall (c.1740), Magnolia Plantation (purchased in 1676), and Middleton Place whose gardens were laid out in 1741, making them the oldest gardens in the nation.
Updates
Five years ago, a developer sought to rezone Watson Hill (6,600 acres) within the Ashley River Region to a Planned Development for 5,000 homes. When that rezoning was not approved, the developer sought to be annexed into the City of North Charleston, where the zoning would be amenable to that level of development. An annexation lawsuit ensued between the Town of Summerville, who tried to annex the property to stop the development, and North Charleston. If approved, this development would cause serious damage to Dorchester County taxpayers and to thousands of acres of historically and environmentally sensitive lands. Recently Summerville dropped the lawsuit, opening the door wider for a North Charleston annexation.
Luckily, a lawsuit by private citizens is still in the courts and threatens to hold up the annexation. The owners of the Watson Hill property have also recently declared bankruptcy, and the property is on the market, and the conservation and preservation community is hard at work trying to locate a conservation minded buyer to protect the valuable piece of land. Other positive progress has been made as well. Over the past two years, a local non-profit has purchased and then donated to Drayton Hall and the National Trust over 300 acres of marshland along the historic Ashley River, protecting it from dock overcrowding and preserving views along the river. Because of these generous gifts, the Trust bestowed upon the Historic Ricefields Association the President's Award, given to outstanding partners in the preservation world.
The Ashley River Region is an important resource for tourism in Dorchester and Charleston Counties. Hundreds of thousands of people visit the Ashley River Region every year. Middleton Place, Drayton Hall and Magnolia Plantation are key properties in the area, and all are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Despite much progress in favor of conserving this important region, the balance is still being weighed between sprawl and stewardship, while environmental conservation and historic preservation interests continue to converge in support of regional stewardship by private and public entities as well as individual stakeholders.
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