That is the question I will pondering while signing books this Sunday (12/8 from 1-2 pm) at Drayton Hall as part of their annual Deck the Hall Weekend. The weekend includes a classic oyster roast, holiday workshops featuring floral design and wreath making, and a Lowcounty Artisan Market offering holiday fare ranging from candy to candles and everything in between. It’s enough to make you to utter dodecahedrons of delight!
While I sign copies of Southern Hospitality at Home (a perfect Christmas gift for any Southerner or would-be one), I’ll be imagining how Drayton Hall’s magnificent Palladian edifice and exquisitely crafted interiors might have been decorated in days of yore. These days, in keeping with the property’s non-invasive preservation policy, only a simple wreath is placed at the center railing of the portico. But once upon a time, it’s quite likely that garlands and wreaths made from the greenery of indigenous trees and shrubbery ornamented the doors and windows. They quite possibly might have also dressed the great hall’s cypress mantel, but with its grand over-mantel, already carved with floral and garland motifs, there’s no need to deck.
I vote no decking for the house, but lots of decking at home made easy by the weekend’s decorative craft-making workshops as well as gifts from the Artisan’s Market to place in stockings or beneath your tree.
See you Sunday. And don’t miss the Oyster Roast on Saturday night (12/7 from 6 to 8:30 pm). For tickets and more information, visit draytonhall.org
