Last year Hugh and I took a couple of friends visiting from Connecticut to Drayton Hall, the historic 18th-century house located on the Ashley River near Charleston. The house was an old plantation home but today stands empty-no furniture, no draperies or rugs, no electricity-but open to visitors who will be able to see the true nature of its beautiful architecture.

We loved the house and the history told by a superb guide and decided to join the Friends of Drayton Hall. A couple of weeks ago, Hugh and I went back to attend their annual spirituals concert in the house and were told to dress warmly since there's no heat or electricity in the house. Well, the visit was awesome!

Ann Caldwell and the Magnolia Singers were the performers: four black women, one black man and one -believe it or not-white woman. They began speaking to us in Gullah and then burst into a frenzy of song that had us all moving a little and clapping politely. Well, that wouldn't do! We were told to clap and then tap and then clap and tap like we were on the plantation. Before the way-too-short hour was up, we were all singing and moving and had become truly Southern.

As it turned out, the evening was warm and clear, and the sight of that house as we walked up in the dusk was nearly heart-stopping. Candles burned in windows. You could see the pink glow of Charleston on the horizon. You could hear nothing