The Drayden Schoolhouse stands on its original site on land donated by Mary Ellen and Daniel A. Gross in 1889. Its simple one-room design is characteristic of practical Victorian architecture and of other one-room schools in St. Mary's County at that time. When it opened in 1890, Drayden was one of three schools for African American children in the Valley Lee District, an area that also had nine white schools. One teacher taught grades one through seven, with as many as forty or more students attending class in the single room. There were no public high schools open to African American students in St. Mary's County until 1934. Some students attended Pomonkey High School in Charles County, and many Catholic children attended Cardinal Gibbons Institute. When Drayden closed in 1944, the schools were still segregated, but two public high schools were available to African American students, Banneker and Jarboesville.
