HISTORIC VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES ROBERT A.LANCASTER, JR. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES HISTORIC VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES THIS LIMITED EDITION HAS BEEN PRINTED FROM TYPE AND THE TYPE DISTRIBUTED li irtf-rw.f'ftw-' E X i C HISTORIC VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES BY ROBERT A. LANCASTER, Jr. WITH 316 ILLUSTRATIUXS H The Old Tower iQjr- PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY MCMXV COPYRIGHT, IDI.i, HV .1. H. I.IPPINCOTT COMPANY PUBLISHED OCTOBER, 1915 PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS PHILADELPHIA. U S.A. I f Urbin Planning Ubrory f GOUUONSDALt:. lAl QUIER COLNTV See pa(?e 384 PREFACE This work includes practically all of the principal Colonial homes of historic interest in the State of Virginia now standing and many which have been destroyed, to- gether with the churches most likely to engage attention. In 1888 the writer began to gather photographs of historic buildings in Virginia for his private collection, and later, upon the request of friends, decided to publish them. The making of the collection as complete as possible and the gathering of the historical data have involved years of labor and much travelling in conveyances of many sorts and by foot. It may be said that the work was done at the psychological time, for much information gath- ered in past years would now be impossible to secure and much of that recently added will soon be as inaccessible. The information has been made as full as the great number of houses treated would allow. As alterations in buildings have been frequent, the writer's aim in such cases has been to secure pictures of as early a period as possible while they were in their original 1780314 VI PREFACE condition, so as to show the character of houses and cliurches our ancestors built. For instance, the picture sliown of St. John's Church, Hampton, was taken from one pubHshed some fifty years ago rather tlian from one show- ing it as it is to-day after the original has been altered. The photographs of Montpelier, F^agle Point, Belleville, and many other places, also show these edifices before the existing alterations were made. The author wishes to acknowledge with thanks the great assistance rendered by ^Irs. jNIary Newton Stanard, and IVIr. \Villiam Clayton Torrence, Secretary of the Valen- tine ^Museum, and Mr. \Villiam G. Stanard, Secretary of the Mrginia Historical Society, without whose help he could not have secured much valuable information. He also appreciates the assistance rendered by ]Mrs. Sally Nelson Robins, Mr. G. C. Callahan of Philadelphia, ]Mrs. I. H. Carrington, ]Miss Kate Mason Roland, ]Mrs. James Lyons, ISlrs. John Dunn, IMrs. Philip A. Bruce, the late General William B. Taliaferro and his family, ]Mr. Carter AVellford, Mr. ^Morgan P. Robinson, the late Thomas Boil- ing, Mr. Preston Cocke, Mr. Thomas N. Carter, the officers of the R. F. and P. R. R., C. and O. Ry., and Tidewater and Western R. R. and Hon. F. B. Hutton and Miss Ellen W. Preston of Abingdon, Va. ; and to Mr. H. P. Cook for a few pictures from his collection; also the hos- pitality extended at the various homes visited in making the collection. R. A. L., Jr. Richmond, July, 1915 BROOK HILL. HENRICO COUNTY See page 113 CONTENTS PART PAGE I. Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yokktown 1 II. Hampton Roads and the Lower James 41 III. Richmond, Manchester and the Upper James 114 IV. Gloucester and the York River Country 215 V. The Rappahannock and Potomac 287 VI. Piedmont and the South Side 373 VII. Beyond the Mountains 446 VIII. The Eastern Shore 482 All houses and names of families mentioned in this book are contained in the index, pages 503-527. vii SABINE HALL, (iARDEN FRONT See page 3S3 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE MoNTiCELLO Frontispiece GOHDONSDALE, FaUQUIER CoUXTY V Brook Hill, Henrico County vii Sabine Hall. Garden Front ix PART I— JAMESTOWN, WILLIAMSBURG, YORK'I'OWN Ambler House, Jamestown 3 Jamestown Church and Old Tower 3 Foundations of Old Jamestown Church 7 William and Mary College, Williamsburg 11 Blair House, Williamsburg 16 Bruton Church, Williamsburg 17 Wythe House, Williamsburg 20 Salhmders House, W'illiamsburg '21 Page House, Williamsburg ii Court House, Williamsburg 23 Tucker House, Williamsburg 24 Coleman House, W^illiamsburg 24 Old Powder Horn at Williamsburg 25 Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, and the Apollo Room . . 27 Carter House, Williamsburg 30 ix X ITJ.rsTRATIONS TaZEWKLI, II mi.. WiLLIAMSBlRG 33 Nkl-son IIdl-^k, ^'okktown- 35 CisTOM Hov.sE, Wjuktuwx 35 M IN 1S18 151 Allan House, Ruhmond 155 BlLLiX K IIorsK, Rl< IIMOM) 158 Swan Tavkhn, Rk m.mond 159 Gkay HoisE, SoiTii RiciiMoxi) 160 Hi.A( K Heath, Chesteukield County 161 C'hestekkielo CoiHT Hou.se 162 Salisbury, Chesterfield County 163 NoHWooi). Powhatan County 164 Heau.mont, I'owhatan County 165 Paxton, Powhatan County 166 TucKAHOE, Goochland County 169 Rei.mead, Powil\tan County 169 School-house at Tucic^hoe 172 Oakland, Cumberland County 175 Oakland, Showing the Grove 175 Sabot Hill, Goochland County 178 Dover, Cioochl.\nd County 179 Howard's Neck, Goochland County 181 Rock Castle, Goochland County 182 BoLLiNCi Hall, Goochland County 183 "Uncle" Asa and "Aunt" Jinsey at Rolling Island . . 184 HoLi.iNc; Island, (Goochland County 185 Union Hill, Cu.mberland County 185 Clifton, Cumberland County 186 Hf.I.LMONT. RucKINCillAM CoL'NTY 187 Harn at Bre.\io 188 Bhemo, Fluvanna County (Front) 189 Brkmo (Rear) 189 LowF.R Bhe.mo, Fluvanna County 191 Wind-power Grlst Mill in Mathews County 193 The Old "Marshall," the Last Packet Boat Rit^ on James Rivf.r and Kanawha Canal 193 Point-of-Fork, Fluvanna County 195 Cumberland Court House 196 Effinc!ham Tavern, Cumberland Court House 197 Amithill, Cumberland County I97 ILLUSTRATIONS xiii Liberty Hall, Nelson Coltnty 198 Union Hill, Nelson County 199 Edgewood, Nelson County- 201 Soldier's Joy, Nelson Col-nty 203 Otter Burn, Bedford County 204 Oak Ridge, Nelson County' 205 Pharsalia, Nelson County' 207 Ionia, Louisa County 210 Brackett's, Louisa County 211 West End, Louisa County 213 Sylvania, Louisa County 214 PART IV— GLOUCESTER AND THE YORK RIVER COUNTRY Old Windmill, Mathews County 215 Timberneck, Gloucester County 217 Powhatan's Chimney, Timberneck Creek 218 RosEWELL, Gloucester County 221 Carter's Creek (Fairfield), Gloucester County .... 227 Green Plains, Mathews County' 227 Poplar Grove, Mathews County 232 Tide Mill at Poplar Grove 232 Auburn, Mathews County 233 Belleville, Gloucester County 234 Dunham Massie, North River, Gloucester County' . . . 235 Elmington, North River, Gloucester County' 236 The Exchange, North River, Gloucester County. . . . 237 Ice-house, at Exchange 238 ToDDSBURY', North River (Front), Gloucester County' . 239 ToDDSBURY (Rear) "239 White Marsh, Gloucester County 242 Glenroy, Gloucester County 244 White Hall, Gloucester County' 245 Airville, Gloucester Coltnty- 246 Warner Hall on the Severn, Gloucester County- . . . 248 Sherwood, Gloucester County' 249 Eagle Point, Gloucester County' 250 Hesse, Gloucester County' 252 xiv I LUSTRATIONS Ware (iii hi ii. GLorcEsTER CorNTY 255 Ahincdon ('iukcii. (iLOUCESTER COINTY 256 Tavern at (iLorcEsTEH (\)fHT HofSE 257 St. Peter's ("iiir( ii. New Kent C'ointy 258 Cedar Grove, New Kent Cointy 260 PKf)VIDEN(E FoRCiE, \eW KeNT CoiXTY 261 Hami'stead, New Kent Coixty 262 The Hall at Hampstkai) 263 Eltiiam, New Kent ("oi nty 264 Clover Lea, Haxoveh County 265 Chelsea, Kixc; William County 267 Elsing Green, King William Couxty 268 HoRX Quarter, King William Coixty 269 Mattai'onv Ciiukcii. King and Queen County 270 Hanover Court House 271 Tavern at Hanover Court House 275 Hi( kory Hill, Hanover County 276 Fork Church, Hanover County 278 Oakl.\nd, Hanover County 279 Scotchtown, Hanover County 281 Edgewood. Haxover County 282 Parlor at Edgewood '■iSS Dining-room at Edgewood 283 New Market, Hanover County 285 PART ^•— THE RAPPAHANNOCK AND POTOMAC Following the Hounds 289 Rosegill, Middlesex County 289 Blandfield, Essex Coutxty 293 Vauter's Church, Essex County 295 The Hall at Gaymoxt, Caroline County 297 Ormesby, Caroline County 298 House Where Stonewall Jackson Died, Fairfield, Caro- line County 298 North Garden, Caroline and Spottsylvania Counties . 299 Marye House, Fredericksburg 300 Mary W'ashington House, Fredericksburg 301 Rising Sun Tavern, Fredericksburg 301 ILLl'STRATIONS xv Kenmore, Fredericksbitkg 303 The Parlor at Kenmore ^04 The Falls, Near Fredericksburg 305 Fall Hill, Spottsylvania County 306 RoxBURY, Spottsylvania County 308 DiTCHLEY, Northumberland County 310 Mantua, Northumberland County 311 Bewdlev, Lancaster Coutnty 31|? Epping Forest, Lancaster County 313 TowLES Point, Lancaster County 315 Christ Church, Lancaster County 31" Interior, Christ Church 317 St. Mary's White Chapel, Lancaster Col-nty 320 Bladensfield, Richmond County 3-2 Kirnan, Westmoreland County 32S Stratford, Westmoreland County 3-27 Sabine Hall, Richmond County 327 Yeocomico Church. Westmoreland County 331 Farnham Church, Richmond County 333 The Hall, Sabine Hall, Richmond County 335 Mt. Airy, Richmond County 339 Mt. Airy, Rear View 34.1 Menokin, Richmond County 34o Cleve, King George County 3-*6 Barnsfield, King George County 3-*^ Chatham, Stafford County 349 Boscobel, Near Fredericksburg 3a2 Old-time Method of Cooking as Used at Boscobel up to 1905 ^2 AcQUiA Church, Stafford County 354 Interior of Acquia Church ^^^ Mt. Vehnon, Fairfax County 3o/ Mt. Vernon, Rear View "^^^ Pohick Church, Fairfax County 363 Gunston Hall, Fairfax County 364 Christ Church, Alexandria Carlyle House, Alexandria Arlington, Alexandria County 369 xvi ILLl STKATIOXS I'AKT \ I -I'IKD-MOM AM) THE SOUTH SIDE i)\K Hiu. (Front), LoiDorx Cointy 374 Oak IIii.i. (Rkah) 375 Oati.ands, LoiDoix County 376 Oi.i) Mktiiodist ("lUKcii. Leesburg 377 Rasi'hkhkv Plain, LoinoiN Cointy 378 MoHVEN TaKK, LoiDOUN CoUNTY 379 Oak Hill, Faiqiier County 383 MoNTi'ELiEK, Orange County 387 Rocklands, Orange County 390 Frascati, Orange County 391 Hauiioihsville, Ohanc;e County 393 Edge Hill. Alhe.mahle County 393 Castle Hill, Albemarle County 397 Starting tiik Hunt 397 Belvoir, Alhi .makle County 399 The Rotunda — Univer.sity of Virginia 407 Fakmington, Albemarle County 410 Hedlands. Albemarle County 411 Monticola, Albemarle County 413 WooDviLLE, Albemarle County 415 E.sTouTEvii.LE, Albemarle County' 415 The Hall at Estouteville 416 TALLW(ioi}, Albemarle County 416 Plain Dealin(;, Albemarle County, and Interior .... 417 Mountain Top, Albemarle County' 419 Clover Forest, Prince Edward County 421 Green Hill, Campbell County 422 Old Negro Couple at Cabin at Red Hill 425 Red Hill, Charlotte County 425 Staunton Hill, Charlotte County 428 Ingleside, Charlotte County 431 The Old Mill at Greenfield, Charlotte County .... 432 Greenfield, Charlotte Cou-nty 433 The Garden Walk at Greenfield 433 Berry Hill, Halifax County, and Interior 436 Bellevue, Halifax County 437 Banister Lodge, Halifax County 438 ILLUSTRATIONS xvii Roanoke, Charlotte County 440 Mulberry Hill, Charlotte County 441 MiLDENDO Halifax County 44'-2 Pre.stwould, Mecklenburg County . 444 Ivy Cliff, Bedford County 445 PART VII— BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS Old Stone Church, Augusta County 446 Greenway Court, Clarke County 447 Old Springdale House, Frederick County 448 Springdale, Frederick County 449 Abraham's Delight, Near Winchester 450 Old Stone Chapel, Clarke County 453 Carter Hall, Clarke County 455 Long Branch, Clarke County 455 Saratoga, Clarke County 459 Clifton, Clarke County 460 Pagebrook, Clarke County 461 Natural Bridge 462 On the Road to Natural Bridge (1889) 463 Wallawhatoola, Bath County 465 The Meadows, Washington County 466 Old Byars House. Washington County 467 Smithfield, Montgomery County 469 Preston House, Abingdon 471 Fort Lewis, Bath County 471 Green Valley, Bath County 475 Mont Calm, Abingdon 476 Typical Frontier Block House Used for Protection Against Indians 481 PART VIII— THE EASTERN SHORE Mt. Custis, Accomac County 483 Welbourne, Horntown, Accomac County 484 St. George's Church, Pungoteague, Accomac County . . 485 Brownsville, Northampton County 486 Vaucluse, Northampton County 488 West House, Deep Creek 489 xviii I LUSTRATIONS DucKiNGTON. Northampton County 490 Cessk)hd. Eastville, Noktiiampton County 490 Siikpiikhd's I'lain, Accomac County 491 Melvin HoisE, Accomac County 492 CisTis Hoi sE. Deep Cueek 492 Cai,l.\iian HorsE, Locust Mount, Accomac County . . . 493 ^L^uc.AUET Academy, Accomac County 494 Wallop Mouse, Accomac County 494 Mount Wiiakton, Accomac County 495 HuNGARs Church, Northampton County 496 Howman's Folly. Accomac County 499 KosELANi), Accomac County 500 Wahhen House, Sitrky County 503 Talhot Hall, Norfolk County 527 HISTORIC VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES PART I Jamestown Williaimsburg Yorktown jamestown THE story of Virginia, as of America, begins at Jamestown. On December 20, IGOG, tbree shijis, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Diseovcnj, dropped down the Thames from London. Through the months of January, February, jMarch and nearly all of April, they bore steadily across the Atlantic. Tiiey were mere toys — white dots on the bosom of the vasty deep — yet they were bringing a new order of things to a New ^Vorld — they were bringing England to the Red Plan's Land. Aboard them were Captain Christopher Newport, Ad- miral of the fleet, and one hundred and three stout-hearted, adventurous spirits, fifty-four of whom were " gentlemen," four " carpenters " and twent5r-four " laborers." Seven of these were to form the Council of State to govern the Colonj^ they were coming to jjlant. These were Edward Maria Wingfield, Bartholomew Gosnold, Christopher Newport, John Smith, John Ratcliffe, John Martin, George Kendall, but the document appointing them was brought in a sealed box which was not to be opened, " nor the governors known until they reached land." There was also a godly Church of England minister. Reverend Robert Hunt, for the instructions of the King's Council for Vir- ginia had warned them that " every plantation which our Heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted out." Upon April 26, they arrived at the Cape, which they 2 \ II{(ilMA IIOMKS AM) CIICRCIIES lumird lliiiry I'oi' tlif Priiitr of Wales. There they set up a eross, tlieii saileii into Chesapeake Bay and u]) .James River. ('poll May Mi. wlieii the beauty of tlie spring season made them thinlv that they had found in \'irginia " earth's only paradise,' they ehose the site for Jamestown and with their ships lloating in six fathoms of water made fast to the trees upon the hank. On the fourteenth, they put themselves and their goods ashore, and gentlemen and laborers alike fell to work eut- ting down trees to make a elearing for their fort, within whieh rude eabins were soon built. " For a ehureh," says Caj)tain .John Smith, " wee did hang ... an old saile to three or foure trees to shadow us from the Sunne, our walles were railes of wood, oin- seats unhewed trees, till we eut plankes, our Pulpit a bar of wood nailed to two neigh- bouring trees . . . this was our C'hureh till we built a homely thing like a barne, set upon crachets covered with rafters, sedge and earth; so was also the walls. The best of our houses ( were) of the like curiosity, but the most part, farre much worse workmanship, that neither could well defend wind or rain ; yet we had daily common Prayer morning and evening every Sunday, two sermons, and every three months the holy communion till our minister died: but our j)rayers daily, with our homily on Sunday, we continued two or three years after, till more Preachers came." Spring in \^irginia was full of fair promises, but with summer came the deadly " ague and fever " and other dis- eases caused by the swampy situation and bad drinking water. Danger from the Indians was ever present; food became scarce; dissensions arose. Every one knows the story of the trying years that followed, with Captain Smith's strenuous efforts to keep the colony alive, his cap- ture by the Indians and rescue by Pocahontas, the colonists' devoted fi'iend. Its climax was reached in the " starving time " — the winter of 1(>()9-1610 — when only the arrival of liord Delaware with provisions and new settlers saved Jamestown from being abandoned. AMlii.i:it JHii >i;. .1 \.Ml;.-^lll\^ \ JAMESTOWN ClintCIl AND OLD lOWKli JAMESTOWN 5 After this, though there were still great suffVi'ing and many deaths, Virginia grew in strength. In 1(»1 l- the bap- tism of Poealiontas and her marriage with Joliii Kolfe made a bond of friendship l)etween the red man and the white. In 1619 Virginians were given the right to sliare in their own government. A jjopuhir legishiture was author- ized and the House of Burgesses, the first representative Assembly, not only of Ameriea, hut of all the King's Col- onies, met on July 30, in the chinch. In this year also twenty picked maidens, " jjure and undetiled,"' were sent over to make homes for such of the bachelor settlers as were willing to pay for their transjjortation — provided said bachelors took the fancy of the maids — and when the pair- ing off was accomplished Parson Biicke united the twentj' happy jjairs in holy wedlock. These auspicious events were followed by a frightful disaster — the Indian INIassacre of 1622, when nearly four hundred Colonists were murdered, hut from which James- town escaped, thanks to timely warning. The year 1635 saw at Jamestown the first American revolutionary movement. The people, tired of Governor Harvej^'s misrule, " thrust him out " of office and shipped him to England. Years of quick growth, but full of interest, followed — then, in the spring of 1652, the loyal Virginians as- sembled at Jamestown to defend the rights of King Charles, but were forced to surrender, on easy terms, to the Parlia- ment fleet. It was at Jamestown, too, that the most dramatic scenes of the famous Bacon's Rebellion were enacted in 1676, when the town was burned, leaving only the ruined church tower standing. A final burning of the State House, in 1698, caused the removal of the Colonial government to Williamsburg. After " James City " ceased to be even a village, and most of its site became the proj^erty of one family, Travis, it still retained its right to send a member to the House of 6 VIIU.IXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES liurgesses, a piivilej^e iu)t taken away until the formation of the State in 177('). The Mr. Travis of the day was the returning' ollieer. and the only voter and he, or his nominee, the memher. A memher of Congress who once heard of this on a visit to Jamestown said he now understood why the i)laee had onee heen called " Earth's only paradise." Still retaining its privileges as a town — though oidy a town in name — Jamestown was long witliout a history. Cornwallis eamped there June 4.-!), 1781, and on June 6, gave Lafayette a heating. In Septemher, 1781, the tirst French troops, arriving in Virginia for the Yorktown cam- jjaign. landed at Jamestown. In 18(n. the Confederate fort which adds much of pic- turestjueness to this historic spot was built, by order of (General Hohert E. Lee. Al)()ut a (juarter of a mile below the church tower, upon a level grass plot, stand the ruins of a Colonial mansion known as the iVmbler House. This house was built some time in the latter pai-t of the eighteenth century by the Huguenot, Edward Jacqueline, a member of the House of l^urgesscs and a large land holder at Jamestown. From him the house passed to his descendants of the well-known Ambler family, and continued in their possession until the first ])art of the nineteenth century, when it was sold. It has since fre(|uently changed hands and has been three times burned, though the massive old walls still stand firm. T'pon INIay 3, 1893, Mr. and INIrs. Edward E. Barney, then owners of Jamestown Island, moved by a broad and generous spirit of patriotism, presented the twenty-two and a half acres of land upon which are the tower, church- yard and Confederate fort to the Association for the Pres- ervation of Virginia Antiquities.' 1 See also Yonge, The Site of Old " James Towne," 1607-1698. A Brief Historicnl and Topographical Sketch of the First Ameri- can Metropolis. Richmond: 1907. This monograph was pub- lished serially in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biog- rajilii/, xi. 257- Cup\rit'h', isi'ji. b> Koliert A. I.Antaster, Jr. FOUNDATIONS OF OLD JAMESTOWN CHIKCH JAMESTOWN 9 Through the efforts of this organization, the United States Government has pUiced a splendid sea-wall along the shore of the ishnid exposed to the encroachment of the river, which had already made serious iin-oads. In li)01 excavations at the rear of the tower hrouyht to liiiht the foundations, brick aisles and chancel of the church, and some exceedingly interesting tombs. A most interesting feature of the " excavations " is a small wall which may be seen, in the illustration of the foundations of the chiu'ch, immediately inside the outer right-hand larger wall. This smaller wall is in all probability a part of the foimdation of the earliest church on this site and hence of the building in which sat the first " Assembly of the representatives of the People " called together in the New World. In order to protect these relics from the weather, and as a memorial to the first settlers, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America has restored the outer walls of the church building, in part, over the original foundations. Other excavations, in 1903, unearthed the foundation of a block of five or six connected buildings, including those of the State House burned by Bacon, in 1676. INIany interesting memorials have been placed at James- town in honor of the year 1907. Among these is a granite shaft, erected by the United States Government; stately entrance gates by the Colonial Dames of America, — a dif- ferent organization from the one which restored the church, — a bronze statue of Captain John Smith by ]Mr. and ]Mrs. Joseph Bryan ; a rest house — patterned after the iNIalvern Hill ]Mansion — by the Daughters of the American Revo- lution ; ornamental fountain by the ^Massachusetts Society of Colonial Wars; a monument to the first House of Bur- gesses, by the Norfolk branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. An improvement which might have saved many lives in the early days of storm and stress, if it only could have been made three hundred years ago, is a fine artesian well which supplies the island Avith a generous amount of pure, spark- ling and delicious water. 10 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES WILLIAMSBURG A strai'-'^liii^-. iiiil(.'-l()ii(\.fter the destruction of Jamestown it was decided to remove the seat of government of Virginia to a situation less popular with malaria and mosquitoes. The site chosen was the ^Middle Plantation, a little village upon high ground some seven miles back from Jamestown and the river. Its name was changed forthwith to Williamsburg after the reigning king of England and Virginia. The first jjlan was to lay out the streets to form a monogram of the letters W and M, the initials of their majesties William and Mary, hut this was abandoned. Instead, Duke of Gloucester Street and its parallel thoroughfares were intersected at right angles by other highways bearing names suggestive of royalty and state. Along these streets many of the houses, where the lights of other days lived and moved and had their being, may still be found. The Capitol and Governor's Palace have disappeared, but the site of the former is preserved; the Palace Green is the Palace Green still, and the college and the church still carry on the good works for which they were originally designed. willia:\i and siary college In the midst of its shady campus stands William and ]Mary, looking straight up the Duke of Gloucester Street, which was originally closed at the opposite end by the WILLIAMSBURG 13 Capitol building and grounds. It is built after tbe favorite Colonial manner, of red brick with glazed " headers," and with a triple-arched brick porch and a white cupola. Some distance in the foreground, upon the main walk, is a white marble statue of Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt 1718-1770), Governor-in-chief of Virginia 17<>8 to 1770, with a high-flown inscription. William and JMary was the first American college save one, the first to have chairs of Law, Political Economy, ^Modern Languages and History, the first to establish elective and honor systems and class lectm-es and to award medals, and its Phi Beta Kappa was the first (xreek letter fraternity in the LTnited States. It was through the untiring efforts of the Reverend James Blair, D.D. ( 1655-171^3) , Rector of Bruton Parish, that the College Charter was granted, in 1693, by their gracious majesties whose names it bears: " that the Church in Virginia may be fm-nished with a seminary of ^Ministers of the Gospel, and that the youth may be j)ioush^ educated in good letters and manners and that the Christian religion may be propagated among the Western Indians, to the glory of Almighty God." Sir Christopher Wren is be- lieved to have been the architect, and good Parson Blair was fittingly made its first president." Of this old college it has been said that " more illus- trious men, in jiroj^ortion to the numbers educated there, have gone out to make it and themselves famous than from any other literary institution on this Continent." Presidents of the United States, judges, chancellors, statesmen and divines, warriors and gentlemen fill the rolls of its venerable record. General W^ashington was its first chancellor after the Revolution, and to name only a few of the distinguished sons of this Alma Mater, three presidents of the LTnited States — Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Tvler — were educated there, as were ^ Motley, Life of Commissary James Blair (Johns Hopkins University Studies, Series six. No. 10). n MIU.IXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES Chief JusticT John Marshall; Peyton Itandolph, first Presidfiit of the Continental Con<>ress: Chaneellor George Wythe, and (Governor Kdnnind Randolph. lie spake truly who deelared, " Its name nuist ever be assoeiated with the deeds of the great and good." The eollege library eontains some treasures in the way of rare books and interesting portraits. JNIany of the books were presents from the royal governors of ^'irginia and contain book plates liearing eoats-of-arms of their donors. Among the rules of the eollege was one that no student should keep a race-horse, and another that drinking should br contined to the moderation that becomes a prudent and industiious student. A practical, if somewhat unique, offi- cer for the college was named on June 26, 1761, when it was " l{esolved that ^Irs. Foster be appointed stocking- mender in the eollege and that she be paid annually the sum of twelve pomids provided she furnish herself with lodging, diet, fire and candles." The college continued in successful operation until the Revolution, when a company of volunteers was raised among the students and commanded by some of the pro- fessors. ^Vhen the James River peninsula became the seat of war the exercises were temporarily suspended and the buildings were occupied in succession by the troops of the British and allied armies. The college has been thrice destroyed by fire, — first in 1705, again not long before the War ])etween the States and again dm-ing that conflict by Federal soldiers, — but the Colonial builders laid their mas- sive brick-work to stand, and it has, each time, been restored within the same walls. THE BRAFFERTON BUILDING WIM.IAM AND :MAnY COLLEGE Upon the college green to the right of the main build- ing stands the commodious and substantial building known as the BrafFerton, the first Indian School of any conse- quence in America. The Honorable Robert Boyle, of WILLIAMSlil RG 15 England, who died in 1091, directed in his will that his executors shoidd apply his personal estate to sueli ehari- table and pious uses as they, in their discretion, should see fit. The fund was invested in an English estate called Brafferton, and the rents, subject to ninety pounds given to Harvard University, were paid the Presiclcnt and pro- fessors of William and JNIary for the purpose of establish- ing and maintaining a department for Indians. The result was the Brafferton, where Indian youths were supported and taught until the Revolution. The Brafferton is now used as one of the college dormi- tories. THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE To the left of the college and immediately across the campus from the Brafferton is a dignified mansion built, like the college and the Brafferton, of dark red brick with glazed " headers " and, like the Brafferton, too, in plan, with the addition of the square, pillared porch. It was built in 1732 and as the home of a long succession of hon- ored presidents of William and INIarj' has enjoyed a rich social history. It has its place in war history as well, for Lord Cornwallis made it his headquarters not long before the Yorktown campaign. It was also occupied by the French troops at the time of the siege of Yorktown and by them was accidentally burned, but was rebuilt at the cost — tradition says — of the private purse of King Louis XVI. THE BLAIR HOUSE Passing from the college grounds into Duke of Gloucester Street, a few steps bring you to a long, low, white frame cottage, with one story and a dormer and with two street entrances, a short distance apart, each of which is reached by worn white marble steps. JNIodest as this homestead looks, it was the residence of two very distinguished men — John Blair (1680-1771), k; mhc.ixia ikbies and churches President of the Couneil of State and Aeting Governor of Virginia, and his son. John l?lair (died, 1800), Jnstiee of tlie United States Snprenie Coui't.' BLAIR Hdl si:. WIl.UAMSHUIiG BRUTON CHURCH Foot-worn stone steps lead to a heavy iron gate set in a wall t)f eheekered briek-work. The gate gives entrance to the old town's Holy of Holies — Bruton Parish Church and Churchyard. The green " God's acre " is filled with tombstones, many of them bearing arms and interesting epitaphs in English or Latin. The old sanctuary is built in tlie shape of a Roman cross, with a square entrance tower, of the familiar dull red and glazed brick. The tower is surmounted by a white wooden steeple from one side of which the town clock, which tradition says was formerly in the Capitol, keeps a watchful eye upon the town. The ' Blair family : William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, v, p. 279; Horner, The History of the Blair, Banister and Braxton Families (Philadelphia, 1898). WILLIAMSBURG 17 bell, which both cries the hours with silvery sound and calls the jjeople to church, bears the inscription, " The ^it't of James Tarpley in Bruton Parish, 1761." Bruton has been longer in continuous use than any other Episcopal church in America. The parish was established when Williamsburg was still Middle Plantation and antedates College, Capitol and Palace. The first l!Ur ION ( I|IH( II, WILMAMSmlK; church was doubtless of wood, but in 1 676 a brick one was built upon " land sufficient for the Church and Church- yard " given by Colonel John Page — first of the Page family in Virginia — who also subscribed " twenty pounds sterling " to the building fund. LTpon October 1, 1706, " The vestry, considering ye great charge ye parish hath been at for ye rei)airing of ye Church, and how bad a condition it still is in," ordered that " twenty thousand pounds of tobacco be levied this year for 2 18 VIUr.IXIA HOMES AXl) CIIURCriES and towards buildiiif>- a "ew cliurch." This (the present) l)iiil(hii^- was finished in 171o and stands upon the orif^'inal site. It was said to iiave heeii '" adoined as the best Churehes in London." Tliere were the hi^'h-baek pews and tall pulpit of tlie time. The (;o\ trnor s pew Avas slightly ele- vated Ironi the main lloor and over it stretehed a silken canopy around which the Governor's name was wrought in letters of gold. In this pew splendidly worshipped the royal governors, Nicholson, Jennings, Spotswood, Drys- dale, Gooch, Dinw^iddie, Fauquier, Lord Botetoin-t and Lord Dunmore, while in other i)ews have sat burgesses and councillors, patriots, scholars and statesmen without number. To name ordy the greatest in this remarkable galaxy — George Washington, Thomas JefFer.son, Patrick Henry, George ]\Lison, and John ^Marshall all bowed the knee in this storied temple. In 1718 leave was given the students of William and Mary College to use the west gallery and to put a door with a lock and key to the stairs of said gallery, " the sexton to keej) the key." In this galleiy, while students at William and Mary, sat Peyton Randolph (17"22-1775), President of the Continental Congress, and George Wythe (1726- 1806) , signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1721, it was ordered that a gallery be built in the south side of the church " for the boys of the parish." In 1753, it was ordered that half of the south gallery be appropriated to the college students, and here, while students, sat Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Chief Justice Marshall, Governor Edmund Randolph, President John Tyler, and General Winfield Scott. The north gallery was reserved for colored servants and was entered by a stairway from outside. In 175.5, it was ordered that a loft l)e built for the oraran which had l)een brought from England, and upon which Mr. Peter Pelham was appointed to play. Old Bruton is the fortunate possessor of three notable services of Communion silver, the most interesting of which WILLIAMSBURG 19 was broiio-ht from Jamestown. It consists of a chalice, paten and alms-basin jji-esented to Jamestown riinreli l)y Francis JMoryson, Acting (Governor of \'ir<>inia. The clialice and paten are inscribed: " JNlixe not holy things with profane. Ex dono p^rancisci Morrison Armigeri anno Domi 1601." and the basin with arms, and " For the use of James City Parish Church." The " Queene Anne Ser- vice " is an exquisitely chased, two-handled cup and cover, and a paten, and bears arms. The " King George Service " consists of a flagon chalice and alms-basin. Each piece bears the royal arms and initials G III R, and the motto, " Honi soit qui mal y pense." King Edward VII in 1907 gave a Bible and President Roosevelt a lectern for the Bible to rest upon, to this historic church, which has been beautifully and reverently restored to as nearly as possible its appearance in the days when it was the State Church of England's first colony in America. THE PALACE GREEN Beyond the church stretches the "Palace Green " where stood the Governor's palace, said to have been a " mag- nificent structure . . . finished and beautiful with gates, fine gardens, offices, walks, a fine canal, orchards, etc." Ajid " likewise the ornamental addition of a good cupola or lantern, illinninating most of the town upon birth nights and other nights of occasional rejoicing." The Palace was the very centre of social and ceremoni- ous life in Colonial Virginia. It was there that the painted and powdered belles and beaux displayed to the best ad- vantage their velvets and brocades, their jewelled buckles and falls of rich lace and also their accomplishments in the way of ornate manners and speech; there the minuet and the more lively country dances occupied the hours twixt candle-light and dawn when the birthday of his honor, the Governor of Virginia, or his JNIajesty, the King of Eng- land, was being celebrated, and upon other liolidays. 20 VIHC.IXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES WYTHE HOUSE The square brick mansion over-run with ivy and Vir- iaia, William and Mary College) and his wife, who was Lucy Page, the youngest of the twenty children of Governor John Page. About the year 1752 this house was occupied by Gov- ernor Robert Dinwiddle while the Palace was undergoing repairs. PAGE HOUSE Just across Palace Green from the Saunders House is the little old white frame, dormer-wndowed cottage which was the town house of Governor John Page, of "Saunders family: WiU'unn and Mary Quarterly, xiv, p. l-tS et seq. 22 VIHCIMA HOMES A\D CHURCHES " Rosewell." Hard by is the site of the old theatre which t'liriiishi'd W'illiaiiishuro- folk with the diversion of the phiy. Roth homestead and theatre figure eonspieiiously in ^liss Mary Johnston's novel " Audrey," and since the publica- tion of that book the cottage has been ])()inted out to visitors as " Audrey's house." Its panelled hall and parlor and uniipie stairway make it as quaint within as without, and one of the tiny window-panes in the parlor gives it a PAGK HOrSK, WILUA.MSBURG still furtlier interest. Upon this pane a diamond from the finger of some fair one of over a century ago has scratched, so plainly that it may still be easily read, the initials " T. B." and the date " 1790 November 23," followed by the words, " () fatal day." The identity of " T. B." and the reason why November 23, 1700, was a " fatal day " are alike wrapped in mystery, which is fortunate, since it grants every i-eader of the haunting inscription liberty to give free rein to imagination and make his own story. WILLIAMSBURG THE COURT HOUSE AND GREEN 23 Divided from the Palace Green by the street named for Lord Diinmore is Court Green, a broad grassy space, shaded by fine old trees. Within it, upon the Duke of Gloucester Street side, stands the Court House, built in 17()'.>, and upon it look a number of jjicturesque and charming old homesteads. » COURT HOUSE. WILLIAMSBURG COURT GREEN HOUSES TUCKER HOUSE Facing the Court Green on its north side is a large, rambling, frame house which was the home of two mem- bers of a distinguished Virginia family. Judges St. George and Nathaniel Beverley Tucker." Beyond the Tucker House, on the north side of the « Tucker family: The Crtic (Richmond, Va.), Sept. 14, 1889. 24 VIHCIXTA HOMES AND CHURCHES street named for Ciovernor Nicholson, which jjasses under a douhlc row of hiryc trees, several coinniodious frame TICKKR HOISK. WILLIAMSBURG COLEMAN HOISK. WILLLVMSBCRG homesteads of the Colonial period, with large gardens lying behind them, look upon the Court Green. WILLI a:sisburg 25 On the right-hand side of the cross street, as one turns to go to the station, is the house in which General Lafayette was entertained when he visited the Colonial capital in 1824. COLEMAN HOUSE A hlock further down Xicholson Street is to be noticed one of the most interesting of the old Willianisbin-g homes. The house is rich in heirlooms of the Tucker and liandolph families, and the terraced garden is beautiful and fragrant in summer with roses in endless variety, old-fashioned flowering shrubs, hyacinths and tulips, violets and lilies, great peonies — pink and white, each single blossom a bouquet. THE POWDER HORX Across Duke of Gloucester Street from the Coin't Green, but some distance back, stands one of the most ULU I'UNVUEU IIURX AT WlLLIA.MSIiUHG interesting relics in America — the old Powder Horn. This curious looking little octagon-shaped house, with its high ^>(; VIRCTXTA HOMES AND CHURCHES peaked roof, was built in 17U, chiriiig Governor Spots- wood's adiiiiiiistration, to hold the Colony's munitions of war, and was designed hy the (Governor himself. Its walls are strong and tliick, and to add to its security it was formerly enclosed hy a tliiek and high outer wall, running parallel to its eight sides. It was from the Powder Horn that Lord I3unmore secretly removed the gunpowder for which Patrick Henry, at the head of his Hanover troops, made him pay. This incident, it will be remembered, resulted in Dunmore's Hight from the capital and the patriotic Virginians putting themselves on record in a pledge to defend Virginia " or any sister colony " — fervently closing with, " God save the liberties of America." Since the Revolution the Powder Horn has had a check- ered history — serving in turn as a Bajitist Church, a danc- ing school and a stable. During the \Var between the States the Confederates used it for its original purpose — a powder magazine and armory. It is now the property of the Association for the Pres- ervation of ^'irginia Antiquities, which has made it a museum of relics of Virginia's past. RALEIGH TAVERN From the Powder Horn on to the old Capitol grounds at the eastern end of the street may be seen numerous Colonial dwellings — though the open lots and new build- ings show where many others have been destroyed by fire. The site of the most notable of these, Raleigh Tavern, has been recently marked by the Virginia Society of the ColoTiial Dames of America with a tablet. This most famous of Colonial " guest houses " was a large, square, wooden building, two stories high, with eight dormer windows on each of its four sides. In a small portico over the Duke of Gloucester Street entrance stood, upon a pedestal which is now one of the relics of the Powder Horn ^luseum, a leaden bust of Sir ^Valter Raleigh. In 1742, the tavern was owned by John Blair, nephew of the WILLIAMSBURG 27 Commissary, and kept by one Henry Wetherl)urii. Mine host Wetheiburn was evidently an expert mixer of the eup that cheers, if we may take a liint from the (iooehhuid County records, from which we learn that AViliiam Randolph, of Tuckahoe, sold to his friend, Peter Jefferson — the father of Thomas Jefferson — 200 acres of land for RALEIGH TA\ IJIN. W II, 1. 1 Wl-ltl K(^ AM) 'IIIK AI'lll.l.O ROOM " Henry Wetherburn's biggest bowl of Arrack punch." The deed was duly recorded in Goochland and may be seen there to-day. The chief glory of the Raleigh was a large banqueting hall with deep fireijlaces at each end and carved wainscot- ing, named after an apartment in London Tavern, the " Apollo Room." The Virginia Gazette contains many 2S VIRC.IXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES allusions to entertainments and gatherings in this room, and it has lieen said tliat the A])c)ll() " witnessed prohahly more seenes of hrilliant festivity and political excitement than any other single apartment in North America." Thomas Jefferson was one of the gallants who danced at the i)alls held there. In a letter written in 1704. to his chmn John Page, — afterward Governor of Virginia, — he wrote of having heen " last night as merry as agreeable company and dancing with Belinda in the Apollo " could make him. But alas, he was not always so " merry " in the Apollo, for it was during a hall there that his " Belinda," as he elected to call the fair Rebecca Burwell, gave him the mitten. The Gazette mentions a " genteele dinner " given by Peyton Randolph at the Raleigh, when " many loyal and I)atriotic toasts were drank, and the afternoon silent with cheerfulness and decorum." This was in 1768, and when, in the same year. Lord Botetourt came to be Governor of \'irginia, he supjjed in slate at the Raleigh, with the gentle- men of his Council. During the days immediately preceding the Revolution the Raleigh became a favorite meeting place of the patriots. In 1773, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, the Lees, and a few others were accustomed to meet in a private room there, to consult on state affairs. In consequence of an agreement made there, Dabney Carr introduced in the House of Burgesses, on ]March 12 of that year, the resolu- tions for Inter-Colonial Committees of Correspondence. When, in 1774, Lord Dunmore dissolved the Assembly that had protested against the shutting up of Boston Har- bor and proclaimed Jmie 1 a day of fast, it was to the Ajjollo Room that the indignant Burgesses adjourned and there drew up the famous resolution against the use of tea and other East Indian jjroducts. Upon December 5, 1776, the Phi Beta Kappa — the first Greek letter society formed in America — was organ- ized, by the students of William and ]SIary College, in the Apollo Room at the Raleigh. WILLIAMSBURG 29 This truly historic old tavern continued to he a popular place for hanquets, assemhlies, halls and political meetings until the year 1859, when, by unhappy accident, it was laid in ashes. THE PARADISE HOUSE On the left-hand side of Duke of Gloucester Street, not far below the Peninsula Hotel, may be seen a quaint brick dwelling known as the Paradise House. When Philip Ludwell III (1716-1767) of Green- spring, Virginia, died in London — in which city he had taken up his abode — he left there two daughters, one of whom, Luc3% married, in 1769, John Paradise, Escj.,' . . . a gentleman well known in literary circles in London. He and his wife were identified with Doctor Johnson's famous set of literary lights and wits. Doctor Johnson sometimes dined with them and they are mentioned in " Boswell "' and in Burney's Memoirs. After her husband's death JNIadam Paradise returned to Virginia and was a personage in the society of Williams- burg, where she made her home, until her death in 1814. Among the articles of furniture which she brought over was the mahogany dining-table at which Johnson had been entertained, and which is still in Williamsburg. It is probable that the house was formerly owned by INIadam Paradise's father. THE CARTER HOUSE On the opposite side of the street from the Paradise House and somewhat farther down, is the many-dormered, white frame dwelling which was the towii house of Robert Carter (1728-1804) of Nomini Hall, Westmoreland County, who was long a member of the Colonial Council and was familiarly known as " Councillor Carter." Present-day readers have made the acquaintance of ' There is an interesting note on Paradise in William and Mary Qtiarterly, vi, 58. 30 VlK(;iMA IIOMKS AND CHURCHES Councillor Caitu- and his family and friends through the exceedinglv quaint and delightful journal of Phdip ^ ickers Fithiaii '—a tutor at Xoinini just heforc the Revolution. THE OLD CAPITOL AND CLERK'S OFFICE All that is left of that " noble, beautiful and com- modious pile," the Capitol, within whose walls so much history, not only of Virginia but of America, was made, are the brick foundations lying across the foot of Duke of Gloucester Street and rising but little above the grass that fills the space between them with friendly green. They show the building to have been a large H-shaped structure, lying sideways to the street. The rear side was the House of Hurgesses. The site is now the property of the Asso- ciation for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, which * Williams, Philip Vickers Fithiun, Journal and Letters, 1767- 177 If. rrinccton. 1900. WILLIAMSBURG 31 has placed upon it a granite boulder, bearing a broir/e tablet appropriately inscribed, and capped the old I)rick- work with concrete, to prevent further decay. Across Capitol Street on the left is a stout brick build- mg, now part of a dwelling, but formerly tiie ottice of tlie Clerk of the House of Burgesses, or General Court. GARRETT HOUSE Following Capitol Street a short distance, still to the left, brings to view a long, rambling, white house in a shady, green lawn, which makes a charming picture of that inter- esting type of old-time ^'■irginia homestead which grew with the needs of the family. The oldest part of this house was built by John Coke, a son of the distinguished family of Coke of Trusley and an ancestor of the late Senator Coke, of Texas. An extremely quaint stair-rail is one of the interesting interior details of this end of the house. This, like many other of the Williamsbin-g homes, con- tains a fascinating collection of heirlooms — rare old mahog- any, pictures, silver, and the like. LTjion the parlor walls hangs, in a perfect state of preservation, the paper with the old-fashioned hunting-scene pattern which was the first wall-paper ever brought to Williamsburg. BASSETT HALL To the right of Capitol Street, on Francis Street — which is parallel with Duke of Gloucester — stands a large frame house, with square Colonial porches, in the midst of a lovely old flower garden. This is Bassett Hall, once the town home of the Bassett family of New Kent County." Mrs. Bassett and ]Mrs. Washington (who were Dandridges) were sisters, and General Washington was often enter- tained at Bassett Hall. ^ Bassett family : Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, iv, 162; vii, 399; and Keith, The Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison . . . and Xotes on Families Related, Philadelphia, 1893, pp. 27-33. 3-2 MHGIXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES It is said tliat the sweet Irish singer, Tom ]Moore, wliile a guest here composed his beautiful poem " To tlie Fii'ffly "—suggested by the " tircHy huiips " that sparkled aiiiDiig the llowers aiul shrubbery as he sat on the poreh in the evening. Bassett Hall was, in 184.1, the home of President John Tyler. RANDOLPH HOUSE Just beyond Bassett Hall, on the same street, is the ])ieturcs(iue old homestead of Peyton Randolph, Attorney General of \'irginia, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and first President of the Continental Congress. MASONIC TEMPLE Still farthei- up Francis Street is a plain and now shabby frame house once used for ^Masonic meetings. \\'ithin this modest " Temjile " was organized the first Grand Lodge of ]Masons in the Old Dominion. CARY HOUSE Timiing into England Street, the tourist finds himself at the gate of a long, white, dormer-windowed cottage, in a green yard, with great shade-trees screening its square Colonial poreh from the gaze of the over-curious. This was the home of the lovely Cary sisters — Sarah and Mary '" — where George Washington and George Fairfax did a-wooing go; Fairfax successfully, and Wash- ington in vain. TAZEWELL HALL On England Street stands an old frame mansion of Colonial type. Its exterior is plain, but within it is verj^ handsome, and the walls of its stately hall and rooms are made beautiful with carved mahogany panelling. *" Cary family: The Critic (Richmond, Va.), April 26, May 10 and 24, 1890. WILLIAMSBlIUr 33 This is Tazewell Hall, the home of Sir John Kaiulolph (169.'3-1737) — one of the most distinguished lawyers of Colonial ^'irg•inia and Speaker of the House of liurgesses — and of his grandson Edmund Randolph ( 17-)''}-lH13), Governor of Virginia and Secretary of State of the ("nited States. The marriage, in 1776, of the ^Master of Tazewell Hall was announced in the Virginia Gazette in the following fashion: TAZEWELL HALL. WILLLVMSIR KG " Edmund Randolph, Esq., Attorney General of Vir- ginia, to ]Miss Betsy Nicholas,' * a young lady whose amiahle sweetness of disposition, joined with tlie finest intellectual accomplishments, cannot fail of rendering the worthy man of her choice completely happy." " Nicholas family: The Critic (Richmond, Va.), August 30, 1890. 3 34 VIKCaMA HOMES AND CHURCHES ^•()HKT{)\VX Altoiit iiiiu' miles distant from Williamsburg, upon a hill ()\(_ii()()kiiiji- l)L'aiititiil liut now empty York River liarl)or. lii-s all that is k-t't of ^'orkt()^VIl. This famous little town, iiuilt in KJ'.H, was the sueeessor of " York Planta- tion," whieli had already had an interesting' history. It was never more than a village in size, but owing to its situation did a gieat ship])ing business for nearly a hundred years. An Knglisliman who had visited it published his impressions in the Loudon Magazine, in 1764. He wrote: " Yorktown ... is situated on a rising ground, gently descending every way into a valley, and tho' but strag- glingly built, yet makes no ineonsiderable tigure. You pereeive a great air of opulenee amongst the inhabitants who have (some of them) built themselves houses equal in magnificence to many of our superb ones at St. James, as those of Mr. Lightfoot, Nelson, etc., almost every con- siderable man keeps an equipage though they have no concern about the different colours of their coach horses, driving frequently l)laek, white and chestnut in the same harness . . . the most considerable houses are brick, some handsome ones of wood — all built in the modern taste — and the lesser sort of plaster. There are some very pretty garden spots in the town; and the avenues leading to \Yilliamsburg, Norfolk, etc., are prodigiously agreeable. The roads are . . . infinitely superior to most in Eng- land. The country surrounding is thickly overspread with plantations, and the planters live in a manner equal to men of the best fortune." In achieving fame Yorktown bade farewell to fortune, for its prosperous career came to a sudden end with the Revolution ; but perhaps it finds consolation in a secure place in history and the superb monument erected, in 1881, by the United States Government. Traces of earthworks raised by the Britisli still remain, though covered and altered in many places bj' the later Confederate fortifications. NKLSO.N HOLSK, VOUKHmN CUSTOM HOUSE, YORKTOWN YORKTO^VN 37 THE CUSTOM HOUSE The oldest brick building- now staii(lin<>- in Vorktowii is the Custom House, built in 171.5. This interesting relic — the first Custom House in the Ignited States — escaped serious damage diu'ing the famous siege. THE NELSON HOUSE Upon the brow of the hill, facing the river, a short distance away from the Custom House stands the j^ictu- resque old Xelson House. The massiveness of tliis com- modious brick mansion, and its situation upon a terrace some distance above the street and within an old-fashioned walled garden whose entrance gates are guarded on each side by tall, thick box trees, give it an air of dignified se- clusion and security. Indoors, the spacious rooms, with their deep window-seats and handsome wainscoting, pro- duce a charming effect, while the interest that a touch of the mysterious gives is added by a hidden stairway leading to the garret, to which a secret panel in the dining-room woodwork gives entrance. As the home of Thomas Nelson (1738-1789),'- Gov- ernor of Virginia, Signer of the Declaration of Independ- ence and ]Major General in the Revolutionary Army, and as the headquarters of Lord Cornwallis during the siege this house is the most historic as well as the most attractive now standing in Yorktown. It suffered a good deal of damage during the siege and a cannon ball embedded in the brick-work still bears witness to the bombardment, during w^hich the patriotic General Nelson said to (General Lafayette, " Spare no particle of my property so long as it affords comfort or shelter to the enemies of my country." The site of the mansion of " Secretary " Nelson, uncle of General Nelson, which was destroj'cd during the siege ^^ Nelson family : See Page, Genealogy of the Page Family, p. 155 et seq. Interesting results from an investigation of the English ancestry of the Nelson family arc given in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, xiii, pp. -iOS-iOS ; xvii, pp. 187-188. 38 VIIU.IXTA HOMES AND CHURCHES is still poiiitrd out. " Secretary " Nelson was brought out of Vorktowu under a flag of truce and congratulated the American officers upon the havoc their bonihardnient was playing upon his own house. THE CHURCH In the churchyard a short distance away from the Nelson House may l)e seen the Nelson tombs. The church where this patriotic family worshipped and which was built in 1()!)7 was burned in 1814. but was replaced by a small stone-marle building on the original site. The old bell of the earlier church bearing the inscription, " County of York. \'irginia, 17"2.3," was jjreserved and is still in use. THE MOORE HOUSE About tliree-(|uarters of a mile out of Yorktown, upon " Temple Farm." stands the " Moore House " where the Moimi; hi)l:>i;, nkau vcjUKrowx surrender of Cornwallis was drawn up and signed. The room made forever famous by this epoch-making agree- ment is still pointed out. The house is a very old one'and is i)robably part of the residence of Colonel George Ludlow YORKTOWN 39 (1596-1656), member of the Colonial Council, who was a kinsman of the English regicide, Etlmund l.iidlow, and is mentioned by him in his memoirs. Standing within a green lawn on a hold bluff of York River, the long, dormer- window farm-house makes a charming picture. An interesting bit of history connected with " Temple Farm " is found in the fact that just about this site stood, more than a hundred years before the Revolution, the home of Captain Nicholas ^Martahi (1591-1657), ancestor of General Washington and General Nelson and one of the leading spirits in the first rebellion against tyranny in Virginia, when, in 1634', the Colonists " thrust " the un- popular Governor, Sir John Harvey, out of olllce and shipped him to England. Another historic spot near Yorktown is the field where Lord Cornwallis's men laid down their arms. iii.\GHi:i,i) mil >i:, \inih iihm\ RINGFIELD The most historic spot on York River — Yorktown — has been noticed. The only other place on that side of the river to be represented here is Ringfield, lying between the 40 MKdIMA IIO.MKS AND CHURCHES forks of Kind's Creek and Felgate's Creek. Tliis planta- tion was first patented hy Captain Robert Felgate, a prominent sliip-captain of London, wlio made his will in ItiK), lea\iiig liis estate to his hrotlier, ^^'ilIiaIn Felf^ate, a skiiinei- of London. At Lel<'ate"s death his widow, I\lary, married (in l(HiO) Captain John Underhill, Jr., from the City of \\'oreester, Kngland, from whom the Felgate plan- tation passed to Joseph Ring, a prominent planter, who probably bnilt the house still standing. Since his time the place has been known as Ringficld. There were long to be seen there two old tombs of meml)ers of the Ring family, one liaving a mutilated eoat-of-arms, but they have been lately removed to the old Hruton Churchyard, Williams- burg. In about 1772, Ringtield belonged to Colonel Landon Carter (1710-1778) of Sabine Hall, Richmond County. PDIiTO UKLLO. NEAR WILLIAM.SBLKG PORTO BELLO Not far from Williamsburg on the north side of Queen's Creek, near its mouth, is Porto Bello. which was bouo-ht by Lord Uunsmore, in 1773. He built the present house. It has since had many owTiers, and is now owned by Mr. T. R. Dalev. PART II Hampton Roads and the Lowkr James st. paul's church, norfolk I^S St. Paul's Chiircli was tlie only building' kl't staiid- /_\ injf after the tire which during' the Revolution / % laid the town of Norfolk in ashes, it is, of course, -^ -^- the only Colonial building now to be found tliere. With its high-walled graveyard it makes the loveliest and most appealing spot in that city by the sea. The church, which was built in 1739, is in the shape of a cross, and is completely mantled in ivy, save where the green is trimmed away to show the cannon-ball lodged in the wall by a gun on the frigate Livcrpuol. dm-ing the bombardment of Norfolk by Lord Dunmore, on New Year's Day, 1776.* The Communion service was taken from the church bj' the British and carried to Scotland. THE MYERS HOUSE, NORFOLK The ivy-covered, brick dwelling now occupied by Mr. Barton Myers was built, in 17D1, by ^Nloses Myers, his great-grandfather. He was one of the most prominent ship owners and merchants of his day engaged in foreign trade, and was appointed by John Quincy Adams, Collec- tor of Customs for the Port in 1828. Five generations of the family have lived here. The house has always been noted for its hospitality and many of the most distinguished men who visited Norfolk were en- tertained within its hosjjitable walls, amongst them Henry Clay, who stayed here when he visited Norfolk during the Presidential campaign in 1844. President Roosevelt, with members of bis Caliinet, and James Bryce, British Ambassador, with their wives, were entertained here on the occasion of the opening of the Jamestown Exijosition, April, 1007, as the guests of Mr. Harry St. George Tucker, President of the Exposition. * See illustration, p. 43. 41 42 VIRCIMA HOMES AND CHURCHES The Annricaii Arcltitcct and BuUdiny News, of Bos- ton, in its porti'olio of the (icorj-iaii rcriod, Part IV, pub- lished in Boston, in 1900, says, " The house we have chosen for ilhistration is l)y far the most interesting example of Georgian work to he found in Norfolk." General Wintield Scott, on a visit to Norfolk, in 1850, was a guest here. His visit, and a description of the house was referred to in an article published by JNIr. II. B. Bag- nail in the Ledger-Dispatch. ROLLESTOX In the Uutch-i'oofed portion of the house here pre- sented we find all that is left of the habitation of one of Vira-inia's early settlers. In KUD— the year Charles I Hnl.LI,>|(lN. I>KI\( I— > ANM-; ( lil Nn was beheaded with other disappointed Cavaliers — William INIoseley arrived on our shores from Rotterdam, Holland, l)ringing with him his wife Susannah and sons Arthur and ^Villiam, grants of land in Lynnhaven Parish on Broad ST. PAULS CHURCH, NORFOLK MYERS HOUSE, NORFOLK HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JAMES 45 Creek, Lower Norfolk County, Virginia, a " Couit Cal- lender," a " Coat of Arms," old fainiiy portraits, one of them painted in the reign of Henry 11 and the rest by Van Uyck, and family jewels of rare value, showing how Englishmen eling to their old traditions and l)elongings even when eolonizing in the wilderness. In lOJO, alas! we find Susannah JMoseley forced to sell her jewels for " Cat- tell," the gems, irony of Fate! being purcliased by Franeis Yardley, son of tlie Colonial Governor and leader of the Cromwellian party in Virginia. Here in Lower Norfolk County. William Moseley built the house of our cut, ealling it " Rolleston " after the Moseley seat, Rolleston Hall, in Staft'ordshire, England. These Virginia lands were escheated to the Commonwealth in the time of Cromwell, and, after the restoration of Charles II, were restored to the grandson of the emigrant, Colonel Edward Moseley. a man of great distinction in those parts, a member of the House of Burgesses, and one of Governor Spotswoods Knights of the Golden Horse- shoe. The house still stands, and until the end of the War between the States (1865) was occupied by his lineal descendants. THOROUGHGOOD HOUSE In the early days of oiu' country's history, as far back indeed as 1621, there came to Virginia from Lynn, in Nor- folk, England, in the good ship Charles, a certain Adam Thoroughgood, who was destined to become, tln-ough his thrift and industry, a man of nuich distinction in the Col- ony. Perhaps, too, a strain of gentle ])lood. which Howed in him from a long line of English ancestors, enal)led him to hnpress those early colonizers — an impression so last- inff that to this day their descendants around Lvnnhaven and Norfolk, in Virginia, still revere his memory. He was the son of Thomas Thoroughgood. ^l.P.. and brother of Sir John Thoroughgood, Knight of Kensing- ton, England, whom lie mentions in his will, and it is stated in the patent for 5350 acres of land granted him, that the K! VIK(;iMA IIOMKS AND CHURCHES ^raut is made " at the fsi)ffial ivc-ominendatioii of him from their Lordships and others of his INlajesties most hiiiiililc privy Coiiiieell." He settled first at " Kieotan," now Hampton, \'irninia, l)ut in Kl.'J-t, when this hnul vvas jrranted him in the same shire, lie removed to Baek River, naniin.u it " Norfolk " County, and its beautiful Bay, " Lvmihaven." Here he huiltthe quaint house, the gable i % THUKUH.HGlllJLl IlOl.^l., ritlM 1.--- A.\.\L LULMV Built about 1635 end of whieh appears in our illustration, and so substantial was his work that now it still stands hal)itable and well pre- served, with its walls of three feet thiekness, its queer old wainseoting reaching the ceiling about the chimney pieces, and its secret closets running from gable to gable in which to hide from the Indians. Here he amassed a large fortune, and rose to much HAMPTON ROADS AND T.OWKU JAMES 47 distinction in the Colony, l)ein<>;, in Ki.'JT, a nicnil)cr of the Council (our Colonial House of Lords) with (Governor Harvey. But in Ki-iO, he is dead, cut down l)efore his prime, still, having accomplished enough in his thirty- seven years of life to make dwellers in those i)ai-ts nearly 300 years later proud to claim descent from Captain Adam Thoroughgood. V J ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. HAMPTON * ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, HAMPTON Across Hampton Roads from Norfolk is the still okler town of Hampton, which, like Norfolk, has been destroyed by fire and rebuilt. Diu'ing tlie AVar between the States, when the inhabitants set the torch to their own homes rather than let tliem give shelter to Northern soldiers, the mas- sive walls of St. John's were the onlj*^ relics left of Colonial Hampton. There were chiu'ches in Hampton, which was first known by the name the Indians gave it, " Kicoughtan," * Picture from Lo.ssing's Field Book of the lierohition, pub- lished 1850, vol. 2, p. 826. 4S MHC.IMA HOMES AND CHIRCHES from a very early dale, l)ut St. .John's was not built until 1727. l^ike many of the Colonial churches it is cruciform and is sui'rounded by a "^raveyai-d tilled with interesting old tonil)s. ^\ number of these which were in existence in 1801 disappeared during the war. St. .lohn's possesses the oldest service of Communion silver in ^Vmerica. One of the jjieces, a large cuj), bears the inscription: "The Communion Cupp for St. Mary's Church in Smith Tlundiid, in \"irginia," and the hall mark, 1(117. Smith s Hundred was one of the large land grants along the Chickahominy, and the Hampton silver evidently belonged originally to a chiu'ch there — long since dis- appeared. An interesting window in St. John's is to the memory of Pocahontas, and was placed there by the Indian students of Hampton Normal School. Notable among the beauties of the churchyard are the fine old weeping willows that shade it with their fringe- like foliaiie. EASTERN SHORE CHAPEL, PRINCESS ANNE COUNTY HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JAMES 49 EASTERN SHORE CHAPEL Soon after tlie openiiireatly to its comfort, mar the beauty of the exterior. Witliin, it is one of the most im- pressive examples of Colonial home-building left in Vir- ginia. \Vn\h of hall and rooms are panelled to the ceiling, where tliey are finished with l)eautiful cornices. The great central iiall is spanned by a wide arch supported on either side by fluted pilasters, beneath which the fine old stair- way, with its carved banisters, descends with majestic sweep. Along the hand-rail may still be seen the gashes made by the sabres of Tarleton's men, who paid their respects to Carter's Grove when raiding Virginia during the Kevolution. Some interesting details concerning the construction of the house are furnished by an old plantation account book of the Burwell family. This shows that the house was begun in June and finished in September. The labor was of course that of slaves, but a " master workman " — one David Minitree — Avas general director of construction and was brouglit from England, accompanied by his family, especially for this work. He was paid 115 pounds bj^ INIr. Burwell for " building me a brick house according to agree- ment,"' and in addition received a jiresent of 25 pounds. The timber used — 25,000 feet of plank, at ten shillings a thousand, -tO.OOO shingles, at four shillings a thousand, and 15,000 lathes, at seven shillings a thousand — was evidently brought from a distance, as 32 pounds was paid for hauling it; but the bricks — 460,000 at seventeen shillings a thousand — were made upon the place. Five hundred and forty squares of glass were used, at two and a half pence a square. The entire cost of building the house was five hundred pounds, which considering its substantial condition, after o\er a century and a half of wear and tear, seems most moderate. THK HALL AT (ARTKRS (lltdVK CARTER'S UKOVK, JAMKS CITY COUNTY HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWKIi JAMES 57 Carter Burwell, builder and first master of Carter's Grove, was the son of Colonel Nathaniel Hinwell, of Carter's Creek, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert (" King ") Carter. He was long a member of the House of Burgesses from James City County. He married Luey, daughter of Honorable John Grymes (1093-1748) of ISIiddlesex County, and had, among other children, (his eldest son) Colonel Nathaniel Burwell, who inherited Carter's Grove, but about the end of the eighteenth century moved to Clarke County, where he built Carter Hall. Since then Carter's Grove has had several owners, but has been best known as the hospitable home of Dr. Edwin Booth, Avho has, however, recently sold it. THE WARREN HOUSE Grays Creek, which flows into James River, opposite Jamestown, has at its mouth, on John Smith's map. " The New Fort." A short distance up the creek on a l)luff on the " Smith Fort " farm are remains of earthworks, most probably a part of the " New Fort " built in 1608 or 1609. On " Smith's Fort " is an old brick residence exactly fifty feet long, which is the oldest house in Virginia whose exact date can be ascertained.* The records show that Thomas Rolfe, the son of Pocahontas, owned 1200 acres here which he sold to Thomas Warren (ancestor of the well-known Surry family) . Depositions on record at Surry Court House state that the Warrens' " fifty foot brick house " at Smith's Fort was built in 1654. After passing through many different hands, the house and a hundred or so acres of land adjoining are the projierty of a pros- perous negro family. FOUR MILE TREE Going on up the south side of the river, the travel- ler soon has a view of Four ^Nlile Tree — a name evidently given the plantation on account of some conspicuous tree * See illustration at head of Index. oH MUC.IXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES wliicli distinguished it in early times. The mansion stands upon a steep, round-top hill overlookino' the river and from the remnants of ten-aces and hiyh l)ox-hedges that may be still seen was, evidently, in its day, a place of beauty as well as consequence. As carlv as 1()37. Hem-y Browne * patented 22.50 acres " at the Four Mile Tree ""and a little later 900 acres ad- joining. The estate remained in the Browne family, whose members w^ere prominent in ])ul)lic life in nearly every I HI 1 , .1 wii - i;i\ I i; generation. William Browne, the last of the name who owned Four Alile Tree, died, in 1799, leaving an only child. Sally Edwards Browne, who married, in 1813, John T. Bowdoin, and dying, in 181.5, left also an only child, Sally Elizabeth Courtney Bowdoin, who married Gen. Philip St. George Cocke, and they lived there until General Cocke built Belmead, on upper James River. In the graveyard may be seen — still in perfect condition — the oldest tomb in Virginia having a legible inscription, that of Mrs. Alice Jordan, who died in 1650. Her husband, * Browne : William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, xvi, 227 et seq. HAMPTON ROADS AND LO^YER JAMES 59 George Jordan, at one time Attorney General of Virginia, long survived her, and in liis will, made in 1(»7H, directed that he be buried beside his wife and children in Major Browne's orchard. GREEN SPRING Some distance back from the river, and four miles from Jamestown, was Green Spring, the home of Sir Wdliam Berkeley (1()0G-1677), the famous Cavalier Governor of Virginia. The place derives its name from " A very line green spring that is upon the land," whose water was " so very cold that tis dangerous drinking thereof in sunnner- time." The estate of nearly a thousand acres was granted to Governor Berkeley in 1643,' and here he built him a home consisting of a central building containing six rooms and a large hall, with a commodious wing on either side. The fireplaces were over four feet wide and nearly :is deep, and there was a central chinmey seven feet wide. There were a terraced lawn and flower gardens, and hot-houses in which orange trees and other tropical shrubs grew and bore fruit, and there were great stables filled with fine horses. Here Sir William kept open house for the Cavaliers who took refuge in Virginia dvu-ing the banishment from England of his ^Majesty, Charles II ; here Nathaniel Bacon, on the march to Jamestown, where Sir William was en- trenched, rested, and made one of his ringing speeches to his " hearts of gold," and here he returned after besieging and burning Jamestown, and took up his headquarters. Here too, on account of the destruction of the State House at Jamestown, the first Grand Assembly after Bacons Rebellion met. ^, n • After Sir William Berkeley's death, his widow, the tair and fascinating Ladv Frances, married the Honorable Philip Ludwell I (becoming his secon d wife), and Green 1 Heninf,r, Statutes at Large . . . of Virginia, ii, 319. 60 VIRC.INIA HOMES AND CHURCHES Spriiif? passed to the I^udwell family.- Three successive Philip Ludwells owiu'd it — wealthy and prominent men, ail of them, and members of his Majesty's Couneil. In takinji- a second husband Lady Berkeley could not bring herself to part with the title her first had given her, and not only did she eontimie to be called by it the rest of her days, but " I^ady Berkeley " was the name inscribed on her tomb. Her cousin Lord Culpeper, who was made Governor of the Colony in 1680, i-ented Greenspring from the Ludwells and lived there in state. Finally Green Spring passed to the Lees, by the mar- riage of Hannah Philippa, daughter and co-heiress of the third Colonel Philip Ludwell, with Honorable William Lee, ^linister of the United States at the Courts of Vienna and Berlin, who in his latter days retired to the famous old plantation and lived there in style and splendor. An advertisement in a Richmond newspaper of 1816 for the sale of Green Spring — at that time 2934. acres — shows that the house then standing (the ruins of which now remain) was built by William L. Lee, son of William CLAREMONT In the same county with Four Mile Tree — at its upper end — is Claremont, best known as the home of the Allen family, which has been identified with it for two centiu'ies and a quarter. Part of this handsome estate of 12,000 acres was granted as early as 1649 to Arthur Allen, Justice of Surry — for several years a burgess and in 1688 Sjjeaker of the House of Burgesses — who married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Burgess Lawrence Baker, of Surry, and left a number of children. The manor plantation was first inherited by the eldest son James and after his death by his brother, Arthur Allen, third of the name. This Arthur married Elizabeth Bray. His daughter Catherine married ^ Ludwell : An account of the Ludwell family may be found in E. J. Lee's Lee of Virginia. HAMPTON ROADS AND L0W1<:R JAMES (il Benjamin Cocke, and his son James died unmarried, leav- ing liis unentailed estate to his sister and her ehildren and in case of their death without heirs, to Southwark Parish, for fomuling a school to he called " Allen's School." Upon James Allen's death the manor plantation at Claremont passed to his cousin. Colonel William Allen, of Claremont — a member of the Convention of 1788 and of the \'irginia Legislature. He left one son. Colonel ^Villiam .Allen, Jr., of Claremont — a member of the Legislature, Colonel of jMilitia in the War of 1812 and one of the largest land and slave owners in Virginia. CLAREMONT, SIRRY CO! NTY Colonel William Allen, Jr., left his estate to his great- nephew, William Orgain, who took the name of Allen. He served as a major of artillery in the Confederate Army and was known as Major William Allen, of Claremont. At one time he owned the largest landed estate in Virginia — his possessions including the plantations of Claremont, Kingsmill, Jamestown Island, Neck of Land, Curie's Xeck and other valuable lands to the number of thirty or forty thousand acres. He also owned some seven or eight hun- 62 VIIU.IXIA HOMES AND (III lU'IIES dred slaves. With his death, in 1875. the Allen tenure at Clareniont eeased. and the great estate has heen sinee eut up into small farnis — part of it being now the town of Clareniont. An interesting ineident in the Allen family history is furnished hy the will of Mrs. Klizaheth Bray Allen, who upon the death of her husband, Colonel Arthur Allen, third, married Colonel Arthur Smith, of Isle of Wight, and founded a free sehool at Smithtield. In her will she left fifty pounds for the purehase of " an altar piece for the Lower Church of Southwalk Parish," Surry, upon which Moses and iVaron were to be represented holding between them the Ten Commandments, while upon either side was to hang a small tablet, one of them containing the Lord's Prayer and the other the Apostles" Creed. ' TEUIXGTON The Sandy Point estate on James River, in Charles City County, was for several generations the home of that branch of the Lightfoot family in Virginia which descends from Honorable Philip Lightfoot (grandson of Richard Lightfoot, rector of Stoke-Bruerne, Xorthamptonshire, E^ngland), who was in the colony as early as 1G71. He held various offices of trust and honor, among them collec- tor for the Upper District of James River and surveyor general of the colony.^ Philip Lightfoot owned a large acreage at Sandy Point, where, by the way, was, at the settlement of Vir- ginia, seated the Indian town of " Paspahegh."' The house at Sandy Point, says Tyler in his Cradle of the Ifepiihlie, is said to have been built in 1717, and is called " Tedington," the name of a place in London. This ' Allen genealogy, William and Mary College Quarterly His- torical Mogaz'ne, viii, 110—11.5. ■• Lightfoot fjiniily: WilUnin and Mar// College Quarterli) His- torical Magazine, ii, "91-97, 204-207 and 259-262: iii, loi-111, 137. HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWKH .]\MV> (;;$ house has massive walls ol' hv'wk and I'l-oni llic first lloor is weather-boarded over the inside hriek casinjj;, known in Colonial days as a stock hriek huildinn' ;nid su])i)osed to be indestructible. At Sandy Point are buried several of the older gen- erations of the Lightfoot family, beneath tombs bearing the familv arms. TEDINGTON, CHARLES CITY COUNTY From the Lightfoots, the estate passed to the ^linges and Boilings and from the latter, by sale, to Baylor. Charles Campbell, the Virginia historian, published a fascinating account of Tedington in the Southern Lilcranj Messenger for March, 1841, called, " Christmas Holidays at Tedington." BRANDON Separated only by Upper Chippokes Creek fi-om the great Claremont estate and extending like it along the James, is historic Brandon. Its approach from the river-front is through the love- liest old garden in Virginia, and every flower and shi-ub known to Virginia gardens has a place there, from the 64 VIRC.IXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES violet, the cowslip and the lily-of-the-valley underfoot, to tlie mimosa and the ma^rnolia shedding sweetness in the ujiper air. The garden is open to the river at the end but is en- closed on each side by a box-hedge walk. Entrance is from a corner where l)ox-walk and river bluff meet, through a bower of honeysuckle. A short path along the bluff' leads to a broad grass-walk, bordered on either side with flower- ing shrubs of every description, which cuts the garden in two and provides a most beautiful approach to the house. In the spaces between this central walk and the box- walks the flowers in their i-esjjective seasons make a variety of color. In midsununer numberless hollyhocks set in formal rows and in beds are in their glory, while through spring, summer, and fall roses in splendid variety show what roses can be at their best. The grass-walk ends in a smooth green lawn stretching away on either side to the box-hedges, upon which stands the hoary mansion, its tempest-stained and bullet-scarred walls presenting a striking contrast to the gay garden, for no attempt has ever been made to cover the fact that during the War between the States the house was used as a target by Xorthern soldiers, who also burned the barns and out- buildings, jjried off some of the wainscoting inside of the house in hope of finding treasure, and broke some window- panes upon Avhich had been scratched with diamonds the names of visitors to the house for a hundred years or more — many of them persons of note. The Southern poet John R. Thompson made these panes the subject of a quaint bit of verse, " The Window-panes of Brandon." The house consists of a square central building with square porches at both back and front, and this central l)uilding is connected by one-story passage-ways with a wing at either side. Crossing the threshold we find our- selves within a spacious hall, wainscoted to the ceiling and relieved midway by triple arches supported upon fluted columns. After two himdred years the Harrisons still own BRANDON, PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY THE HALL AT HRANDON HAMPTON KOADS AM) LOWER JAMES (17 and (K'fupy Braiuloii, with tlu' luniscliold nods ai-fuiiiulatfd (lining- that period around tlitni. 'i'licsc gentle and eoni- panionahle deities will prove as full of inspiration as the flower garden, for they make the home as redolent with memoi'ies as the garden is with bloom. l^pon the walls of drawing-room and dining-room whieh o])en upon the hall from either side hang the famous eolleetion of Byrd j)ortraits from Westover — brought hither when the daughter of the third Colonel ^^'illiam liyrd married Benjamin Harrison. Some of these are l)y sueh distinguished artists as Ciodfrey Kneller.A'andyke and Sir Peter Lely. Here is, also, rieh old mahogany worthy to be used by the stately ladies and gentlemen who look down upon it, and picturesque old cabinets filled with Colonial silver, every piece of which has its own story. Here is a gown of pink brocade and a painted fan which once belonged to the fair ^listress Evelyn Byrd. A round of the treasure-tilled rooms finally brings us out into the porch at the opposite end of the hall from that by which we entered, and here the eye is surprised by the contrast the grounds on this side of the house make with the river-front. Instead of the brilliant garden is an open lawn, and beyond a sunlit space of unbroken green spreads a park where wide-spreading oaks and elms make shadowy vistas. Brandon plantation was first granted to John Martin, who came over with John Smith and was a member of " his ^Majesty's first Council in Virginia," and its earliest name was " JNIartin's Brandon." One of the most interesting relics in Virginia is the original grant to John Martin still preserved at Brandon. Later Martin must have either sold or abandoned the estate, for in 1635 it was granted to John Sadler and Richard Quiney, merchants, and Willianj Barber, mariner. Richard Quiney's brother, Thomas Quiney, married Judith, daughter of William Shakespeare. Richard Quiney left his share of the property to his son, who left it to his great-nephew, Robert Richardson, who 68 VIHCIIXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES sold it ill 1720 to Nathaniel Ilarrisoii '' (1G77-1727) of '• WakcHcld," Surry County, son of IIonoral)le Benjamin Harrison ( 104..5-17ri ) of " Wakefield," who was seeond of the name in Virginia. He iuid evidently already hought the rest from tlie SacUers. for tiie records show that he owned " the tract called Jirandon, containing 7,0U0 acres." The new owner of Brandon was a hurgess and a coun- cillor, naval ofHccr of the l^ower James, county lieutenant of Surry and Trinee (ieorge and finally auditor general of tile Colony. He married a widow, ]\lrs. JNIary Young, nee Cary, and had seven children — among them Nathaniel Harrison 11, eldest son, who inherited Brandon and built the present house. Nathaniel Harrison, of Brandon, was like his father a prominent man in the colony and a mem- ber of the Council of State. He married first ]Mary, daughter of Colonel Cole Digges (1692-174.4)," and secondly, Lucy, widow of Henry Fitzhugh and daughter of Honorable Robert Carter, of Corotoman. His first wife was the mother of his eldest son and the heir of Brandon, Benjamin Harrison, whose portrait is among those upon the walls. Benjamin Harrison was twice married, and the por- traits of his two exceeding fair ladies hang amicably in the same room at Brandon. His first wife was Anne Randolph, of \Vilton, who left no children, and the second, Evelyn Taylor Byrd, daughter of Colonel William Byrd III, of Westover — of an entirely different type from her namesake and aunt, the famous Evelyn, but second only to her in lieauty. By his marriage with her, Benjamin Har- rison had two sons, between whom the plantation was divided — George Evelyn, the elder son, of course, inherited the lower part, upon which the family-seat stands, and ° The Harrison family lias been very thoroughly worked out by Kcitii in his Ancestrij of Benjamin Harrison. . . . Philadelphia, 1893, and in The Critic (Richmond, A'a. ), June 23, July 7 and 21, 1889. '■ Digges family : Pedigree of a Representative Virginia Planter, in William and Marij Quarterlij, i, 80-88, l-iO-1,54', 208-213. ha:mpt()x koads and lower jamks (io ^Villia^l liynl Harrison, the youii^x-r son, received the ])art upon wiiieh I'pper Hrandon was huilt. George Evelyn Harrison was a prominent man in liis time an(l a meniher of the House of Delegates from his county — Prince (ieorge. He married Isabella l{itchie, daughter of Thomas Ritchie, the distinguished \'irginia editor, and had two children, (ieorge Evelyn and Isabella. He died in 18."}i>, aged 42. and from that date until lier own death, in 181)8, Jirandon was owned by his widow, Mrs. Isabella Ritchie Harrison, who was affectionately known throughout \'irginia by the name her servants gave her, " Old Miss," and who reigned supreme, not only over Brandon hut its vicinity for miles around, for over a half- century. In doing the honors of her hospitable home she was always assisted by her daughter " Miss Belle," who was widely known and admired for her loveliness and chai-m of person and character, but who, electing to remain un- married, never left the Brandon roof -tree. George Evelyn Harrison. .Jr.. married ^liss Gulielma Gordon, of Savannah, (xeorgia. He died young, leaving several children, and upon the death of " Old Miss," his widow, ]\Irs. Gulielma G. Harrison, succeeded to the dis- tinguished post of mistress of Brandon. Since her death, the estate is owned bv her sons and daughters. ■(->' UPPER BRAXDOX Upper Brandon, a handsome and spacious mansion, flanked on either side by commodious wings, stands in a box-bordered lawn, completely screened from the view of passers-by on the James by the grove of superb oaks be- tween it and the river. It was built early in the nineteenth century by William Byrd Harrison, son of Benjamin Harrison and the beautiful Evelyn Taylor Byrd. his wife. Mr. Harrison was one of the most prominent gentle- men and planters in Virginia. He was twice married, first, in 1827. to Mary Randolph, daughter of Randol])h Har- rison of Elk Hill, Goochland Countv, and secondlv to 70 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES Klk-ii AVayks. dau^'liter of Colonel Thomas Jefferson Raiuiolph, of VaI^l' Hill, Albemarle County. Three of liis sons were gallant officers in the Confederate Ajmy and one of them. Captain Hiiijamin Ilan-ison, of The Row, Charles Citv Countv, was killed at the Battle of Malvern Hill. After the death of Mr. Harrison. Upper Brandon was sold and passed into the possession of his nephew, !Mr. George H. Byrd, of New York, whose son now owns the place and lives thei-e. There were formerly at Ujjper Brandon a number of interesting portraits — among them one of Miss Blount, said to have been a sweetheart of the poet Pope. WEYANOKE Weyanoke, which lies on the north side of the river, not many miles above Upper Brandon, first appears in history during the exploring voyage of Captain Christopher New- port, Captain John Smith and others, up the James, in 1607. They found seated at this place the Weyanoke Indians — a tribe governed by a queen subordinate to Pow- hatan. In the writings of the early colonists there is fre- quent reference to the Queen of Weyanoke. Governor Sir George Yeardley acquired an estate at Weyanoke which was afterwards sold to the rich planter and merchant Abraham Piersey. On account of the de- struction of the county records, we have no knowledge of the ownership of the plantation for a time, but toward the end of the seventeenth century it became the propertv of the Harwoods ' — long a prominent family in Charles City- County. In 1740, William Harwood built in place of an earlier dwelling the spacious frame house M'hich still stands at Weyanoke. Toward the close of the eighteenth century, " Harwood notes : Virginia Magazine of History and Biog- raphy, ii, 183-185. e •o W CS w > z a o z •B 2 S o w o PS o » o w o o e 2 H HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JAMES 73 Agnes, daug'htcr and co-liciress of Major Saimicl Ilar- vvood, of W'eyanoke, married Fielding Lewis, a son of Colonel Warner Lewis, of W^arner Hall, Gloueester County, and inherited the old homestead. Mr. Lewis was noted as a seientitie planter, and his portrait was in the colleetion of the Virginia Agrieultvn'al Soeiety, and now hangs in the Virginia State Library. His daughter, Eleanor, who likewise inherited the homestead, married Robert Douthat, and had several children. One of the.se, IMajor Robert Douthat, was the next master of W^eyanoke, WKVANOKb;. eHARLKS CMV COUNTY which he sold in 1876. Another son. Fielding Lewis Douthat, inherited part of the estate. He married ^Liry Willis ^Marshall, a descendant of the great Chief Justice, who with her children now lives at Lower Weyanoke. SHERW^OOD FOREST " Sherwood Forest " is situated on the north side of James River in Charles City County, Virginia, opposite to the famous Brandon estates in Prince George County. The tract originally consisted of 1200 acres, and the manor house is a building of framed timbers facing a ten-acre 74 VIRGIXTA HOMES AND CHURCHES o-rovf of primeval oaks, and in tlie rear is a circular de- sceiuliny park of choice trcis ()rif>inally from the Washing- ton liotanical (iardciis. Tlic main building is two stories and a half high with dormer windows. On each side is a wing consisting of a stoiy and a half, and to each wing is attached a long enclosed colonnade, ending in two framed buildings, also of a stoiy and a half— the eastern wing con- taining the laundry and kitchen, and the western the library and overseer's office. It is the longest connected dwelling in Virginia — being upwards of 100 yards in SHEIIVVUUU rOREtiT, CllAULES CITY COUNTY length. The place was formerly known as " Walnut Grove," and was bought by President John Tyler of Col- lier ^Nlinge in 1842. At the time of the purchase, there was standing a house of Revolutionary age. President Tyler duplicated the structure and added the colonnades and houses at the ends. On his retirement from the Presidency, in 1845, he came there to live with his bride, the second Mrs. Tyler, whose maiden name was Julia Gardiner. The President was very fond of jjoetry and romance, and, in view of his outlawry by the Whig Party, he likened himself to Robin Hood and named his new home " Sher- HAMPTON ROADS AND J.OWKU JAMKS 7.J wood Forest,"' after the .scene ol" action, in England, of the bold Knglislinian. .\.ltlu)U<>h everytliin^- was destroyed on the farm, the house jjassed safely throu<>h the Civil War, and is now the residence of I'irsident Tyler's oldest son l)y his second niarria<>e — D. Ciardiiier Tyler, Jnd^e of the 14th Judicial Circuit of Virginia. Three miles away is (ireenway, tlie residence of (iov- ernor John Tyler, Sr., and the birthplace of the I'l-esident. FLOWER DE HUNDRED The fantastic name of Flower de Hundred (whose origin is wrapped in mystery), the setting of green lawn and foliage and the view of the river with its " firm, sandy shore, its blutt' beyond, its fringe of trees and tangle of lilies," give the long, white, cottage-like homestead " a charm rare even in the enchanted region of James River." The plantation is one of the oldest and most historic on the river. Its first owner was Sir George Yeardlev, the Governor who called and presided over the famf)us xVs- sembly of 1619 — the first free legislatiu'e convened in America. In this Assembly, Flower de Hundred was repre- sented by Governor Yeardley's nephew, Edmund Rossing- ham, and John Jeff'erson. an ancestor of Thomas Jeffer- son. Cxovernor Yeardlev himself lived at Jamestown, but, in 1621, he built, at Flower de Hundred, the first wind-mill in America. In the massacre of 16'22, the Indians mur- dered six persons at Flower de Hundred. A few years later the plantation was sold to the rich " Cape Merchant " and councillor, Abraham Piersy. In 1633, Thomas Paulett was Burgess for Flower de Hundred and his heir was his nephew. Sir John Paulett. After that there were several changes of ownership until 1725, when it was bought by Josej^h Poythress and has been owned by his descendants ever since. In 1804 it passed to the Willcox family by the marriage of Susan Peachy Poythress to John 'N'aughn \Villcox, a resident of Petersburg. ISIr. Willcox built the oldest part of the present house something over a hundred years ago; this 70 viiuaxiA HOMES and churches consisted of three rooms which he used while suijerintend- iiif>- the cultivation of the plantation. The house, as it stands to-chiy, was completed hy John Poythress Willcox (son of John Vaughn VV^illcox) . IJke most old Virginia homes. Flower de Hundred has its war history. In 18(>2, its " new wharf " was hurned hy order of the Confederate Government to prevent the land- ing- of Northern soldiers on the south side of the James. " Before its emhers were cold the first Federal gunhoat ever seen that high up the river came in sight to disturb a peaceful stretch of waters which after this became a ' forest of masts.' " Two years later, in June, 1864., General Grant on the march to Petei'sburg, made his famous crossing of the James, 130,000 strong, from River Edge, opposite Flower de Hundred. " The feat was accomplished in two vj.v5j>ai ^ mw-- ,. ^ ^^9 ^ "'i . ^.^ fc, "^^ ^JSS]j^SEg|^^Sgk|L^ jflBni I--' 'i^ai^^^H 'i ^Ji l^^^jj '»i rJ! »i ; BSp^^^rnf " "'"' n ^^^^^^^^^S^J"*^" '• FLOWER DE HUNDRED, PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY days — a glorious sight as described by his generals — under a brilliant sky, in fields of sunshine," but to the gentle mistress of Flower de Hundred, " along with her aged mother and a few faithful servants, the picture had a reverse side. She watched the landing at Windmill Point, the IIAMl'TOX ROADS AND LOWER JAMKS 77 tranipiny- through lu-i- .staiidiii^- coi-ii, tlit- bivouac al)()ut lier house, tlic place .swarming- with sokliers and covered with tents, batteries, horses and wagons, and wlien tliev went away there were floors toi-n up and mahogany hacked to pieces, and marble hearths broken to bits and tiie memory of one trooper disappearin"^- up the road decked in the bridal veil and orange blossoms of a newly mari'ied daugh- ter of the house. Long afterward the broken marl)le was gathered up as a sacred relic and l)ecame a hearth again — this time a mosaic." The Flower de Hundred plantation has undergone as many changes of size and shape as of ownership. It con- tains at present upward of a thousand acres. This interesting old homestead has been made tlie scene of three published romances. \li:U( IIAM - Hiii'i ( HI i;( H, PRINCE GEORGE COUNTS MERCHANT'S HOPE CHURCH Not many miles from Flower de Hundred, in the same county — Prince George — stands, within a beautiful grove, the quaint old brick churcli known as Merchant's ILipe, 7S VI RC I XI A HOMES AND CHURCHES which took its name from a plantation estahlished at a very early date by some London merchants. It is snpposed to have been built in 1057, as that ilate was found upon timbers inside the roof. This church, sixty feet lon<^- and twenty-six feet wide, is still in a fair state of preservation — the pulpit and chancel furniture destroyed during the War between the States having been replaced by new ones. The original lloor of stone flagging is still there, as is the ponderous Bible printed in 1625. Not far from the church, on tlie same side of the river, is " Jordan's Point,' which was so long the plantation and iiome of the distinguished family of Bland. The old man- sion house disapjieared long ago. At an early period of our history it was the home of 3Irs. Cicely Jordan, a too fascinating widow, whose coquetries induced the Governor and Council to issue a stern edict against women who en- gage themselves to two men at the same time. There is no record in 'Virginia indicating that this edict was ever revoked. WESTOVER* From a deep green setting of shade-tree and turf, Westover, deep red, tall, stately and serene, gleams upon James River. Its high and steep roof is unrelieved save by doi'mer windows and towering chimneys. Its formal red-brick walls are imencumbered by porch or ornament, but foot-worn gray stone steps rise in a pyramid to a white portal of exquisite taste. Above a fan-light a massive cornice, supported by Corinthian pilasters, is caj^ped by a carved pineapple — emblem of hosjjitality — within a broken pediment. * For full histories of the Byrds and their estates see The Writings of Colonel WiUiam Byrd of Wextovcr in Virginia, ^sqr., edited by John Spencer Bassett, New York, 1901, the Introduction and Appendix; The Critic (Riclnnond, A'a.), December 1-1 and 16, 1888; The Title to Westover in William and Mary Quarterly, iv, 151-155. HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JAMES SI The row of woiulerful old tulip jjoplars. with tluir gnarled aiul twisted arms, in front of the liouse is believed to have stood guard there for a century and a half, and the green earpet that stretches to the edge of the hlufl" is as old as the trees. The main entrance to the grounds is at the rear where noble iron gates bearing the Ryrd arms swing between square, brick piers ten feet high, surmounted by brass falcons standing with wings spread as if for flight. The interioi- of the mansion — with its great central hall and WESTOVER GATES stairway, its panelled rooms, whose ceilings are adorned with medallions and garlands in relief, its deep fireplaces and tall carved mantels, its massive doors with their huge brass locks — is in perfect keeping with the stateliness of the exterior, and proclaims it at once as the home of culture and elegance. About the year 167-1 William Ryrd (1053-1704.), first of the name in Virginia, and his wife, Mary — descendants, both, of good old English families — came to Virginia and settled at the Falls of James River, where they called their home Relvidere. In 1088 Ryrd bought from S.! VIR(;iMA IIOMKS AM) CIIURCHES Tlifodorick Hlaiid tlic i)laiitati()ii of Westover, and took up his alxxlc thcTc. Al)oiit tlic year IT-'iO his son and licir, William liyrd 11 (UiTt 17-14.)", I)iiiit tiir mansion which so Httiii^dy crowns that fair plantation. In the youiij"- master of Westover were met such an unusual numher of happy gifts, so well improved by cul- tivation, that he was dulihed the "Black Swan" of Vir- niiiia. lie was not only horn to " an ample fortune " — as THE PAULOR AT WESTOVER his epitaph informs us — but w-ith a brilliant mind, a cour- ageous spirit and a kindly disposition. Besides, he was liandsome, graceful, and fascinating. He was liberally educated abroad, where he travelled much and was in the best society. He was in demand everywhere, for he was at once the most elegant of gentlemen and the best of good fellows. He was a man of many resources, with a special leaning toward literature, and collected, at Westover, the HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JAMES 83 finest library of Colonial times in America. He did not write for publication, l)ut left diaries Avliicli bave ])een printed under tbe title of " Tbe W'estover Manuscripts "' and are models of pure Englisb — fresli, sparkling and pieturescjue. He took an active and leading jjart in public affairs, and filled many important offices — among them that of President of " his ]Majesty's Council." He was twice married — first to Lucy, daughter of Colonel Daniel Parke (16(59-1710), ]NLu'lborough's aide- de-camp; and after her death to ^Lu'ia Taylor, of Kensing- ton, a wealthy and attractive young widow. The first wife was the mother of Evelyn (1707-1737) and Wilhemina Byrd; and the second, of Anne (17'25-1757), Maria (1727-1744), WiUiam (1729-1777), and Jane. His daughters were noted belles, especially Evel\ai — the eldest — whose fame as a beauty spread to ILngland. She was presented at Coiu't at the age of eighteen and was the toast of noblemen — the King himself expressing pleasure at finding his Colonies could furnish such " beautiful Byrds." According to tradition, she was wooed and won while in England by the Earl of Peterborough, but her father would not hear of the match and hiu'ried her back to X'lv- ginia, where the " beautifid Byrd " gradually faded away and, at the age of twenty-seven, died a spinster, of a broken heart. A fine j^ortrait which now adorns the walls at Brandon preserves her flower-like loveliness. Her sisters, whose portraits show that they were close seconds to her in beauty, became the wives : Wilhemina, of Thomas Chamberlayne; Anne, of Charles Carter of " Cleve "; Maria, of Landon Carter of " Sabine Hall "; and Jane, of John Page of " North End " ; and her only brother, Colonel William Byrd III (1729-1777), heir of Westover, married: first. Elizabeth Hill, daughter of John Carter, of Shirley, and. secondly, ^Lu'y, daughter of Charles and Anne Shippen W^illing, of Philadelphia. The descendants of the " Black Swan " of ^"irginia are legion. Colonel William Bvrd III was, like his father and 84 VIRCIXIA IIOMKS AND CIIIRCHES ^'raiidfatlR r. a distiii^niished iiicinber of the Virginia Coun- cil and srrvfd nallantly as a c-oloncl of a Virginia regiment during the French and Indian War. His spirit and hhcrahty in this service were highly commended by the English Commander-in-Chief in America. He was a man of talent and cultivation, l)ut was, unhappily, possessed f I .^: ■.^y WESTOVER DURIMi THE WAIl lB(il-1805 l)y an incurable passion for gaming, which finally wrecked iiis superb estate. He died in 1777, leaving, at Westover, a widow and several daugliters, who, like the " beautiful Byrds " of the former generation, were noted for their charms. They especially attracted some of the French officers who had taken jjart in the siege of Yorktown, and the Marcjuis de Chastellux declared in his memoirs that Westover was the most beautiful place in America. Westover was twice visited by the British army during the Revolution. Arnold was there in 1781, and Cornwallis crossed the river there, with his forces, in April of the same year. Mrs. Mary Willing Ryrd had many Tory con- nections and was at one time so strongly suspected of cor- responding with the enemy that her papers were seized by the \'irginia otTicers. The splendid library at Westover HA.MPTON KOADS AM) LOWER JAMES 85 and the family plate were sold diiriiif>- her lifetime and after her deatli the estate passed from the Byrd family. It was long the property of the Seldens and passed from them, hv sale, to Major An<^iistus Drewry and from him, in tile same manner, to Mrs. Clariee Sears Ramsay, the present owner, who has done mueh to restore l)oth house and grounds to tlieir early heauty. ]Many interesting traditions linger ahout AVestover. The room of the lovely Evelyn Byrd is still pointed out and it is said that the tap of her high-heeled slippers and swish of her silken gown may he .sometimes heard on the broad stair, in the watehes of the night. Not far from the house, at the site of the old We.stover Chm-eh. may he seen her toml), together with those of her grandfather, William Byrd I, Theodoriek Bland and other worthies of an earlier time. Her father's a.shes rest under a handsome tomh in the garden. Westover had its taste of the war of 1861-18(5.5 as well as of the Revolution, for there MeClellan's army eamped after the retreat from Riehmond. WESTOVER CHT'Hril 8G VllUilMA IIO.MKS AM) CIirRCIIES WEST()\'KR CHURCH Was built about 1740, after the site close to Westover house was f^ivcn up. It has had a checkered career, having been, during the general depression of tlie Episcopal Church, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, used as a barn, and, during the War between the States, used by Federal troops as a stable. It has iu)w been thoroughly restored. BERKELEY Berkeley, which adjoins the Westover estate, and Brandon iiave been called the " cradles " of the Harrison family in \'irginia. Berkeley house stands a quarter of a mile back from the river. It is a square brick building, two stories high, with gable roof and dormer windows, and a wide j)orch, added in later times, running around it. AVithin there are panelled rooms, a wide arched hall and carved mantels and cornices of unusual beauty. In historic interest it is second to that of none of the James River mansions. Its story begins before the Harrisons came to Virginia, when, in 1618, the London Company granted Berkeley plantation to Sir William Throckmorton, Sir George Yeardley, Richard Berkeley and John Smith of Nibley." On December 4, 1619, the ship Margaret, of Bristol, arrived at Jamestown, bringing, under care of Caj^tain Jolui Woodlief, thirty-five settlers for the Town and Hundred of Berkeley, which then contained about 8,000 acres. In 1621, Reverend John Paulett, a kinsman of Ivord Paulett, was minister at Berkeley Hundred. In 16"22, the year of the great Indian massacre Avhich nearly wiped Virginia out of existence. ]Mr. George Thorpe, formerly a gentleman of the King's Privy Chamber, who had been appointed by the ^"irginia Company head of the * Papers relative to settlement, etc., Berkeley Hundred, are published in Bulletin of the Xeu> York Public Library, iii, Nos. 4—7 (April to July, 1899). HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JA^FES Si) proposed college, was one of tlie nine residents of Berkeley Hundred murdered by the Indians. After the massacre the plantation was al)andoned for a time. Later, it became the property of John Bland,'" a London merchant, whose son Giles Bland lived there until he was han<>ed, in l(i7(), by Sir \Villiam Berkeley, for his part in Bacon's Rel)cllion. After this Berkeley passed into the hands of the ILarrison family, who owned and occupied it through five genera- tions, during which it was the birtlnjlace of a governor of Virginia and signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Revolutionary general and a president of the United States. The first of the Harrisons to be master of Berkeley was Benjamin (1673-1710) , third of the name in Virginia, who was attorney-general and speaker of the House of Burgesses and treasm-er of the Colony. He was the son of the Honorable Benjamin Harrison II (1695-1712), of " Wakefield," Surry County, and brother of Honor- able Nathaniel Harrison I, of " W^akefield," whose son. Honorable Nathaniel Harrison II, was the founder of the " Brandon " family. Benjamin Ill's massive tomb, with its inscrijition in Latin, with the excejjtion of one line, which is in Greek, remains at the site of old West- over Church. By his side rests his wife, who was Eliza- beth, daughter of Honorable Lewis Burwell II, whose tomb bears the coat-of-arms of her family. LTpon his death the estate descended to his son Benjamin IV, who was many years a member of the House of Biu'gesses and who built the present house at Berkeley. He mar- ried Ajme, daughter of Robert ("King") Carter, and at his death, in 1744, left Berkeley to his son Benjamin Harrison (1726-1791), signer of the Declaration of In- dependence, and father of W^illiam Henry Harrison, Presi- dent of the LTnited States, who was born at Berkeley. President Harrison's eldest brother, Benjamin, in- 10 The Critic (Richmond, Va.), July 9, 1880. !)() VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES 1r ritfd Ik-rkclcv. which passed down through a hue bearing tiic same Chi-istian iiaiiie until it was sold not long before the War between the States. It is said that every President of the United States, from W'ashinytou to Buehauan, was at some time a guest at Jierkeley, and tliat ujjon tlie election to this high otKce of General AVilliam Henry Harrison ("Tippecanoe") he went to his mother's room there, to write his inaugural address. The historic room is still pointed out. The late President lienjamin Harrison, during his ad- ministration, visited this historic home of his forefathers. Durinti- the War between the States the house at Berke- ley was used as headcpiarters by General JMcClellan and his staff after his retreat from Alalvern Hill, and his army was camped for miles along the river banks. The cellar is said to have been used by him as a prison for Confederate soldiers, and from the Berkeley Wharf, known to history as " Harrison's Jjanding," his troops were embarked upon the Northern transports. In 1882, Berkeley, which now contains 1400 acres, be- came the pro])erty of Judge Henry F. Knox, of New York. To-day the old jjlace has a practical as well as a senti- mental interest, for the Berkeley fishing-shore is one of the finest, as well as one of the oldest, on James River, and as many as •2'2,dlil shad and 200,000 herring have been landed there in one season. A visitor there once described the hauling of the seine 500 yards long, by a crew of fifteen men. " It is a fascinating sight to see a haul on a good day on the Berkeley shore. As the great seine is drawn in shore by the crew the very waters seethe with fish of all varieties, from the luscious roe shad to the insignificant baby perch. As the haul is landed the fish are sorted into baskets and taken to the fish house, where they lie on the cool brick floor until they are shipped to the city markets." Berkeley has lately become the property of Mr. Jamieson and is in admirable condition. HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JAMES 91 APPOMATTOX Upon a ^reen 2x>int between two rivei-.s, where the Appomattox meets and joins the James, ylimpses of a ramhlini^- wliite house, with dormer i-ool' and hiine eliimneys, may he seen through the foh'a^e of the aneient trees that embower it — making one of tlie most eharmino- of the many eharming pietures with whieh ohl \'irginia rewards the exertions of its tourist. Tiiis is Apjjomattox, the home MAITOX, I'KINCE GEORGE COUNTY of the Eppes family for two hundred and seventy years — a leno-th of tenure unequalled in Virginia, and probably in Ajiierica. As early as 1635 Franeis Eppes,' ^ a member of "his ]Majesty's Council in Virginia," patented here broad acres, which have ever since been the property of his descendants. They also own goodly estates in tlie neighboring counties of Ciiesterfield and Charles City, which are divided from Appomattox by the two rivers, but may be plainly seen across them. ' ^ Eppes family : Virginia Magazine of History and Binnraphv, iii, 281, 393-401. -^ f ^ i>2 MUC.IXIA IIOMKS AND CHURCHES Appomattox is now the home of the daughters of Dr. Kichanl Kppcs. . At one time (hiiiuM' tlie siege of Petersburg, m the War between tlie States, the house was the headquarters ot General Grant. BLAXDFOKD CHURCH At the head of tide-water, on tlie Appomattox River, stands Petersburg. This town has many historic asso- eiations, but its chief treasure and pride is old Blandford, the princii)al church of Bristol Parish.'- For some years BLANDFORD CHURCH. PETERSBIRG before the Revolution the town of Blandford (now a part of Petersburg), from which the church gets its name, was a busy port and one of the leading shipping points for tobacco from Virginia to England and Scotland. The church was built in 1787. According to the articles of agreement, it was to be of brick, sixty by twenty-five feet in the clear, and fifteen feet from the spring of the ** Chamberlayne, The Vestry Book and Register of Bristol Parish, Virginia," 1720-1789. Riclimond, 1898. HAMPTON ROADS AM) LOWEli JAMES 98 arch to the floor. The aisle was to he six feet wide aiul paved witli IJristol stone. There was to he a " decent pulpit and a decent rail around the altar place and a tahle suital)Ie thereto as usual." In the year 17''37 tlie great oratoi', Whitetield, preaclied at Blandford — an event which made a great sensation. Some time after the Revolution tlie old church was ahandoned and fell into decay, hut tiie churchyard con- tinued to be, and still is, the town cemetery of Petersbiu'g. As a moss-grown, ivy-draped ruin Blandford hecame famous and has been the subject of some half-dozen pub- lished poems and many a burst of eloquence in prose. The celebrated Irish comedian, Tyrone Power, during a visit to Petersburg, fell in love with this pictures(|ue relic of the past and described it in his " Travels." To Power, too, has been attributed a much-quoted poem written with pencil ujjon the whitewashed wall within the church. Its first and last stanzas are as follows : " Thou art crumbling to the dust, old pile : Thou art hastening to thy fall ; And round thee in thy loneliness Clings the ivy to the wall ; The worshippers are scattered now Who knelt before thy shrine. And silence reigns where anthems rose In the days of ' Auld Lang Syne.' " Oh ! could we call the many back. Who've gathered here in vain, Who've careless roved where we do now. Who'll never meet again. How would our very hearts be stirred. To meet the earnest gaze Of the lovelv and the beautiful. The lights of other days ! " Old Blandford was close to the battle-fields in the ^Var between the States, and its venerable walls suffered damage from the shells. The famous " Crater " was but a short distance awav. 91 VIUr.IXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES This now restored church has lately become a Con- federate Memorial TIall. in which each of the States of the Southern Confederacy has placed a memorial window. liOLLINGBROOK The most interesting^ house in Petersburg is Boiling- brook, the old homestead of the Boiling family. in April. 17H1. when the Hritish first occupied Peters- hwrg. tlicir commander, (ieneral Philips, made Bolling- l)rook his head(iuarters. On May 10, when they again took possession of the town. General Philips was ill and was carried to Bollingbrook. The Americans under Lafayette were cannonading Petersburg from the other side of the Appomattox and the fire was so severe that the sufferer BOLLINGBROOK. PETERSBURG • was carried into the cellar for safety. One cannon-ball went tearing entirely through the house. General Philips is said to have exclaimed, " Why will they not let me die in peace." He did die here on the thirteenth of May. The ^Marquis de Chastellux, in his JNIemoirs, describes a visit to Bollingbrook soon after the surrender of York- town. The mistress of the old homestead at that time was Mrs. Mary Boiling, widow of Robert Boiling, of Bolling- brook, and daughter of Colonel Thomas Tabb, of Clay Hill, Amelia County. The son to whom Chastellux refers * Picture from Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, pub- lished 18.50, vol. 2, p. 339. HAMPTON KOADS AM) LOWER JAMKS 9.5 Avas Robert Rolling-, who had served in the Revohition as a captain ol' vohniteer eavahy and who had married on Novenil)er -1. 1781, Mary, dan<)hter of Robert RoUing, of Chellow. Aceor(hn:, was the home of Roger Atkinson, wlio emiirrated from Cumherland, England, MANSFIELD, NEAR PETERSBURG al)out 1750. He had many prominent descendants of his own name and in the families of Mayo, Pryor, Page, Burwell, Gibson and others. SHIRLEY Just above the point where the Appomattox River enters the James is beautiful old Shirley, in Charles City County. Four square to the world, three stories high it stands, in the midst of a lawn shaded by giant oaks. Rows of many-paned dormer windows look out from all four sides of its high sloping roof and huge chimneys tower above them. The entrances are through square, two- storied, pillared porches, and the massive brick walls are HAMPTON HOADS AM) LOWER JAMES 1(»1 checkered witli glazed " headers."' A glance proclaims it the product of prosperity as well as of taste. To the rear of the mansion are suhstantial brick out- huildinys, at one side lies the Hower-i^ardeii with its hox- hedgcs, old-fashioned roses and beds of sweet hncndei- and mignonette, while the front commands a beautiful view of the river. The north porch gives entrance to a great s(]uare hall, panelled to the ceiling, from which an exceedingly striking stairway leads to upper regions of airy, white- panelled bedrooms. The architectural details in this hall, and in the two stately drawing-rooms and the dining-room are most attractive. Mantels, door-frames and cornices are enriched with beautifid carving. Over some of the doors are (juaint transoms with tiny, odd-shaped panes of glass in them, while above others are mounted ancient hatchments bearing the arms of the Hill family. The family history of Shirley, like that of Brandon, is illustrated by a splendid collection of old mahogany, por- traits, brasses and silver, for, also like Brandon, the estate has never been in the market. Just when Shirley was built is not known. The planta- tion was granted in 1660 to Colonel Edward Hill,'^ a lead- ing man in the Colony, a member of the House of Burgesses, of which he was sometime speaker, and of his Majesty's Council. He had lived for a time in IMaryland, and in 1646, during the rebellion there, was chosen governor by the insm-rectionary party, but was taken prisoner by Gov- ernor Calvert. Besides being a law-maker he was a mili- tary man and was commander-in-chief of Henrico and Charles City Counties. In 1656, he commanded a force of Colonists and friendly Indians in a battle with some hostile Indians near the Falls of James River and the name Bloody Run, given to a stream now within the limits of Richmond, still remains to testify to the fierceness of the ^* Hill family: Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, iii, 156-159. 1(H VIKCIMA HOMES AM) CHURCHES coiitlift.' ' Cdldiul Hill's force's wt-ir l);i(lly routed and the " ini^lity Tottapotloiuoy," who eoiiinuiiided his Indian alhes, was killed. The defeat aroused the displeasure of the .Asseinlily and Coloiul Hill was disfranchised and fined, by way of ijunislinicnt.'" Colonel Hill died about KUiS and his handsome estate was iuheiited by his son Colonel Kdward Hill II (1637- 1700 ) , of Shirley, " one of his Majesty's honorable Council of State, Colonel and Commander-in-Chief of the Counties of Charles City and Surry, Jud<>e of his Majesty's high Court of .Vdniiralty, and sometime Treasurer of Vir- ginia." He was an adherent of Governor Berkeley's dur- ing Haeon's Uebellion and was disfranchised by Bacon's Assembly. His dust lies in a massive tomb bearing the Hill eoat-of-arms, in the Shirley graveyard, and his por- trait, that of a handsome and elegant gentleman in crim- son velvet and lace, and Howing peruke, adorns the w^alls of the house, along with those of many of his family and kindred — Carters, Byrds, Randolphs, Lees and others. His wife, who was the daughter of Sir Edward Williams, of \Vales, is represented as a young, rarely beautiful dame, and her daughter, Elizabeth (who married Honorable John Carter II), is strikingly like her — a lovely girl, with her arms tilled with flowers. Especially interesting is this young girl, Elizabeth Hill, for the death of her brother. Colonel Edward Hill III, without male descendants, made her the heiress of Shirley', and it was by her marriage, in 1723, with John Carter (who died in 17-42), of Corotoman, eldest son of Robert (" King") Carter, that Shirley passed from the Hill to the Carter family, in which it has ever since remained. About a year befoi-e his marriage the new master of Shirley had been appointed secretary of Virginia, and as " Secre- 13 Campbell, History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia, pp. 233-234.. >« " Defence of Colonel Edward Hill," in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, ill, 239-252, 341-349: Heninff, Statutes at Large . . . of Virginia, ii, 364-365. HAMPTON ROADS AND L()\VKI{ JAMES 103 tary Carter " he was known tor tlie rest of his days. He has been deserihed as " a man of integrity and ability, managing large domestie affairs with prudenee and skill and tilling ably high politieal offices." His portrait, too, in velvet and lace, is to be seen at Shirley, as is also that of his son and heir, Charles Carter (1732-1806 ) of Shirley, in the qmeter, thongh still ])icturesqiie, garb of a generation later. Charles Carter was a burgess and member of Revo- lutionary Conventions. Twice married — first to his cousin Mary Carter, daughter of Charles Carter, of Cleve, and after her death to Anne Butler Moore, daughter of Bernard Moore and Katherine, daughter of Governor Alexander Spotswood — he was the father of twenty-three children, who inter-marrying with the Randolphs, Lees, Braxtons, Burwells, Nelsons, Fitzhughs, Berkeleys, and other families of the old regime in Virginia, left luimerous descendants, who hold Shirley in tender regard. One of his daughters — Elizabeth — was the grandmother of Bishop Alfred M. Randolph, and another, Anne, became the wife of i' Light Horse Harry " Lee, and the mother of General Robert E. IjCC. General Lee was a frequent visitor at Shirley, and in his letters '' makes affectionate allusions to this noble old homestead. The last master of Shirley, Captain Robert Randolph Carter, a gallant officer in the United States Navy and afterward in the Confederate Navy, went to Maryland for a bride — Miss Iconise Humphreys, of Annapolis. By her many charms of mind and character " Miss Iahi," as she was called far and near, early made a large place for her- self in the heart of Virginia — and kept it throughout her life. Like " Old INIiss," of Brandon, she was a nota])le personage, and many there are who, when making the trip up and down the James, miss her familiar figure and sweet, strong face from among those in the group on the landing. ■"' Lee, RecoUections and Letter.i of General liohcrt E. Lee (New York, 1904). 104 MUC.IMA HOMES AND CIIIRCHES and tlie ()])|)()rtiinity to step aslioiT for a moment for a grasp ol' licr liand and the word of elieery, cordial greet- ing always so ready on her tongue. Upon her death, in l'.»0(i. her daughters. Mrs. Bransford and Mrs. Oliver, be- eame mistresses of Shirley. ^lAI.VKRN HILL Not far al)ove Shirley lies the ^Malvern Hill plantation where formerly stood one of the most attractive as well as one of the oldest homesteads in Virginia. MALVERN HILL. HENRICO COUNTY It was built by Thomas Cocke, son of Richard Cocke (circa 1600-1665), the first of that name in Virginia.^* This estate derives its name from the ]\Ialvern Hills in England. Toward the close of the eighteenth century, the estate was sold, bv James Powell Cocke, to Robert Nelson.'" '* Cocke family: Virginia Magazine of History and B'ography, iii, 282-292, -iO.'5-414. ; iv, 86-96, 212-217, 322-332, 431-4.50. ^° A younger son of Honorable William Nelson and Elizabeth Burwell. HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JAMES lOo It has been the fate of this ohl ])hiiitatl()ii to he often the seene of war. Lafayette eaniped there duriii;^' the Revolution; in the War of 1812 Virginia Militia was there; and as the Held of battle between (ienerals l^ee and McC'Ul- lan, in the War between the States, Malvern Hill will always have a place in history. The JNlalvern Hill house was destroyed 1)v fire about 1905. WALTON ^Vilton,* just below Richmond, is referred to in some very early records as " the land's end " — which shows how remote it seemed to the first settlers. The present house, a fine old brick mansion, stands upon a green terrace over- looking the James, nearly opposite the beautiful and his- toric " Falling Creek." As is usual in Virginia houses of its class and period, the walls of its wide hall and great square rooms are enriched with handsome woodwork, and the windows are so deeply recessed that persons occu- pying the window-seats would be entirely hidden by the curtains. \Vilton house was built about the middle of the eigh- teenth century by William Randolph III (died 1761), a younger son of W^illiam Randolph II ( 1(581 -17-12 ) , of Tiu'key Island.-" LTpon his death it was inherited by his son Peyton, who married Lucy Harrison, daughter of Ben- jamin Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Independ- ence. The Randolphs owned it until about the beginning of the War between the States, when the heiress of the family married Edward C. Mayo, of Richmond, Virginia. Since then the estate has frequently changed hands. During the Randolphs' time at Wilton a large collection of their family portraits hung on the panelled walls. These are now the projjerty of ]Mr. Edward C. INIayo, Jr., of Richmond. Among them is one of Anne Randolph, * See illustration, page 107. ^"Randolph family: William and Mary Qtinrtcrl;/, vii, 122— 124, 195-197; viii, 119-122, 263-265; ix, 182 183, 250-252. im; VIRCIMA HOMES AM) CHURCHES (laiigliter of William Uaiidolpli, the builder of \Vilton house, called " \aney \N'ilt()n," to distiuguish her froui a eousiu who hole the sauie name. She was noted for beauty and eharni and had many suitors. She finally accepted Benjamin Harrison and became mistress of Brandon, but died young, leavin<^- no children. Thomas Jefferson was one of her contemporaries and admirers, and she is referred to in some of his youthful letters. In one of these he says, " Ik'ii Harrison has gone courting to Wilton." During the excitement the rumored approach of the I7nited States steamer Paicncc to Richmond caused in the early part t)f the Wav between the States, earthworks were thrown up at \Vilton, and i)art of the plantation lies opposite Drcwry's Bluff, so well known during the war. AMPTHH.L Just across the river from Wilton stands an old mansion whose chief characteristics are dignity and strength. This is Ampthill — a big square house with massive brick walls, a square white porch and a steep Dutch roof flanked on either hand by a square brick out-building as massive as itself. Within, the high-pitched I'ooms are also big and square, and they and the wide hall are panelled from floor to ceiling with solid oak. The windows are jDrotected by panelled inside shutters of the same wood, while huge brass locks and hinges make fast the thick oak doors. It was built in 1732 by Henry Cary ( 1675 ?-l 749) ,'Hvho superintended the building of the Governor's Palace and the State House in Williamsburg, and also the rebuilding of William and Mary College when it was destroyed by fire. Upon his death, in 1750, Ampthill jjassed to his son Archibald Cary (1721-1787)," the celebrated Revolu- tionary patriot, and chairman of the committee in the Vir- ginia Convention of 177(5, which brought in the resolution ^^ Cary family: The Critic (Richmond, Va.). *^ For an excellent sketch of Archibald Cary, see Grigsby's The Virginia Convention of 1770 (Uicliniond, 1855), p. 90 ef seq. WILTON. HKNRICO fOlNTV The Rivir Front. finUiAlA.N, llKMill II » 1)1 M\ HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JAMES lU!) AMPTHII.L. CIIKSTKHI li;i.l) I IllMV FALLING CREEK MILL, t HESIEKHELL) fOl NTV directing the Virginia members of Congress to move for entire independence of Great Britain. From his force of character and determination he was known as " Old Iron." no \ IKdlXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES Aiiiptliill has siiifc liad various owners — the families of Temple and W'atkiiis haviiii^- enjoyed the longest tenm-e. W'itliin the original hounds of the Ampthill plantation was heautiful Falling Creek, with its arched stone bridge and its (piaint old mill, where the first iron-works in America were established, under John Berkeley, in 1619. The works were abandoned in 1(>22, after the Indian mas- sacre in which Ik-rkclcy and all of his men were murdered, and during the Revolution the furnaces were destroyed by Tarleton and his troopers. EPPIXGTOX The early history of the Eppes family has been told in connection with " Appomattox." Lt-Col. Francis Eppes, a brother of John Eppes, ancestor of the " Appomattox " line, was killed in battle with the Indians in 1678 and was succeeded by his eldest son. Col. Francis Epj^es (1659- 1718) , long a member of the House of Burgesses for Hen- rico. His son, a third Col. Francis Eppes, who died in 17.'}4. was also a Biu'gess for Henrico, and owned large landed property where Eppington was afterwards built. Richard Eppes, son of the last named, who was for several terms a Burgess for Chesterfield County, died in 1765, and was succeeded by his son Francis Eppes, of Epping- ton (1747-1808), two of whose daughters, Lucy and Mary, married, respectively, Archibald and Richard N, Thweatt, while his son John Wayles Eppes (1773-1823) was U. S. Senator and married a daughter of Thomas Jefferson. Eppington was inherited by the Thweatts, and since it was sold by them has passed through several hands. The following is an extract from a letter, written in 1856, by Francis Eppes, son of John W. Eppes, to Henry S. Randall, the biographer of Jefferson: " You ask me for a description of Eppington, but such an impression, as I can now give, must be considered an imperfect sketch. The mansion-house itself, an old- fashioned, two-story building, with a hipped roof in the HAMPTOxN ROADS AND LOWER JAMES 111 centre, and wings on the sides, witli a long liall or passage in front, running from one wing to tlie other and opening on the offices, and with piazzas in front and rear, was placed at the extreme side of a large level or lawn, covered with green sward, extending to a considerahle distance in front, and declining on the left side as you entered, and in the rear of the house to the low grounds of the /Vppo- mattox, a mile off. In front, and over the neighhoihood road which skirted the lawn, was situated the garden, long famous in the vicinity for its fine vegetahles and fruit; and to the right of the lawn, as you entered, was an ex- EPPINGTON, CHESTERFIELD COINTY tensive orchard of the finest fruit, with the stables be- tween, at the corner and on the road. The mansion, painted of a snowy white, with green blinds to the windows, and its rows of offices at the end, was almost imbedded in a beautiful double row of the tall Lombardy poplar — the most admired of all trees in the palmy days of old Vir- ginia — and this row reached to another double row or avenue which skirted one side of the lawn, dividing it from the orchard and stables. The lawn in front was closed in by a fence with a small gate in the middle and a large one on either extremit\% one opposite the avenue of ll.> VIR(;iMA HOMES AND CHURCHES l)()[)lars. and the otlicr at the end of the carriage-way wliieh swept around it. " The phuitation was quite an extensive one, and in the days of my •grandfather. FraTieis Eppes, Sen., was re- nuirka})ly pnxhictive. Indeed, it could hardly have been otherwise, under such management as his; for he was emi- nent for his skill both in agriculture and horticulture; and I have heard ^Ir. Jefferson, who knew him intimately, say of him, that he considered him not only ' the first horti- culturist in America.' but, ' a man of the soundest practical judgment on all subjects that he had ever known." " POWHATAN When Captain John Smith, Christopher Newijort, and others, made their first voyage of exploration up James River from Jamestown, in June. 1607, they found, upon a hill near its north l)ank and a little below the present site of Richmond, a palisaded Indian town named Pow- hatan. The Colonists were so charmed with its situation and siu'roundings that they pinx'hased it from the red men and Captain Smith named it " Xone Such." It was more than one hundred years after this that Joseph ^layo, who came to \'irginia from the Island of Barbadoes about 1727, bought the estate, restored it to its original name, and built himself a commodious brick house overlooking the river.* Either he or his descendants surrounded the house with beautifid flower-gardens, remembered by persons still living. Suggestions of these gardens may still be seen in the mock-orange bushes and other old-fashioned shrubs which in the months of May and June bloom between the dusty railroad tracks and brickyards which have now en- croached upon the old place, with a resolution to live above their surroundings that is most praiseworthy. Here, too, were until very recently to be seen two boulders, one of which was, according to a long since exploded tradition, the stone upon which Captain Smith's head lay when he was rescued by Pocahontas, the other the gravestone of * See illustration, piij^e 107. HAMPTON ROADS AND LOWER JAMKS 113 Powhatan. Upon one of tlicsc boulders is cut the letter M and the date ITJ'l. Powhatan descended through many generations of Mayos, its hist owner of the name being Mr. Robei-t A. ISIayo, father of Mr. Peter II. xMayo, of Richmond. Of late years modern progress has swept away old Powhatan, and it has even I)cen necessary to remove the bo(Hes of those that slept in the family burying-gi'ound, some of whose graves were marked by Colonial tombs bear- ing the Mayo arms. These are now to be seen in the Mayo section in Hollywood Cemeteiy, Richmond, \'irginia. BROOK HILL* The dwelling at Brook Hill, the home of Robert AVilliamson, who married his cousin Susanna \Villiamson, was built prior to 173.5, and five generations of the family, as follows in direct line, were born in the same house — most of them in the same room: Robert \Villiamson, 2d (173.5-179(5), who married Anne Coxe; their son Robert Carter Williamson (1796 1871), who married Lucy Parke Chamberlayne; their daughter ]Mary Amanda Williamson (1822 1910), who married John Stewart, a native of Rothesay, Scotland; their daughter Isobel Stewart (1847-1910), who married Joseph Bryan, of Eagle Point, and their son John Stewart Bryan. In 1842 Brook Hill was purchased by Mr. John Stewart, who enlarged the house and made of a jjortion of the groimds a most l)eautifid park. This home has always been celebrated for its hospi- tality and Mr. Stewart and his descendants for their philanthropic interest in everything that pertains to the welfare of the community. The dwelling No. 707 E. Franklin Street, which was occupied by General Lee from 18(51 to 186.5 as his war- time residence, was in 1892 given by the Stewart family to the Virginia Historical Society and lias since that time been the home of that Society. * See illustration at head of Contents. 8 PART III Rl( ILMONI), MAXCHESTEII AND THE Upper James RiniMOND I.\ June, 1607. Captain Christopher Newport, Captain .Idlin Smith and others set out from Jamestown in tlir pinnaee. Discover//, to exphire tlie James. Upon tlie tenth they reached the liighest point of naviga- tion, where tliey named the sliallow waters raeing and tumljhng over a bed of stones and houklers " The Falls," MARKKTING TOBACCO IN THK <)L1> DAYS and where they " set up a cross " which much puzzled the Indians. This was the white man's first appearance at the site of the present capital of \'irginia. In 1733, Colonel William Byrd II, of Westover, laid 114 RICHMOND AND THE HTEH JAMES 117 out a town at the Falls of James River, named Rielmioiid — probably beeause of tlie resemblaiiee of the site to Hich- inoiul on the Thames. In IT-t'i the town was incorporated; in 1779 it supj)lanted ^ViIliamsl)ur<^■ as the eapital of the State, and from 18G1 to I8O0 it was tlie eapital of the Confederacy. It is situated upon a number of hills — popularly esti- mated as seven — and stretches around a beautiful bend of TH1-; HOME Ol' THE I-ATE (.ENKUAI. JllSKl'H U. AMii;U>ii\. Hli lIMii.Mi the river. It was pronounced by Thackeray, during his visit some years before the war, " the most picturesque place in America " as well as " the merriest." In April, 1865, war desolated it and a large section of it was burned, but it stands to-day one of the most jjrosperous and jjro- gressive, as well as one of the most interesting, cities in this country. ST. JOHN'S CHURCH Crowning what was first known as Richmond Hill — - afterward as Church Hill — stands, in the midst of a walled lis VIl{r.I\IA HOMES AM) CIirRCIIES gravfvard occupviiiy an entire block, old St. John's Chuirh.' The frraveyard is shady and green. It is thickly tenanted, and mouldy and nioss-r>n)wn tombstones tell in jjrim, old-i'ashioncd phrase of the virtues of those that " rest in peace " beneath them, or remind the reader of the shortness of life, in metre, whereof the following is a chai'- acteristic sani])le: '* Stop my friend us you pji.ss by, As you are now so once was I, As I am now you soon sliall be; Prepare my friend to follow me." The oldest part of the church was built in IT'iO. It is of wood, painted white, and has a pretty spire and a sweet- voiced bell. Some time after the Revolution it was enlarged and made into the shape of a cross. Within, the quaint sounding-board and shell-shaped font are still to be seen, as in its earliest days. When it Avas the only church and largest public building in Richmond, St. John's was some- times used for political as well as religious gatherings; and so it happened that within its hallowed walls the patriots who made up the Virginia Convention of 1775 assembled and heai-d Patrick Henry's immortal speech ending with the woi'ds, " Give me liberty or give me death." The pew in which the orator stood is still jjointed out. THE VAN LEW HOUSE Also on Chin-ch Hill, and not far away from St. John's, was the Van Lew House,* best known of late years as the home of the famous " Miss Van Lew." It was perhaps the stateliest of the Richmond mansions of its time. Cer- tainly it adorned the most charming site in the city. It ' Moore, History of Henrico Parish and Old St. John's Church, Richmond, Va., I6II-IDO4. The inscriptions on tombstones in St. Jolin's Church yard are printed in this book, pp. -ilS-SSO. * See ilUistration, page 123. o B Z o X c w o « n S g o z a RICHMOND AND THE IITER JAMES 121 was built when ample groumls and roomy jjortieoes over- looking picturesque " falling "' gardens were the fashion, and it was situated in a section which became unfashionable before the days of cutting uj) handsome grounds into twenty-foot building lots. And so the old garden terraced back to the brow of the hill, overhanging, and commanding a superb view of .James River, with its sunny spaces and shady nooks, its hundred leaf roses and cool, sparkling spring, was long preserved. The house was built (probably near the end of the eighteenth century) by Dr. John Adams, son of Mr. Richard Adams." Both father and son were gentlemen of large fortune and also of large heart, whose pet hobby was the advancement and beautifying of Richmond. Dr. Adams married Peggy, one of the charming daughters of Mr. Geddes \Vinston, and their home had a brilliant social history. It was noted for hospitality and was one of the houses in which Lafayette was entertained during his visit in 182-t. After ISIr. Adams' death the house was bought by a I^Ir. Van Dew, a northern gentleman, who settled in Rich- mond and became a prominent merchant. He and his family mingled in the " high society " of Richmond Hill until the War between the States, when their sympathy with the invading army cut them off. A young daughter of the house became noted as a friend of Federal prisoners, many of whom she helped to escape. For many years after all of her family had passed away " Miss Van Lew " lived alone and friendless in the old mansion to which the presence of a solitary, hoary dame lent a weird interest. With her bent form', thin, clear-cut features, framed in gray curls, and her piercing eyes that seemed made for peering into hidden mysteries, she might have passed for the reincarnation of some ancient sybil. - Adams family : William and Mary College Quarterly Histor- ical Magazine, v, 159-164. n^2 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES She was acrustonuHl to thrust herself upon public notice just oiur a year— the day on which slie paid her taxes. Upon that day she always published in the local papers, under her signature, an emphatic protest aganist taxation without representation. In 1900 she died, full of years, in this old house, which has since been pulled down and a public school built on its site. OLD MASdMl HALL. UK llMclMi OLD IMASONIC HALL Coming down Franklin Street into the valley that lies between Church Hill and Shockoe Hill, the tourist finds between Eighteenth and Xineteenth Streets an old frame house standing back from the ijublic highway. This is the oldest building in America, still in use, erected for JNIasonic purposes exclusively. It dates from 1785, when VAN LKW OK ADAMS HOISK, RlCHMdNO (l-liONT VAN LKW OR AIMMS HOUSE (REAR) KICHAIOND AND THE riTKR JAMES 1^25 its cornerstone was laid, and has been the scene of many interesting' incidents in tlie Masonic history of \'ir<4'inia. At a reception ^iven to General Lafayette in this un- pretentious old " temple," in 1824, that favorite hero was, amid <>i-eat enthusiasm, made an honorary member of tiie I =5Cf^j:ip^-.M -:f-^z:i^.v:( TICKliT OF ADMISSION' 'i T(l UK iJII fLV I.V llU.yilJt Of AT TiiL UNION HOTKU -^ -, ^ r„- .^^ ox TUK TlllltTIKTd lur OV UlTUBLU, .1. L. 3aii, J. u. is.'i. TICKET FOR MASDNIC DlNNKlt CIVIJN IN HONOK OV GKNERAL LAFAYKTTE MONUMENTAL CHURCH On the night after Christmas of the year 1811, Hich- niond suffered a disaster which put the whole town into mourning and caused the building of a clun'ch which has always been not only one of the chief factors for good, but one of the most appealing objects of interest in the city. Upon that awful night the elite of Virginia's Capital, in- cluding the governor, George William Smith ( 176"2-1811 ) , had gathered in the fashionable theatre on Broad Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth, to witness the tragedy of " The Bleeding Nun," as presented by a popular actress and her company. When interest was at its height the cry of " fire! " was heard above the voices of the actors and in a few minutes the house was in flames, and panic reigned. The destruction of the building was comi^lete and sixty human beings — among them Governor Smith and others prominent in official and social life — were burned to death. 12(1 VIHCIMA IIOMKS AND CHURCHES Many were painfully injured, while many more had hair- hreadth eseapes and were made famous by their heroic work in saving- the lives of others. The impression made hy the disaster was tremendous. The whole country stood af^hast. Resolutions and letters of sympathy poured into Richmond from every quarter. Legislatures and councils all over the United States took formal action and chin"ches held memorial services and offered ])rayers for those in affliction. Of course Virginia and Richmond were given over to mourning. In Richmond there was a marked decline in theatre going and increase in church going, which was noticeable for years afterward to sucii a degree that the city became proverbial among theatrical managers for its poor support of their offerings. Immediately after the fire, the citizens met in the Capitol Building to arrange for a suitable monument to those who had perished in the flames, and the jNIonumental Church, uj)on the site of the l)urned theatre, was the result. All creeds and classes were subscribers to the building fund, and it was decided by vote that the monument should take the form of an Episcopal church. The ashes of those who perished in the fire lie under the building and upon a mai-ble cenotaph in the porch their names are recorded. The " Old ^lonumental," as it is familiarly called, is a noble specimen of architecture — plain, but dignified and impressive. Within, its air of solemnity and sacrechiess compels reverence. From the beginning, it has been one of the most influential churches in Virginia and many prominent men in both Church and State have been in- timately connected with it. Bishop Richard Channing Moore was its earliest rector — serving at the same time that he was Bishop of Virginia — and Chief Justice ]Mar- shall was one of its earliest pew-holders. Edgar AHan Poe often worshipped there as a youth. Bishop Dudley, of Kentucky, was a pupil in its Sunday-school when a boy, and Bishop Xewton, of Virginia, was "called to the Ejjisco- pate while its rector. MONUMENTAL CHlUCIl, URHMONU AliCiiLH iiOl.-^t., liUllMU.NK RICHMOND AND THE UPPER JAMES 129 THE CRUMP HOUSE Upon Twelftli Street, diagonally across Broad Street from the IMoniunental Church, and upon the site now occupied by the ISIemorial Hospital, stood the Crump House, built toward the end of the eighteenth century, by Mr. Samuel JNlyers — grandfather of the late Major E. T. D. JNlyers — and during its latter years the home of Judge W. W. Crump, who bought it in 1850 and occupied it for about a half century. During the time of iVIr. Myers, who was a naval officer, he planted in the grounds an acorn which he brought from Africa and from which sprang a notable tree. The gardens were extensive and beautiful. " It represented," wrote Mrs. Sally Nelson Robins, in an article on the Crimip House, " as no building now recalled, the ante-bellum es- tablishment — mansion, kitchen, laundry, servants' quarters, stable, carriage-house, smoke-house, and big yard where children played and box-bushes and flowers grew, where ladies in morning dresses sat in the rose-clad summer-house and read or did embroidery, while other ladies called and chatted of house-keeping and books and perhaps of their neighbors." Upon the night of the theatre fire — December 26, 1811 - — many of the victims of that tragedy were brought to the iNIyers home and laid upon the parlor floor and stains could be traced upon the boards for years afterwards. Judge Crump, with his greatness of soul and intellect, his striking personality and charm of manner and conver- sation, with his books around him, and with the woman who was his helpmate in the highest sense of the word at his side, would have made any house notable. This massive old homestead with its spacious rooms, its high carved mantels, its big open fires whose light played upon old silver and mahogany and rare pictures, made an ideal setting for the great lawj'er, the ripe scholar, the gracious host. His home was a centre of intellectual life, a resort of cidtured. Christian gentle-folk. 9 130 VIIU.IXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES No one who ever heard Judge Crump talk could fail to deplore tlie fact that he never put his ohservations and reminiscences u\Hm paper. Many were the distinguished men he had known, many the important events he had wit- nessed, and his conversation ahout them made a series of clear, hright pictures. When Charles Dickens visited Richmond, tlie Judge was one of the conmiittee appointed to give him a fitting welcome, and his impressions of the novelist and his wife, as they appeared at the hancjuet given in their honor, would have made an interesting chapter in a book of " recollections." THE WHITE HOUSE OF THE CONFEDERACY With Twelfth Street we reach the eastern boundary of what was knowii in the stately days of yore as the " Court End " of town. Following this thoroughfare northward as far as Clay Street, one sees a large, gray stucco mansion with a double pillared portico. This is the beautiful " White House of the Confederacy." It stands upon the brink of a deep ravine and those who remember it " as it used to be " tell of a " falling garden " whose terraces ran a good way down the hill, and of bright spaces of old- fashioned flowers and potted shrubs from foreign climes ■ — consjiicuous among which were fruitful hazelnut bushes. The house was built in 1818 for the residence of Dr. John Brockenbrough,^ long president of the Bank of Virginia, and his Avife, who was Mrs. Gabriella Harvie Randoljih, daughter of Colonel John Harvie and widow of Thomas Mann Randolph, of " Tuckahoe." Dr. Brock- enl)rough had been one of the committee of three appointed to direct the building of a church as a memorial to the vic- tims of the theatre fire and in planning his home he chose for the architect, I\Ir. Mills, whose design for the INIonu- mental Church had won great praise. Long before this the intimacy between Dr. Brockenbrough and John Randolph, ^ Brockenbrough family : Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, v, 447-449 ; vi, 82-85. CRUMP HOUSE, RICHMOND THE WHITE HOUSE OF THE CONFEDERACY, RICHMOND RICHMOND AND THE UPPER JAMES i;53 of Roanoke, which continued to the end of Randolph's life, had begun, and when the new house was completed Randolph was a frcMjuent visitor there, and often for weeks at a time " the most agreeable and hiteresting inmate you can possibly imagine," wrote Dr, Brockenbrough to a friend. The acquaintance began during the famous xVaron Burr trial in 1807, when Dr. Brockenbrough was a mem- ber of the jury and John Randolph its foreman, and from that time on the friendship between these two men, as it appears in the letters that passed between them and in those of Randolph to other friends, published in the Life of John liandolph, runs like a bright thread through the sombre history of that fascinating personality. John Randolph's sweetheart, the fair and engaging Maria Ward, was also intimate at the Brockenbrough home, and when her affair with Randolph was broken off, she en- trusted his letters in a sealed packet to the care of INIrs. Brockenbrough, with the request that after her death that lady should burn them without breaking the seal. As INIrs. Brockenbrough was a woman who coidd keep a secret even from herself, the contents of the interesting packet will never be known. It was said that Dr. Brockenbrough built his house with an especial view to entertaining, and it seems to have become a centre of both intellectual and gay society. Chief Justice ]Marshall and other distinguished members of the Bar and of the famous " Barbecue Club " were intimate there and were fond of discussing politics and the classics with Mrs. Brockenbrough, whom Blennerhassett, writing in 1807, of affairs and jieople in Richmond, described as " the nearest approximation to a savant and bel-esprit." The lovely Randolph girls, ]Mrs. Brockenbrough's nieces, and later on, the beauties and belles of the Seddon and ^Nlorson connections, may not have cared for politics and the classics, but many of the most distinguished men of the time, in Richmond and out of it, came to the old house to dance with and pay court to them. In one of John VM MlUilMA IIO.MKS AND CHURCHES Kaiiilolpirs letters to his friend lie says, " Mr. Speaker related tt) me that you had <^ivei) a splendid jjarty; for so 1 interpreted the Avord jdndaiu/o used hy him;" and many were the oeeasions when the musie of the " many tu inkling- feet " held full sway. Dr. liroekenl)rou<'h finally sold the house to ]Mr. James M. Morson, who after a ^i;\\ years' residenee in it sold it to his eousin and law-partner, Honorahle James A. Sed- don, niemher of Congress from ^'irg•inia and secretary of war of the Confederate States. "Sir. Morson and Mr. Seddon married sisters, the lovely Jiruce girls, Ellen and Sally, and during their time the house continued to be a centre of all that was best and brightest in the Virginia of the old regime. Says a beau of the period, still living, " My impressions of the White House of the Confederacy before the war make a poem in my memory." Not long before the war Mr. Seddon sold the house to ]Mr. Lewis 1). Crenshaw, who occupied it for a brief jieriod, during which he added the top story. The curtain was rung down on the brilliant drama which the social history of ante-bellum Richmond made, to lise on the tragedy for which the city lent itself as a stage during foiu- years of civil warfare. Again the house at the corner of Twelfth and Clay Streets occupied a con- spicuous place in the setting. Echoes of viol and wedding- bell were now lost in the alarmus of rifle and cannon. The stately rooms of that house Avhere so bright the lights had " shone o'er fair women and brave men," were become the council chambers of war and government. In place of the procession of carriages filled with ladies and gentlemen arrayed for a fete, filing up the street toward the house, might occasionally be seen a very different pageant — President Davis and General Lee riding side by side, in earnest conversation, and clattering behind them their staff' officers. In the room to the right of the entrance hall, where many a time a fair girl had waited the coming of gallant lover, the President's wife now sat night after night and RICHMOND AND THE UPPER JAIMES 137 listened with strained ear and anxious face for the sound of liorses' hoofs on the street outside, for mayhap a courier would come in the night with dispatches for her hushand, indulging in uneasy sleep in the room above. When the capital of the Confederacy was moved from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, the city bought the house, spent $8,000.00 furnishing it and tendered it to Mr. Davis, who agreed to accept it only upon condition that the Confeder- ate Government should pay full rent for it. The house now began to be known by the name which added the crown- ing touch to its glory — the White House of the Confed- eracy — and now the dames and the squires, the belles and the beaux who had danced and feasted there bent their steps that way to pay court to the President and his lady. Upon the evacuation of Richmond, United States troops under General Weitzel took possession of the \Vhite House of the Confederacy for headquarters, and held it until September, 1870, when it was restored to the city. In June, 188-t, it became the jiroperty of the Confederate jNIemorial Literary Society, and as the home of a priceless collection of Confederate relics the " Confederate Mu- semii " is to-day one of the centres of interest in the city. THE VALENTINE MUSEUM Tom INIoore, the loved Irish poet, writing of his sojourn in Richmond, in 1803, says that the most agreeable gentle- men he met were " some Whig lawyers, one of whom, Mr. JohnWickham, was fit to adorn any court." ]Mr. Wickham's residence, built in 1812, now the home of the Valentine JMuseum, stands upon Clay Street, just one block above the White House of the Confederacy, and, like it, was planned by Benjamin JMills, the architect of ^Monumental Church. Thanks to the artistic sense of the Valentines, so long its owners, this superb old mansion has been perfectly preserved. To the stranger in the street it presents a front reserved, dignified, plain. But a touch of the brass knocker admits one to the handsomest interior possessed by any house ever built in Richmond. From a perfectly propor- lf]8 MHCIXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES tioned hall, wiiuliiin' iiiaho^aiiy stairs lead to a beautiful ^•allerv. Polished iiiaho<^aiiy doors with silver knobs and hinges ojien from this liall into the stately rooms built around it. Striking details of these rooms are sculptured marl)le mantels brought from Florence; frescoed walls; carved door and window frames — white enamelled with the delicate relief- work gilded with gold leaf; great mirrors in Florentine frames, chandeliers of burnished brass. At the rear of the mansion, a pillared jjortico, with a gracefullv curved outline, embowered in honeysuckle, Vir- ginia creeper, and purple and white wistaria, looks upon an old garden, surrounded by a high, ivy-covered brick wall. A foinitain makes music in the midst of the garden, and through a rose-garlanded arcli we may have such glimpses as the vine-clad trellises and shrubbery will permit of figiH-es in white marble of the goddesses of Beauty, Flowers, and the Harvest, peeping out among the green. Every olden-time flower is to be found in the trim parterres divided by narrow brick walks, and many goodly fruit trees and grape vines on trellises and latticed arbors vie with the flowers in making the garden a place of delight. In one corner a centiuy-old magnolia tree makes June fragrant. In the \Vickhams' time the house was the scene of brilliant festivities ; for in those days of plenty and of good servants Virginia hospitality was in full flower in Rich- mond, and it was jNIr. Wickham's pleasure to entertain in honor of " men of parts " visiting the city. In the year 1807 the famous trial of Aaron Burr, for treason, drew the attention of all America upon Richmond and upon ]Mr. Wickham. The prominence of the prisoner at the bar, the political excitement at the time and the brilliant legal talent employed united in bringing throngs of people to the city. John ]Marshall was the presiding judge, ^\^ickham the leader in the defence, and John Randolph, of Roanoke, foreman of the jury. Among tlie witnesses were General Wilkinson, of the Army, and Andrew Jackson, afterwai-d president of the United IIIK HAI.I. A'l' VAl.KNTINK MISEIM. UICIlMc ).M i VALENTINE MUSEUM, FORMERLY WRKHAM HOUSE. RU HMOND RICHMOND AND THE ITPER JAMES 141 States. Burr's acquittal was p^euerally supposed to be chiefly due to the eloquence and ability of Mr. Wickluuii. After the trial Burr dined with Mr. Wickhani and his beautiful wife, who was noted as a tactful and charming hostess. In course of time the Wickhani residence became the property of the Ballard family, and many of the beautiful features of its interior are said to have been added by Mr. Ballard. Its next owner was Mr. Alexander Brooks. In later years it was long the residence of Mr. Mann S. Valentine, during part of which period Mr. Edward V. Valentine, the sculptor, made his home there. At Mr. Valentine's death he generously bequeathed this residence with his valuable collections, and an endowment for main- tenance as a museum, to the city of Richmond, and there may now be seen, in addition to many other objects of historical and artistic value, one of the finest collections of Indian relics in the world. THE McCANCE HOUSE One of the principal show places of the " Court End " of town stood upon the corner of Leigh and Eighth Streets. This house was built about a hundred years ago by the widow and son of Mr. John Hayes, of the " Falls Planta- tion," just below ^Manchester — a gentleman of large wealth and owner and publisher of the Virginia Gazette. The house was commodious and handsome and a Greek portico at the rear overlooked a garden which extended to Clay Street. From the Hayes family the property passed, by purchase, to Mr. Thomas Green, a successful lawyer and familiar figure in Richmond society in the first half of the nineteenth century. ]Mr. Green at once turned his attention to the beautify- ing of his home, making the flower-garden his chief pride. Across the garden ran a deep ravine with a stream flowing through it. ^Ir. Green terraced the ravine and by check- ing the flow of the brook with a stone dam made a little lake, which was spanned by a rustic bridge. Upon the lake a small boat floated, and near the shore stood a tiny chalet- 142 VIHCIMA HOMES AND CHURCHES like cottage, covered with hark. In another j^art of the grounds was a hear-pit, containing several hlack hears, while here and there among the shruhhery and flowers gleamed pieces of white marl)le sculpture from Italy. Among these was a fountain representing the hirth of Venus fi-om the waves of the sea. A marhle scallop shell rested upon the l)acks of two dolphins which spouted water over a life-sized figure of the goddess, as she stood poised on the edge of the shell. Other figures represented " The Seasons," " Flora," " Ceres," " Ganymede," etc. Some of these are now preserved in the garden of the \^alentine ^Museum. (Jne of the attractions of the garden was a fine spring which was a favorite drinking j^lace. In later years the charming old mansion was long the home of the JNIcCance family. When the emigration of fashion to the West End reached high tide, it gave way to a row of tenements which now occupies the site of house and garden. THE MARSHALL HOUSE Upon the corner of ISIarshall and Ninth Streets stands a plain, but massive and dignified old brick mansion, the home of Richmond's greatest citizen and the most famous of American judges — Chief Justice John Marshall ( 1755- 1835).^ To his neighbors " the old Chief," as he was affection- ately called, was as much beloved for his domestic and social gifts as he was admired for his ability and learning. As a member of the " Barbecue Club," made up of the leading men of Richmond, and joining with the zest of a boy in his favorite game of throwing quoits, we see the intellectual giant at play, and it is a pleasant sight. Over this old home he presided as a tender husband and father, kind master, gracious host. Until the last few years the house was owned and occu- pied by his descendants, who also sat Sunday after Sunday * Paxton, Tlie Marshall Family. Cincinnati, 1885. \i.( \.\( i: iiorsi;, uicHMOND r ■ GAMBLE HOUSE, RICHMOND RICHMOND AND THE UPPER JAMES 145 in his ])e\v in Monumt'iital CMuirch; hut it has since hcen bought from his granthhuightcrs, l)y the city, and turned over to the Association tor the Preservation of \"irginia Antiijuities. Its stately rooms, with their beautifully carved mantels and cornices, contain many memories of the " Old Chief " and his family and has become a niecca to visitors of Richmond. THE STATE CAPITOL About two blocks away from the iSIarshall House stands the old Capitol in the midst of its ten-acre " square " — the chief attraction of the city still, in spite of the pros- perous \Vest End. Indeed, with its appealing natural beauty and its associations it nmst for all time be a centre of interest to the visitor in lovely and historic Richmond. The plan for the building was furnished by Thomas Jefferson when he was minister to France ami was taken from the Maison Carree, at Nismes. It was begun in 1785 and finished in 1792, when the Legislature had been meet- ing within its walls for some years. The chaste beauty of its classic outlines and proportions has been Avarmly admired by persons of taste. It stands ujjon the brow of a hill with the green square sloping away from it and ancient trees arching the walks that lead to it from all directions. Nearby stands the splendid \Vashington monument, one of the noblest groups of statuary in America. The equestrian statue of Washington, which is its central and crowning figure, and most of the other figures on the monument, were modelled by Thomas Craw- ford, of New York, but as he died before the work was finished, those of Thomas Nelson and Andrew Lewis were made by Randolph Rogers. Other figures in the group surrounding Washington are Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George JNIason, and John Marshall. The monu- ment was unveiled in 1858. The statues of Henry Clay, " Stonewall " Jackson, Governor William Smith, and Dr. Hunter ^IcGuire also adorn the Square. The Virginia State Library stands within the Square some distance to 10 146 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES the rear of the Capitol, while on a line with the library and to the- north of it stands, at the head of a shady avenue, also within the S(iuare— the governor's mansion— a serene, dignified and beautiful, but unostentatious Virguiia home. Mueh of the historv of Virginia lias been made withni the walls of this old Capitol. The Hall of the House of Delegates, especially, teems with associations. ^Vithin this hall at least a part "of the celebrated trial of Aaron Burr was held; witliin it met tl)e famous Constitutional Con- GOVERNOR'S MANSION, RICHMOND vention of 1829-1830, of which :Madison, ^lonroe, ]Mar- shall, John Randolph and many other eminent men of the time were members; within it met the " Secession Con- vention " of 1861; and within it, during the war that fol- lowed, were held the sessions of the Confederate Congress. Soon after the Revolution, Houdon, the most famous sculptor of the time, came from Paris to ^Nlount Vernon for the purpose of making a statue of General ^Vashington. This masterpiece of jjortraiture in white marble, declared by Lafayette to be " a facsimile of Washington's person," STATE CAPITOL, RICHMOND HOME OK CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL, RICHMOND RICHMOND AND THE IPPER JAMES 149 stands in the centre of the Rotunda and is tlie Capitol's ehief treasure. In 1 !)()() the Capitol was enlarged by the addition ot two wings harmonizing in arehiteeture with the design of the main ])uilding. The assembly halls of the House of Delegates and State Senate may now be found in these new wings, but the historic " Hall of the House " has l)een preserved and is now used as the State Agricultural Museum. In the Capitol basement is the State Land OfHee where may be seen records of land-grants and patents going l)ack as far as the year 1(528. _ On Aprir-27. 1870, the Capitol was the scene of a fright- ful disaster. The Court of Appeals was sitting in a room in the northeast corner of the building, and a case of un- usual interest had drawn a crowd which packed the apavt- ment to the doors. Suddenly the tioor gave way under the unaccustomed weight and went crashing down into the hall of the house below, carrying with it a panic-stricken mass of humanity. The number of persons killed was sixty- five, while two hundred others, more or less, were seriously injured. Among the victims were many of Richmond's leading citizens. THE WESTMORELAND CLUB A short walk up Grace Street from the main entrance of Capitol Square brings the tourist to one of the gracious old roof-trees of former days, which has been preserved by becoming the home of the Westmoreland Club. The house was begun about 1837, by Mr. James Gray, a wealthy tobacco merchant, but was sold by him before it was completed, to Judge Robert Stanard, of the ^'irginia Court of Appeals, who finished it and occupied it until his deatli. It was elegantly equipped, as befitted its stately rooms, with furniture from Paris and carved mantels from judge Stanard had formerly lived in a house on Xiiitli Street, opposite the Capitol Square, where the youtliful l.jO VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES Ed^ar Allan Poe had been a frequent visitor, as a friend of the Stanard boys. Mrs. Stanard won the heart of the poet-to-bc, by her kindness and sympathy, and to her after- wards were addressed the lovely lines, " To Helen," which helj)ed to make Poe famous and caused her to be known as " Poes Helen." She did not live to accompany her husband and chil- dren to their new home. Though he remained a widower, Jud<>-e Stanard's entertainments were famous — his friend ^Ir. James Lyons often assisting him in doing the honors. Upon his death his son, Robert C. Stanard, a dis- WEST-MDKII.AM) CLUB, THE STANARD HOUSE, RICHMOND tinguished member of the Richmond bar, the State Senate and the Constitutional Convention of 1831, inherited the house. ]Mr. Stanard married a beautiful and brilliant daughter of Kentucky, and with her as hostess the tra- ditions of the house were amply sustained. The brightest men of the time flocked to her salon, and Thackeray was one of the many men of note entertained by her husband and herself. After the Stanards' time, their home was owned suc- cessively by ]Mr. William H. IVIacfarland and JNIr. James Lyons, prominent gentlemen, both of them, and lavish hosts. ^5EEES RICHMOND AND THE UITER JA^H^S 153 The Westniorelaiul Club was orj>anize(l at a meeting held January 20, 1H77. It assonihk'd first at its own home, 707 E- Franklin Street, lormerly the residenee of (General R. E. Lee, on May 1st of the same yeai-. In 187U the Club pureliased its present home, wliieh was tlien the ])n)perty of Mr. James Lyons. Lxtensive additions and improvements have since been made to the building and the Club, now in its 38tli year, is one of the most prosijerous and noted in the United States. THE ARCHER HOUSE * So small a number of the few of Richmond's old mansions that remain are still homes that the mere fact of being the residenee of a private citizen gives a distinction all its own. One whose air of quiet and (UgniHed homelike- ness proclaims it to be the possessor of this distinction may be seen just a square below the Westmoreland Clul) at the corner of Franklin and Sixth Streets. It makes a charm- ing picture and its interior is equally charming. It was built early in the last century by Mr. Cunningham, a mer- chant, from plans drawn by ilr. ^Nlills, the architect of the ]Monumental Church, the White House of the Con- federacy, and the Valentine Museum. Mr. Cunningham sold it to Dr. George ^Vatson, a distinguished physician of the time, and it is still owned and occupied by his descendants, the Archer family. Upon its door hangs the jjolished brass knocker that responded to the touch of the gentle guests of nearly a hundred years ago, and a high brick wall around the yard still secures to the prenn'scs the privacy so dear to the heart of the modest old-time folk. THE CASKIE HOUSE Two squares further on, upon the corner of Main and Fifth Streets, stands the quiet and attractive Caskie home, which was built by JNIr. Tate, ]Mayor of Richmond, and after his death descended to his nephew, who was a second " Mayor Tate." Since the time of the Tates, the house has been successively the home of the Xeilson, Gray and * See illustration, p. 127. 154 VIRGINIA HOISIES AND CHURCHES Caskie families. It is as interesting architecturally within as without, a .strikiu<): feature being a beautiful octagon- shaped drawing-room. The tourist, finding himself suddenly face to face with the Archer and Caskie homes, upon their busy corners, has a pleasant sense of having stumbled upon a bit of re- poseful }-esterday in the midst of bustling, strenuous to-day. THE ALLAN HOUSE Diagonally opposite the Caskie House on the southeast corner of ]Main and Fifth Streets, now occupied by brick tenements, once stood an old mansion famous for its social history, and as the home, for a brief period, of Edgar Allan Poe. * The house was built in 1798 by David ISIeade Randolph, United States INIarshall for Virginia. According to the contract, ]Mr. Randolph was to pay for the construction of his home " £100 worth of corn, £50 worth of oyster shells, delivered at Rocketts, £100 worth of goods (£25 of which to be in wet goods) and the remainder in money, to be i^aid by Christmas Day, 1800." It was far enough up town, in those days, to be almost in the country, and must have been very like a countrj' place, with its spreading lawn shaded with pine trees and, at the rear, its " falling garden " filled with fruits and flowers. Like a country place too, it had a name, for JNIr. Randoljjh quaintly com- bining his own name — David — with that of his wife — IMolly — called it " ISIoldavia," and as " Moldavia " it was long known. jNIrs. Randolph was noted as a wit and also as a house- keeper. In her prosperous days she was called " the queen " by the guests who thronged her hospitable home, and when reverses came she showed she could be queen of the kitchen as well as the drawing-room, for she opened upon Cary Street a boarding house which achieved im- mediate success, and whose " board " became as famous as that at " jNIoldavia " had been. She pul)lished her recipes in a cook-book Avhich is still an authority in many an old Virginia home. RICHMOND AND THE UPPER JAMES 155 In 1805 " ^Moldavia " was sold to Mr. Joseph (iallcgo. owner of the Cialle<>c) Mills, who occupied it for twenty years and then sold it to Mr. John ^Vllan, whose hrilliant adopted son, Edgar ^Vllan Poe, was then about seventeen years old. There is a great uncertainty as to just how long Poe lived at the Allan house, for soon after Mr. Allan bought it, Poe entered the University of \'irginia and later went to Boston to live. lie seems, at least, to have un- ALLAN HOUSE, RICHMOND doubtedly made his home there during a good part of the year 1826. The Allans made the beautiful interior of their house the background for superb furniture and artistic orna- ments brought from Eurojie. They had the social gifts of true Richmonders, and their home was famous for its brilliant entertainments. Among notables from across the water who enjoyed its hospitality at different times were Charles Dickens, Lord and Uady Napier, TiOi-d and Uady Lyons, and the Honorable ]Miss Murray. The old Ricli- mond Enquirer contains an elaborate accoimt of a fancy ball given at the AJlan House, with the initials of the belles 1->G VIRGINIA H0:MES AND CHURCHES and liraux present, and the characters they represented, and detailed dcscTiptions of their eostunies. Long after the AUans' (hiy their home was once more the scene of festivity when the citizens of Riclimond, in 1881, gave there a grand hall to the distinguished delega- tions sent over hy the governments of France and Germany to represent those countries at the Yorktown Centennial. THE GAMBLE HOUSE A few of those who enjoy the charms of Gamble's Hill — its green terraces, its sweet breezes and its suj^erb view of the river, town and country — remember the Gamble mansion which gave the hill its name.* The house was ])uilt in the year 1800, by Colonel John Harvie, a Revolutionary patriot, and member of the Con- vention of 1775 and of Congress, but was barely finished when he died, and ^Nlrs. Harvie sold it to Major Robert Gamble (1754-1810),'' a Revolutionary officer and com- mander of the first company to enter the fort at the storm- ing of Stony Point. ]Major Gamble came to Richmond from Augusta County, where he had married Catherine, daughter of Major John Gratton, who had made herself as famous for coiu'age as she was for beauty by riding through the country at night warning the settlers on the " border," in the neighborhood of her home, of an impending Indian raid. This interesting pair was, of course, a welcome addi- tion to Richmond society and made " Grey Castle," as the Gamble House was called, a charming home. Their sons removed to Florida and founded a prominent family there, but their two daughters made brilliant matches in Rich- mond and continued to live at " Grey Castle." Elizabeth, after a long courtship, became the wife of the distinguished \Villiam Wirt, while Agnes made choice from her many * See illustration, pat^e 143. '' For an account of Colonel Gamble and his family see Brown, The L'ahells and Their Kin, p. 25.5 et seq. RICHMOND AND THE UPPEH JAMES 1.57 suitors of Judge ^Villianl H. Cabell, of the Court of Ap- peals of Virginia and (Governor of the State. As the roof- tree of these two distinguished eouples " (irey Castle " naturally eontinued to be one of the notable homes of Virginia. In the eourse of time the ^Virts moved away, and Judge and Mva. Cabell became sole master and mis- tress of the house and dispensers of its hospitality. Tom ]\Ioore was once entertained there, when Miss Maria Mayo, a famous beauty and belle and afterwards the wife of Gen- eral Winfield Scott, paid him the pretty compliment of singing to him and the assembled company, " Believe Me If All Those Endearing Yomig Charms." After the time of the Cabells, " Grey Castle " had various o^vners. For some years the celebrated McCiuire's School was taught there. It was afterward jJuUed down and a row of tenements was built upon its site. THE RUTHERFOORD HOUSE The first resident of Richmond to see that the future of the citj' lay to the w^estward was ]Mr. Thomas Ruther- foord,'' a native of Scotland, who, over a hundred years ago, established his family in a handsome residence in the coun- try, but near enough to town for him to go to and from his business. This earliest of West End homes stood upon the northeast corner of the present Franklin and Adams Streets, but has given place to the row of modern houses that now occupies that site. In the words of one who re- members it, the Rutherfoord House was " a noble specimen of colonial architecture," one of the last of its kind. The roof was in keeping with the style built by the rich aristo- cratic class, lofty and peaked, and flanked by tall chinmey stacks which stood out in relief against the sky, towering above the loftiest trees. The body of the house was broad and ample, and afforded a typical example of simplicity and strength characteristic of the structures of the Colonial period. The gromids occupied an extensive area and w^ere « Rutherfoord family: The Richmond Standard, ii, Nos. 25-28. 158 MRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES laid off' into lawns, kitchen and flower gardens, orchard and vineyard. A massive brick wall enclosed many acres of what is now First Street, occupied by orchards of every variety of fruit known at that day. Mr. Kutherfoord married the lovely Sallie Winston, daughter of ^Mr. (icddes Winston. After his death and when his goodly band of sons and daughters had scattered into homes of their own, the Rutherfoord House changed hands several times, but from first to last the mansion, and those that lived in it, held a jirominent place in the social life of Richmond. It was at one time the home of the Honorable John V. Mason, Secretary of the Xavy, At- torney General of the United States, and United States ^linister to France. Colonel A. S. Buford was its last owner. BULLOCK HOUSE, RICHMOND THE bullock: house Upon tlie site now occupied by the Commonwealth Club once stood, in the midst of spacious grounds shaded by splendid old elms, a commodious brick mansion known as the Bullock House. It was begun by Mr. Peyton Drew rich:mond and the upper james 1.59 and tinished in 18U by Mr. John Mutter — prominent citizens of Richmond, hoth of thcni — and in IS.'JO was sohl to ]Mr. Uavid RuUocU, mayor of the city, wlio made liis home in it for many years. Later it became the home of Mr. George Pahner. The Commonwealth Club was organized March 3, 1890, and practically succeeded the old Richmond C'lul), situated at Third and Franklin Streets, which was organized soon after the War between the States. Tlic Commonwealth Club is one of the largest and most influential in the South. SWAN TA^■ER\ Swan Tavern, at the northwest corner of Broad and Ninth, was long the favorite stopping place of prominent visitors to Richmond. It was built soon after tlie Revo- lution. Its most noted guest was Edgar Allan Poe, who boarded here during his last visit to Richmond. SWAN TAVERN. RICHMOND MANCHESTER THE GRAY AND CXOPTOX HOUSES Manchester (now South Richmond), lying j'ust across the river from Richmond, in the county of Chesterfield, had, under its Colonial name of Rocky Ridge, almost as Kio MHdlNIA HOMES AND CHURCHES early an origin as its larger neighbor. During the period wIr'h it was a flourishing tobacco market, a number of luuulsome homesteads, most of which have now disap- peared, were built there. Among those that remain are the Ciray House, the floor of whose hall stiU bears the mark of the effort of the British soldiers to l)urn it; and the Clopton House, built by Robert Graham, a Scotch merchant, who GRAY HOUSE, MANCHESTER, SOUTH RICHMOND was arrested and sent to the interior during the War of 1812. This house was afterward the home of the dis- tinguished jurist John Bacon Clopton. BLACK HEATH Thirteen miles above Manchester, on the edge of the village of INIidlothian, in Chesterfield County, once the centre of the famous coal-mining district, stands, in a state of rapid decay. Black Heath, for several generations the home of the Heth family." ' Heth family: The Critic (Richmond, Va.), Sept. 17, 1888. RICHMOXl) AM) TIIK IPrER JAMKS 1(11 The most important of the lleths of Rhiek Ileatli was Lieutenant (ieneral Henry Ileth of the Confederate Army, or " Harry " Heth, as he was aft'eetionately eallecl. His sohHerlv instinets were inherited, for tlie hi'otlier of tlie first of his name at Hhiek Heath was Colonel William Heth, of the Continental Line. Tlie house, a large, rambling old mansion, part hriek and part frame, was in its early days surrounded by all the appin-tenanees of a home of wealth and taste. There were a flower garden, oak grove, a great circular pigeon \ W \ ^'-«w \ % %c ^^ y \ i^ rvV /t- J^ ^^A^i /fl\^ L-' 1 ■ s^ ■ \ ll^^l ^ ' ^^jjhB _^ J HN m IBI i sr\i\ 1 ^ '?• r 'jfrS^^^,, ' r'-'mm^ BI,.U K HKAIH, CHKSTERFIELD COUNTY house, a barn, stables, and other outbuildings; but manj'' years ago coal pits were sunk practically all around the house, and tunnels, or drifts as they were called, run be- neath the groimds, and, it is said, beneath the house itself. Coal was mined at ^Midlothian as early as 1730 and for miles around may be seen the remains of the pits owned and operated by the Wooldridges, CTarkes, Cunliff'es and other Chesterfield families. After the time of the Heths, Black Heath was occu- pied bv ^Iv. GifFord, an Englishman, and later bv the family" of Colonel William B. Ball. 11 162 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES CIIESTKRFIKLU COURT HOUSE Clusttifuld Court Ildusf was built in 17-19-50 and was (.idcrc'd 1)V the County Court to be a eopy of the then Henrico Court House. In 1779 Hamilton, the British governor of Detroit, who had been captured by G. R. Clark, was confined here for a time. In 1781 the British forces under (ieneral Phillips bin-ned the Court House, but its substantial walls remained intact, and when CHESTERFIELD COLRT HOUSE the house was restored it must have been made like it was at first. Many celebrated trials have been held. here. At the rear there is a wing (not shown in the picture) almost as large as the front part of the house. SALISBURY A few days after the election of Patrick Henry as governor of Virginia, in November, 1784, he left the capital in order to arrange his affairs in Henry Comity and re- moved his family to a farm called Salisbmy, in Chesterfield RICHMOND AM) TIIK lI'l'KIt JAMKS IC^ County, near Kirliiiioiid. The house eliosen hy tlie I'anious patriot as a residenee durin/^' his term as governor was no palace or mansion, hut a eliarmin<^ly (juaint, frame home- stead, with l)i<>-. hri<>ht, airy rooms, only a story and a half hiprh. which had heen huilt some time durin<>- the cifrhtecTith century l)y the Randolphs, as a hunting' lod^e. (iovernor Henry rented it from Thomas Mann Randolph. Salishury is only fourteen miles from Itichmond and but a little way from the village of Midlotliian, hut its situ- SALISBLRY, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY ation seems lojiely and remote hy reason of the deep woods lying between. Cloistered among splendid old oaks, the house makes a pretty picture, with its dormer windows, its great chimneys and its square, white porches. In 1789, while Salisbury was the home of Henry, 3Ir. Randolph sold it to Doctor Philip Tiu-pin, a native of Virginia, who was a graduate of medicine and surgery of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. During the Revo- lution Dr. Turpin attempted to return home, but was taken prisoner and held by the British Government as surgeon on board ship until the close of the war. The cry of 164 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES " Tory ■" was raised against him, but friends and officers in the Hritish Navy how witness that lie was an unwilling prisoner, and, through the inlluenee of Thomas Jefiferson, an uneon(htional release of his property, which included Salisbury and had been ])laeed under eontiseation, was granted. At his death Doctor Turpiu l)equeatlied Salis- bury to his daughter Caroline, the wife of Doctor Edward Johnson, who left it to her sons Edward and Philip Turpin Johnson. Edward Johnson was a gallant officer in the United States Army and a distinguished major-general in the Confederate Army. At the close of the War between the States he made Salisbury his home and died there, leaving no descendants. After the death of Philip Turpin Johnson the estate passed from this family. NORWOOD, POWHATAN COUNTY NORWOOD On James River, in Powhatan County, not far above the Chesterfield line, is Norwood, an old home long the property of the Harris family. It was sold by "Sir. Baratier KICHMOM) AM) TIIK IITKR JAMKS 1G.5 Harris to Mr. licxcrlcv Ran(l()l])li. i'oniierly of Kasterii View, Fau(]iii(.'r County, who owned it as early as 183.3, and who added the win<4s. At the death of Mr. liandolph, Norwood passed to hi.s son Doetor Charles II. Kandoljjh, who left it to Mrs. Xaney Kandolph Keniion, and her liusl)and Lieutenant William II. Kennon, U. S. N., for life, and at theii- death to their eldest son Charles Randolph Kennon. at whose death it passed to his hrother William II. Kennon. BEAUMONT. POWHATAN COUNTY BEAUMONT Hifrher up the river, in Powhatan County, is Beau- mont, formerly the heautiful home of Mr.Williani \\'althall jNIichaux, father of Doetor Jaeoh ^Nliehaux, of Riehniond.'* Th()u<>;h adjoinin<'' otlier large family estates whieh were inherited by Mr. ^Nliehaux, the house dates from before this time. It was the home of Mr. Kdward Walthall, who, dvinin^' hands, who paces the east walk. In a vault screened from view hy •ira])e arhors and sluul)l)ery, ahout two inindred yards distant from tlie mansion, sleep the Randolphs of Tuckahoe. OAKLAND '• On June 26, 1731, ahout fifteen years after (iovernor Spotswood's trip of exploration to the Blue Rid^e Moun- tanis had caused the grailuai movement of the settlements, from the head of tide-water on the James and other rivers towards the foot of the mountains, a Land Patent, cover- ing the site of Oakland, was issued in the name of George II, King of Great Britahi, by Governor William Gooch, to " Bowler Cocke, Gentleman." This patent or grant was made in consideration of 12 jjounds, for 2-tU() acres of land on the south side of the James on ISIuddy Creek, formerly in Henrico Comity, at that date in Goochland County, and now in Cumberland County (Virginia I^and Office, Land Patents, Vol. 14, p. 187). Bowler Cocke, to whom the grant was made, was the son of Richard Cocke, 3d, son of Richard, 2d, son of Richard 1st, who came to the Colony of Virginia prior to 1632 (as his name appears in the list of Burgesses of the "Grand Assembly" for that year ) , and settled at "Bremo," the original home of the Cocke family in Virginia, near James River, about twelve miles east of Richmond {J''ir- ginia Magwdnc of Iliniori/ and liiograph//. III. 282). On the death of Bowler Cocke, 1st (1771), Oakland pa.s.sed to his son, liowler Cocke, 2d. On the hitter's death (1772) , it passed to his son, William Cocke. On William's death (182.5), it passed to his s(m, ^Vm. Armistcad Cocke, * This account was written by a member of the Cocke family- 174 VlRCilMA HOMES AND CHURCHES who was tlic ^Tcat-great-graiulson. througli his mother, Jane Aniiisteatl, of Colonel W'ilhaiii liyid, 2d. And on the death of \Vm. A. Cocke (1855 ) , who married Ehzabeth Raiid()]j)li Preston, of Lexington. Va.. it passed to their four sons, William Fauntleroy, Thomas Lewis Preston, Edmund Randolph, and John Preston Cocke, all of whom were in the Confederate Army. Oakland is now owned by E(hnund R. Cocke. Though Oakland has been owned by the Cocke family for more than 175 years, it seems that it was not occupied as a home until about 1788, when William Cocke moved there from Bremo. Oakland is al)()ut forty miles west of Richmond, and al)<)ut six miles south of Cartersville. It is a typical old A'irginia tobacco ijlantation, though it also produces wheat, corn and oats and an abundance of vegetables and fruit. Its greatest attraction is its large yard of about tw^elve acres, which, dinging the last century, contained some fifty- five or sixty gigantic oaks, white and red, chiefly the former, and a large numbei' of other kinds of beautiful shade trees. The largest of these oaks are said to be some twenty feet in circumference, casting a shade at mid-day of over a hundred feet in diameter. It is not jirobable that such a collection of oaks can be found, within such a limited space, anywhere else in this country. The writer, who has visited many parks and other places noted for their fine forest growth, has never seen such a collection of large trees except on the Pacific Coast. The following incident, related by a Virginia authoress, which occurred shortly after the Civil War, illustrates very fully the surpassing grandeur of these trees : Oakland was not by any means among the handsomest of the old Virginia houses, but in one respect it surpassed them all. I remember on one occasion driving back to the home from service at the country church with Bishop Whittle, when a member of the family said to him, " Bishop, tliis is not your first visit to Oakland ; you were here, sir, 20 years ago, when you were just ]\Ir. Whittle." It was evident that the Bishop did not recall the visit, and the OAKLAND, CLMDKKLAND C'Ul NTV ■^ ^ jr^V ■v.- ■,.:■:. ^.•..^•'••■v:-7*-'^j>" 'v- • ■> .1 . L ^"j^ai-.ta. - -^^^y^^--." ' :• .♦^^v•.■>^5'5vii^..• ^ UAKLA.NU, SHOWING THK liKOVK RICH.MOM) AND THE UPPER JAMES 177 convLTsiition was tlcftlv fhiin^id to siive ciiibiirriissmuiit. But when the open ciirriiiffe swept around tlie edge of tlie woods, and broiif^ht tile l!i-acTo lawn to view, with its 80 or more trees, 50 of them primeval oaks, measuring several feet in diameter, and spreading out into vast sanctuaries of shade, the Bishop stootl up in the carriage and took off his hat. " You are mistaken. Captain Cocke," he said; "I might have been graceless enough to forget the kindest host, hut not these monarclis. I have never seen Oakland before." '" An interesting description of the " old days " at Oak- land is given by Mrs. Allan in her Life of Mrs. M. J. Preston; and of " War Times " by Mr. E. A. Moore, in The Siory of a Cannoneer Under Stoneicall Jdck.son. While Oakland was visited by many persons of note during tlic last century, it was especially honored by a visit frt)ni (General K. E. Lee, just after the close of the Civil War. At the invitation of Mrs. Elizabeth R. Cocke, the mistress of Oakland from 1835 to 188!), General Eee came to Oakland in June, 18(55. He was accompanied by INIrs. Lee, JMiss Agnes, Miss INIildred and General Custis Lee. General I^ee and the ladies came by the " packet boat '" on the old James River and Kanawha Canal, and as the berths were very close and uncomfortable, the General preferred sleeping on the open deck of the l)oat with his cloak wrapped around him. This is probably the last occasion on which he e\er bivouacked. After a week spent here (Oakland), (General Lee removed with his family to " Derwent " (th.e home of T. L. P. Cocke, adjoining Oakland). There he spent several months of quiet rest, only interrupted by the calls of those who came in all honest v and sincerity to pay their respects to him. Old soldiers, citizens, men and women, all came without parade or ceremony.'' In August, 18().5, while at Derwent, General TiCe was visited by Judge John W. Brockenbrough, Rector of the Boai-d of Trustees of Washington College, Ijcxington, " Life of Mrs. M. J. Preston, by Mrs. Elizabeth P. Allan, p. 102. " NccoUections and Letters of Geiwral Robert E. Lee, bv Cap- tain Robert E. Lee, pp. ITl 172. 12 ITS VIH(;iMA HOMES AND CHURCHES Va.. will) offered liiiii the Presidency of that College. After several weeks of deliberation, (ieneral Lee accepted that position, and in September removed with his family to Lexington. Oakland, uidike most old \"irginia homes, was not overrnn by the Federal troops during the Civil War; its inaccessibility alone saved it. But in August, 1900, a mouse and a match caused a greater loss than the Federals would probably have inflicte(l, by destroying the delightful home represented in the accom])anying picture, and by damaging the large oaks which flanked it both east and west. ]\Irs. Elizabeth P. Allen, after alluding to the great loss of such a home and its contents, some of which possessed an incalculable sentimental value, adds, " Surelj' tlurr must be a spiritual immortality for such a home." SABOT HILL, GOOCHLAND COUNTY SABOT HILL AND DO^^R A short distance above Bendover, in the same county, Goochland, and also overlooking the James, are two beau- tiful hf)uses, which on account of the intermarriages of the families of their builders are closely associated — Sabot RICHMOND AND THE I PPKK JAMES 181 Hill, thf (lid homestead of the Seddons, ;iii(I Dover, of the Morsons. Sabot Hill was built in 18.>.') by .lames Alexander Sed- doii. afterward Seeretary of War of the Confederate (iov- eriimeiit. It is now the property of Mr. W. K. Harris. Dover was built by Mr. ^Vrthur Morson and is one of the fairest of old \'ir^iin'a"s fair mansions. Its lonn- pil- lared portieo is an esi)eeially striking' feature. It. too, has chaiifjed hands, but its present owner. Mr. C. Boice, has beanti fully restored it. HOWARDS NECK. GOOCHLA.NIJ COINTY HOWARD'S NECK The dwelling here was built by Edward Cunningham in 182.}, who.se son, Dr. Francis Cunningham, was a prominent physician in Richmond many years ago. The property v,as purchased from the Cunninghams, in 1842, by John B. Hobson, who married Martha Bland Selden, of Westover. Now owned by Mr. Saimders Hobson. ROCK CASTLE Rock Castle, in Goochland Coimty, for the past half century the hospitable home of Mr. John Coles Ruther- 182 VIHC.IXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES foord aiul his family, takes its name from the high rocky l)hiff overlooking James River, upon which the house is j)erche(l. The simple cottage with vine-covered jjorch and sloping dormer roof hears little likeness to a castle, but it is well worthy of consideration, for it has its place in the social iiistoiy of Virginia and has suft'ered from two wars. It is one of the oldest homesteads in this section. The plantation was seated nearly two hundred years ago by ]Mr. Tarleton Fleming (according to tradition, a descend- ant of the Earl of Wigton, in Scotland), whose wife was Mary Randolj)!), of Tuckahoe. Colonel William Byrd in his Progress to tlw Mi lies (17>'3'2) mentions a visit to Tuckahoe, where he met Mrs. Fleming, " on her way to join her husband at Rock Castle, thirty miles farther up the ri\er in a part of the country little settled, and but lately redeemed from the wilderness." RDCK CASTLE, CII II ]( lll.AM) ('(IINTV Upon the death of Tarleton Fleming, Rock Castle passed to his son, Thomas INIann Fleming. Upon his death it was bought by Colonel David Bullock, a promi- nent lawyer, of Richmond, who kept open house, and lib- erally dispensed old-fashioned Southern hospitality there, for years. Some time after the death of Colonel Bullock,' KICHMOXD AM) THE L ITER JAMES 183 Governor John Kiithcrfoord houj^lit tlie estate as a sum- mer home, and it finally l)eeame the residenee of his son, yir. Jolm Coles Ruthert'oord, of Richmond, who modern- ized the front of the house. However, the (juaint archi- tectural featiu'es of the Colonial period may still he seen at the rear. Durinji' the Revolution, Rock Castle was visited hy a raiding' party under General Tarleton, who angrily cut down and hore away the coat-of-arms of Tarleton (juar- tered witli Fleming from the wall of the panelled parlor. Years later, during the raid around Richmond, a party of Sheridan's soldiers sacked the house and were only prevented from tiring it hy the entreaties of the faithful colored servants. Rock Castle is now the property of the distinguished surgeon. Dr. (ieo. Ren Johnston, whose wife is a daughter of Jolm Coles Rutherfoord. ROLLING HALL, GOOCHLAND COINTV BOLLIXG HALL From the early eighteenth century the Boilings of Cohl)s, in Chesterfield County, owned much land in Goochland, and various memhers of the family made their homes in that county at times. Rut the first to abandon the original homestead and settle permanently in Gooch- 18i VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES laiui was Colonel William Boiling, of " Boiling Hall," a militia oflicrr in tlif \Var of 1812, and a man of prominence in liis community. He was a philanthropist as well as a soldier, and after removing to Boiling Hall established at his old home. Cohbs, the first institution for the education of deaf mutes in America. Upon the walls of Boiling Hall long hung one of the most complete collections of family portraits in the State of \'ii-ginia. In it was represented every generation of Boilings from Robert, the emigrant, down. It is now the property of I\Ir. Richard Boiling, of Richmond, who has loaned it to the Virginia Historical Society. "UNCLE" ASA AND "AUNT" JINSEY AT BOLLING ISLAND This old couple lived to be more than 100 years old. BOLLING ISLAND Colonel William Boiling left the valuable plantation Boiling Island to his son Thomas, who built the homestead. RICHMOND AM) THE IITKU JAMKS l.s.5 I.attT the estate was ])iirelia.se(l l»y Mr. A. V. Stokes, of Kiehnioiul, aiul is still tlic property of his (iesceiiilaiits. BOLLING ISL.\N"I), G()<)( IILAM) COl NTV UNION HILL. CUMBERLAND COUNTY UNION HILL Union Hill, in Cimiherland County, was the home of John Cary Page (1789-1853) . One of Mr. Page's (laugh- 186 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES ters, Harriet Randolph, married, in 1857, Coupland Randolph, of Maryland, and they removed to New Hamp- shire al)out 1865. CLIFTON The Clifton estate in Cumherland County seems to have been settled by Carter Henry Harrison, of " Berke- ley " — a brother of Benjamin Harrison, the signer of the Declaration. The master of Clifton married Susannah, CLIFTON, CUMBERLAND COUNTY daughter of Colonel Isham Randolph, of " Dungeness." After his death the homestead passed to his son Randolph Harrison, who married his first cousin, Mary, daughter of Thomas Isham Randolph, of " Dungeness." Randolph and ]Mary Harrison, of " Clifton," had fourteen children, and their descendants, now widely scat- tered, form an influential social connection. BELLMONT Tradition says that quaint Bellmont, in Buckingham County, was the first frame dwelling in that section of the country — the pioneer settlers there having, hitherto con- tented themselves with log-houses. Its dormer windows, RICHMOND AND THE IPFER JAMES 187 little sfiuair porch and I)i<^' chiiiiiievs arc iiidicatioiis of its age. Ancient trees i'orin an arcli liigli al)ovc tiie honse wliieh looks sedately forth from a yard filled with old- fashioned shnd)s and Howers. Belhnont was built by Colonel ^Vrchibald Cary for his sister, Judith, who married Colonel David Hell, a native of Scotland and a member of the House of Burgesses for BELLMONT, BUCKINGHAM CUUNTY Buckingham County. It was inherited by Colonel and ]Mrs. Bell's daughter, Mrs. Harrison, who left it to her daughter, ^Nlrs. Ligon. The I^igons sold it to Mr. I. C. Gannawav. THE BREMOS Near each other in Fluvanna County are the three homesteads and estates known as Bremo, Lower Bremo, and Bremo Recess. General John Hartwell Cocke (1 780-1 SfJO), of Surry Count}', a gentleman of prominence and fortune, removed, ISS VIHGIXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES al)()ut 180;}. to Fluvanna County, where he owned large tracts of land. He built Brenio Recess, and lived in it while he was erecting the handsome mansion which he named Rremo, in honor of Brenio in Henrico County, which was the home of the Cocke family at a very early date. Bi-enio House, with its great stone barns and other outi)uildings, is one of the notable places on James River. (General Cocke was devoted to the cause of temperance and as a temperance memorial he had placed on the bank liAli.N AT BHK-MO of the James River and Kanawha Canal, at Bremo, a huge iron vase, pitcher-shaped, which was constantly filled to overflowing with water introduced by pipes from a spring. This unique fountain was long a famous sight to travellers up and down the canal. After the death of General John H. Cocke the prop- erty was inherited by his son, Dr. Cary C. Cocke, and at his death it passed to his two daughters, Misses INIary and Lelia, who are the present owners. Lower Bremo was built in 1843 and belonged to Dr. UliKMO (KKAR) KlCllMOM) AM) THK IIM'KII .JA.MKS llil Carv C. Cofkf until 18.).). wluii hv and liis fiitlirr, (IriKTal Cocke, exchanged lionit-s. It is now tlit- proptitv of .Mrs. W. R. C. Cocke. LOWKK BRKMI), FLUVANNA COUNTY OLD " MARSHALL " PACKET BOAT The old MarsJuiII was the last packet boat used on the James River and Kanawha Canal und the one on which the body of Stonewall Jackson was carried from Itich- mond to Lexinf^ton. Dr. (ieorge W. Ra,<>l)y in his writ- ings has an interesting chapter on Canal Reminiscences, and the following account is condensed therefrom : " Those were the ' good okl days ' of bateaux, — pietinx'sque craft that charmed my young eyes more than all the gondolas of Venice would do now. If ever man gloried in his calling, the negro bateaux-man was that man. His was a hardy calling, demanding skill, courage and strength in a high degree. I can see hin) now striding the plank that ran along the gunwale to afford him a footing, his long iron-shod pole trailing in the water be- hind him. Now lie turns, and after one or two ineffectual efforts to get his jjole fixed in the rocky bottom of the 192 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES river, secures his purchase, adjusts the upper part of the pole to tile pad on his shoulder. i)eads to his task, and the lon(»() VlRCilMA HOMES AND CHURCHES ( 17."{()-17!>S). who iiiiuk- large additions to its acreage. Tlie tract wlieii completed extended tor about ten miles along .James River, and contained at least 25,000 acres of land. Til'.' hnildiiig of the homestead l)egan about 1775, and as tiie Revolution soon cut oti" supplies from Kngland, the work had to be done almost entirely from materials to be had on the place. The wood was cut and bricks and nails made on the plantation. Save that the shingled roof has been replaced by tin, and repairs made, the house is about as Colonel Cabell left it. It is 60 feet wide by 40 feet deep and has two stories, a basement and an attic, with wainscoted rooms and halls and ample cellars. Around it stood all the numerous outbuildings necessary to a great plantation. Colonel William Cabell, the builder of Union Hill, was one of the most eminent Virginians of liis day. He was for many years a member of the House of Burgesses, was colonel of the Amherst militia and was a member of the Conventions and the Committee of Safety and a leader in the Revolutionary movement. Only a detailed study of his life as given by Doctor Alexander Brown can give an adequate idea of his services to the State. Colonel Cabell married ^largaret, daughter of Colonel Samuel Jordan, of Huckingham County, who after her husband's death, on March 23, 1708, continued to occupy Union Hill with her son-indaw. William H. Cabell, afterward governor of Virginia. Governor Cabell left Union Hill in 1801 and Colonel William Cabell. Jr., whose home at that time was Colleton, went to Union Hill and lived there until his death, in 1822, when he was succeeded by his son IMayo Cabell. :Mr. :Mayo Cal)ell married first Mary, daughter of Judge William Daniel, and secondly Caroline, daughter of Christopher Anthony, who surviving him at his death, in 1869, con- tinued to live there. In 187:3 Union Hill was bought by Alexander Brown, the distingui.shed Virginia historian, who was twice mar- RICHIMOXD AND THE TPPER JAMKS 201 ried, both times to ii Miss Caljuli. 'I'lie estate is now owned by Miss Lucy G. Cabell, wlio is tbe sister-in-law of Alexander Brown. E1)GE>V()()D, NELSOX COUNTY Edgewood's special claim to distinction is as tbe bonie of Honorable Josepb Carrinytoii Cabell (ITTH-lHon), a leadiny: member of tbe \'ii'!>inia Lei>islatnre and a "entle- man of rare talent and culture. It was chiefly through his sympathy and aid that Thomas Jefferson's ])lans foi- tbe KDCKWODI), NKI.SO.N COrNTV University of ^"irginia were carried out. JNIr. Cabell suc- ceeded Jefferson as Rector of the University and held that office until his death, in 1856. Edgewood, as may be seen from tbe picture, was one of the houses that grew with tbe needs of its occuj)ants. tberel)y gaining that delightful rambling effect characteristic of so many old Virginia homesteads. The central building is about a century old. It stands upon wliat was originally a town lot in ^Varminster, which during Colonial days and for fifty years afterAvard was a village of a few hundred 202 MHCilXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES inhabitants and a shipping point for tobacco by bateaux down tlic James. The ohi house was built by Mr. Robert Rives, of Oak Ridge, Nelson County, who was then a merchant at \Varminster, and was sold by him to Mr. Cabell. Mr. Cabell added the wings and kitchen and en- larged the central building at the rear. :Mr. Cabell married Miss ^Nlary Carter of Lancaster County, and in the Edge wood yard stands a cottage where once lived the Honorable St. George Tucker, and his second wife, who w^is Mrs. (ieorge Carter, the mother of Mrs. Cabell. The mortal remains of all the above named lie in the graveyard to the rear of the house. After her husband's death ]Mrs. Joseph C. Cabell continued to make Edgewood her home until her death, in 1862. It was bought from Mr. Cabell's residuary legatee by Mr. Philip R. Cal)ell, whose widow now owns it. Ejdgewood boasts of a well-authenticated ghost, for, though there seem to be few who have actually seen the ffentle visitor from " bevond the veil," manv there are who bear testimony of the light touch upon the shoulder of " Cousin Polly," as INIrs. Joseph C. Cabell was universally called in the connection. This lady was heiress of a goodly portion of the " King Carter " jiroperty, in Lancaster County, and left a large estate. Having no faith in lawyers, and determined that they should have nothing to do with her property, she wrote, with her own hand, one of the largest and most remarkable wills on record. In spite of her pains it is said that the lawyers got three-fourths of her fortune, which perhaps accounts for her uneasy rest. SOLDIER'S JOY Soldier's Joy, another delightfully rambling old home- stead, was built in 1785 by Colonel Samuel Jordan Cabell, a gallant officer in the Revolutionary War and an original member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati. Im- mediately after his marriage to Sally Syme, of Hanover, in 1781, Colonel and ]\Irs. Cabell lived with his parents at KICIIMOND AND THE I'PPER JAMES 203 Union Hill. From 171)-5 to 1803 Colonel C'al)cll repre- sented his (listriet in Con:inia homes. It is not many miles from the Bhie Kidge Mountains, with the famous Peaks of Otter in full view. The dwelling, which is situated about a mile from the public road, is an old styled four-<-abled house built of brick, with broad jjorehes run- ning the entire length at the front and more than half way at the back, supported by double columns extending up to the eaves. This construction gives a most imposing effect. All of the rooms have large French windows open- ing out on the ])()rches. The driveway in the front yard is OTTKR lUK.N TAI II.Mi\. liKUFUlU) Ct)L'.\'TV aroimd a circle which brings the visitor up to the circular stone stejjs at the front porch. The front yard is covered with a great variety of trees and evergreens, and is sur- rounded by hedges of althea, boxwood and lilac. Adjoin- ing the front yard is a beautiful old-fashioned flower garden, artistically divided into sections by boxwood hedges, where one coidd find growing in the utmost luxuri- ance roses, flowers and evergreens. The old place still retains its homelike appearance of restfulness far from the interminable jangle of bells and the roar of modern town life. lUCiniOXl) AM) TIIK iriM:i{ .IAMF.S »05 OAK KlDCiK KobtTt Rives.' ■ a native of Sussex County, \'ir^inia. beeauie a leailin<>' and wealthy niercliaut. and married, in 1790, .Mar<>aret. daugliter of Colonel William Cal)ell, of Union Hill. From ITiM to 18();{ Mr. and Mrs. Itives lived at Edgewood. In 17'.>H M i-s. Hives inherited from her father part of the Oak Ridg'e ])lantation. Mr. Hives later pui'ehasint>- the remainder from the other heirs, and in 180] 1 802 huilt the mansion, whieh he occupied OAK lilDCK, NKLSON COI XTV until his death, in 18-i5. He left a large estate, ineluding much land in Albemarle, and from ten to fifteen thousand acres in Nelson County. After Mr. Hives' death Oak Ridge was the home of his daughter ^Margaret Jordon Rives, who died unmarried in 18(52. One of his sons was the distinguished statesman, William Cabel Rives, of Castle Hill, Albemarle County. Oak Ridge is now the property of ^Ir. Thomas F. Ryan, the well-known financier, and is. with its beautifvd mansion, a sjilendid estate. One of the greatest attractions ^" Rives fainilv : Brown. The CiihcUs mul Their Kin. 200 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES of the house is the large collection of life-sized portraits of Englishmen associated with the settlement of Virginia, copied for Mr. Ryan and exhibited by him in the History Building at the Jamestown Exposition. MASSIE HOMES IN NELSON COUNTY LEVEL GREEN AND PHARSALIA In Nelson County, in the neighborhood of Massie's Mills, there remained, until several years ago, three old mansions of the Massies: " Level Green," " Blue Rock " and " Pharsalia." " Level Green " has passed out of the possession of the family. " Blue Rock " was burned to the groimd about ten years ago, and " Pharsalia," though having passed out of the family, is the only one which retains anything of its former beauty. Major Thomas JMassie, the founder of the ISIassie family in Nelson County, was born in New Kent County, August 22, 1747; was educated at William and IMarj- College; a captain in Revolutionary service and was promoted INIajor in the Northern campaigns, 1776-1779, generally on detached or particular service. At the Battle of Monmouth he delivered Washington's order of attack to General Charles Lee. He was JNIajor, and for a time acting Colonel, of the 2d Virginia Regiment, 1778-1779; aide-de-camp to General Nelson, winter of 1790-1791 to the fall of Yorktown; after the war he received 53331/3 acres of land in the States of Ohio and Kentucky for his services as ^lajor, etc. ; and was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He moved from St. Peter's Parish, New Kent County, about 1780, to Frederick County, and thence to old Aniherst, to property which is in the present County of Nelson, of which county he was one of the first ^Nlagis- trates from 1808. He married, about 1780, Sarah Cocke. He died at " Level Green," his seat in Nelson County, February 2, 1834. His father, William Massie, who married Martha Macon, who afterwards married Colonel Theodorick Bland, was a son of Captain Thomas Massie, RICHMOM) AM) THE irrKH .lAMKS ^20- of St. Peter's Parish, New Kent C'oiiiity, wlio (), and died at "Level Green," April 20, 1«;}8. AVhile seeking a home Major Massie visited tlic wild and beautiful upper valley of the Tye River, in that time in Amherst County and then almost uninhal)ited. Much taken with the maarret. The rear portion is, however, built higher, and contains tiiree medium-sized bedrooms. Mr. Massie was an exceedingly proj^ressive and ener- getic man. He brought water to the yard by underground pipes from a spring higher in the mountain, and a constant flow of pure cold water gushes from a hydrant near the kitchen. Mr. Massie was married four times: first, to Miss Sally Steptoe. of Bedford County, second, to Miss W'vatt, of Lynchburg; third, to ^Nliss Clark, of Campbell County, and foin'th, to I\Iiss Maria C. Elffinger, of Harrisonburg, Virginia. He died at " Pharsalia " and is buried at " Level Green." Though in the mountains and out of the general ti'ack, it suffered greatly from raids during the ^^'ar between the States. Fire was put under " Pharsalia " house in three places, but the cook discovered and extinguished the flames. Fortunately most of the silver was buried. ^Much of it remained so long buried that the exact spots were for- gotten, and some of it was not unearthed until several years after the war.'^ IONIA Ionia, the home of ]Major James Watson, in the fertile and beautiful " Greenspring neighborhood," in Louisa County, was built about the year 1770. The Virginia author. Doctor (rcorge W. Bagby, while a guest at Hawk- wood, the Morris home a few miles away, visited Ionia with his hostess (Mrs. R. O. Morris, Major Watson's grand- daughter), leaving for future generations a charming pen- picture of tliis old homestead. Says Doctor Bagby, " At Mrs. Morris's suggestion we made a hurried visit to Ionia, a gem, the cunningest old '■* Massie family: WilUnm and Man/ Quarferli/ Magazine, vol. xiii, pp. 196 20;}; also vol. xv, pp. 12.5-129. 14 210 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES country-house a heart could wisli. Hidden away in a deep yard, Hlled with ancient trees, a story and a half high, it is a nest in which I could he very happy. Inside are corner cujjhoards and other (juaint furniture, including a rare olcl claw-footed mahogany tahle and the two oldest mirrors in Virginia. At Ionia Mrs. Morris knew the roses and gladness of life. No wonder she exclaimed as we drove off : IONIA, I.in l.-A I i)LM\ ' I would not exchange it for a palace.' Nor would I, for nowhere in all Virginia have I found so quaint and dear a house." In 1845 Doctor George Watson, a distinguished i^hy- sician of Richmond, inherited Ionia. He long made it his summer home, and at his death bequeathed it to his daugh- ter, Mrs. Robert S. Archer, also of Richmond, who still owns it. BRACKETT'S Not far from Ionia is Brackett's, whose name came from an early owner of the land who, having built a small house there, sold his holdings to Major James Watson, of Ionia. Major Watson gave Brackett's to his son, Major David Watson, about 1800. The latter greatly enlarged RICHMOND AND THE I PPKR JAMES 211 and improved the house, for years making liis home there. David \\'ats(tii was a person ol' note: a man of letters and very public spirited. He represented Louisa County in tlie Lei^islature and was an early memher of the l?oard of N'isitors of the I'niversity of \'ir^inia. it is said that he walked with Jefferson, Madison and Monroe at the head of a proeession at the openiniied to the HKA( KEITS, LOIISA COINTV minutes of their meetings between the names of Jefferson and Madison. David Watson married Sally, daughter of Garrett Minor, a person so capable as to warrant her description as a " Napoleon of a woman." She reared at Erackett's not only a large family of her own but also many orphans of her connection. Braekett's passed from David and Sally Watson to their son Thomas, who was not unlike his father in his literary taste. He, too, made additions to the house, and, marrying his cousin Klizabeth Morris, of " Sylvania." had a number of children. At his tleath, however, there was but a single surviving son, and as he lost his only child, this branch of the house of Watson is destined to become extinct. 212 MKGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES III the \Var between the States scions of this race cov- ered tlieir name with ^lory. David Watson was a major of artilierv in the Confederate Army, and received a death wonnd in "the Battle of Spottsylvania Court House. The ]Ma,t>ruder brothers, five in iuiml)er, entered the Confed- erate Armv, onlv one of tlieni surviving the war, and he had h)st an arm! Tliese gallant soldiers were grandsons of David and Sallv Watson. At tlie death of Thomas S. Watson, Brackett's was sold to Mr. H. C. Beattie, of Richmond, who sold it to ]Mr. Carl Nolting, the present owner. WEST END West Fau\ was the conception of JNIrs. Susan Dabney (^Morris) ^Vatson, widow of Dr. James Watson, the eldest son of INIajor David and Sally (JNIinor) Watson. Dr. and ]Mrs. ^Vatson lived at Brackett's, Major David Wat- son's home, during the years of their married life, while ]Mrs. Watson and her two children continued to reside there after her huslnind's death until she went to Rich- mond for the purpose of educating them. West End was finished in 1840. The site of the planta- tion was a portion of Brackett's inherited by Dr. Watson, with additions made by purchase of adjoining land. The site was only a field when INIrs. Watson undertook the work of laving off the grounds and building the attractive home. The trees which beautify the lawn, in pleasant variety, were planted under her direction and the lawn was enclosed with an osage orange hedge. Around the house were set innumerable rose bushes and other shrubs. ]Mrs. 'Watson designed and planted a pretty flower garden and beyond that a vegetable garden in which grape vines, fruit trees, currant and gooseberry bushes and the like were effectively arranged. INIrs. Watson, reserving the homestead and grounds for herself, divided this estate after the marriage of her daughter iNIary jNIinor Watson to Henry Taylor, of West- moreland Countv. The divisions were called East End RICIIMOXl) AM) TIIH VVVVAl JAMKS 41:5 and \Ve.st Kiul. The fonucT was allottfd Mrs. Taylor, the latter to David Watson, the only son. The condition under whieii .Mrs. Watson yave the paits of the estate to her ehildren was that they should furnish her with various supplies. The War hctween the States eanic on and I^avid ^Vatson enlisted in the Kiehniond llowit/ers. He was a gallant soldier and had reaehed the rank of major when B b^^u.J mui^ WKST KNl). LOUISA COUNTY he received a fatal wound in the Battle of Spottsylvania Coui't House. SufFerintr a j^i-eat shock from his tragic death, Mrs. ^Vatson survived him only a few years. After David Watson's death, Mrs. Taylor went to live at East End with her mother and there most of her family of nine children were born and reared. The prop- erty still belongs to the Taylor family. SYLVANIA Anne Watson, or Xancy as she was called, daughter of Major James Watson, of Ionia, married \Villiam Mor- ris, known as " Creek Billy," son of \Villiam Morris, of Taylor's Creek, Hanover County. " Creek liilly " built 2U VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES Sylvania in the Greenspring iieieeii borne as a Christian name liy many deseendants in every generation sinee. After the Kevohition tlie Timberneek plantation passed to the Catlett family, who hiiilt the present house and have TIMBERNECK, GLOICESTER COUNTY oceupied it for five generations. They are descended from Mary (1698-1703-4), wife of John ^Mann, by her first marriage watli Edmund Berkeley, of Gloucester County. Tombs, bearing arms of John ISiann and Mary, his wife, may still be seen at Timberneek. POWHATAN'S CHIMXEY Upon the Timl)erneck estate, just across Timberneek Creek, from the homestead, long stood a huge old, mas- sively built, stone chimney. Tradition from so early a date that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary has insisted that here was the site of Werowocomoeo, the favor- ite residence of Powhatan; that here the Princess Poca- 218 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES hoiitas saved the life of Captain John Smith, and that this cliinmey belonj'ed to the house which the Enghsh colonists sent Dutchmen to AVerowocomoco to build for the Indian king. The accuracy of this tradition has been lately disputed by some writers, but tlie chimney was evidently of great age, and was, to say the least, a striking and interesting relic. Both Bishop ]\Ieade and the historian Campbell POWHATAN'S CHIMNEY, TIxMBERNECK CREEK visited it and described it in their works. Campbell says: " The chimney stands on an eminence and is conspicuous from every quarter of the bay, and itself a monumental evidence of no inconsiderable import ... In the early days of the annals of Virginia, Werowocomoco is second only to Jamestown in historical and romantic interest ; as James- town was the seat of the English settlers, so Werowocomoco was the favorite residence of the Indian monarch, Pow- hatan." He adds, " Werowocomoco was a befitting seat TIIK YORK RIVER COUNTRY 219 of the great Chief, overlooking the hay, witli its hohl, pic- turesque, wood-erowued hanks, atul in view of the wide, majestic flood of tlie river, empurpled hy transient cloud- shadows, or tinged with the rosy spleiulor of a summer sunset." Bishop Meade, who carefully examined the chimney, was satisfied that it was the one huilt for Powhatan. lie says: " The fireplace was 8 feet 4 inches wide, that is the opening to receive the wood, and 4 feet deep and more than feet high, so that the tallest man might walk into it and a number of men might sit within it around tiie fire. I inspected the only crack which was to be seen outside of the wall, something which showed that the material was of no ordinary kind of stone, l)ut like that of which the old church of York was built — viz., marl out of the hank, which only hardens by Are and exposure, a particular kind of marl composed of shells which abound on some of the high banks of York River. ... It is impossible to say how many generations of log and frame rooms have been built to the celebrated chimney." jMassive and stout as this relic of the far past seemed, and many as had been the storms which had beat upon it and left it unharmed, it has within the past few years tumbled to the ground, but the Association for the Pres- ervation of \'irginia Antiquities has on foot plans looking toward its restoration. ROSEWELL Upon the left bank of York River, across Carter's Creek from \Verowocomoco, stands, in a state of partial decay, Rosewell, the lordliest mansion of the time when Colonial Virginia was baronial Virginia. Some time after the marriage of Honorable Matthew Page (1659-1703) ,' of the King's Council, to Mary ^Nlann, of Timberneck, the couple removed to Rosewell, where * Page, The Genealogy of the Page Family. 220 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES they lived in a simple wooden dwelling- that then stood upon that ])laiitation. In 1725 their only son, Mann Page I (l()iH 1730) of Rosfwell, whom the comhined fortunes of the Page and JNIann families had made extremely rich, huilt the present mansion. It was constructed in the most massive style, of hrick with white marble casements. There was a great square, thick-walled, high-chimneyed, central building, flanked by wings — since torn down — which formed a court and which gave the house a frontage of two hundred and thirty-two feet. The central building stands three stories above a high basement and is capped by a cupola. It contains three wide halls, nine passages, and twenty-three rooms and the wings had six rooms each. Extei-nally Rosewell house is severely plain, but with its ample proportions and its splendid brickwork, the absence of ornament makes it the more impressive. In striking contrast to this outside simplicity, was the interior, where, upon crossing the threshold of the main entrance, the visitor found himself at once in a great hall panelled with polished mahogany into which swept down, with generous and graceful ciu've, the grand stairway which eight persons could comfortably ascend abreast, and whose mahogany balustrade was carved by hand to repre- sent baskets of fruits and flowers. Not long did the builder of this princely Virginia castle live to enjoy it. Five years after it was begun, and before it was entirely finished, his body lay in state in the hall which he had so gorgeously adorned and the mansion de- signed for a pleasure house was a house of mourning. Bishop INIeade, in his Old Churches and Families, quaintly comments upon what he conceived to be the vanity and wickedness of a man's " misspending " his fortunes upon so magnificent an abode for himself and family, and sug- gests that INIann Page's imtimely death was direct punish- ment from Heaven for such folly. The first master of Rosewell had been twice married : first to Judith ( 1694-1716) , daughter of Honorable Ralph THE YORK RIVER COUNTRY 223 Wormeley(l().5()-1700)<)f "Rt)Sf^nll." Middlcsix County,* who is (lescril)e(l, in Latin, upon the " MoiuiuKnt of ^vwi " erected by her husband in tlie Rosewcll Ijurying-^round, " as a most excellent and choice lady ... a most art'ection- ate wife, the best of mothers and an upri^lit mistress of her family, in whom the utmost gentleness was united with the most graceful suavity of manners and conversation." After Mann Pages own death a splendid tomb of carved marble emblazoned with the Page arms was " piously erected to his memory l)y his mournfully sur- viving lady "^ — his second wife, who was Judith, daugliter of Robert (" King ") Carter, of Corotoman, and who was the mother of his son. Maim Page II — the heir of Rosewell. This second Mann Page, of Rosewell, was also twice married: first to Alice Grymes,' and after her death to Ann Corbin Tayloe. His "first wife. Alice ( 1724-1 7-tC.) , who was the daughter of Honorable John Cirymes (1GU3- 1748), of the Council, was the mother of the next master of Rosewell— John Page ( 1744-1 808 ) . scholar. Revolu- tionary patriot, member of Congress antl governor of \'ir- ginia, and one of the best as well as one of the most dis- tinguished men of his time. His contemporaries were so impressed with his lofty character and earnest piety, that it is said they wished to make him bishop of Virginia, though he had never studied for the ministry. While a student at ^Villiam and Mary College, Gov- ernor Page formed an intimacy with Thomas Jefferson, which continued throughout his life, and it was to his chum John Page, of Rosewell, that the letters of the love-lorn Jefferson were addressed, describing the hardness of heart of his fair " Belinda." Doubtless Jefferson often enjoyed the hospitality of Rosewell and tradition says that it was in the cupola on the top of the house that he drafted the * Wormeley family : Virginia Magazine of History and Biog- raphy, vii, 283-284; viii, 179-183. ^ Grvmes family : The Critic (Richmonci. Va.), Aujriist 18 and September 1, 1889. 2^24 VIRGIXTA HOMES AND CHURCHES Declaration of Iiulependeiice, reading and discussing it with liis host, hefore going to Philadelphia. Truly an inspiring place for the composition of a great state paper, with its wide view of sky, river and country, and if the story I)e true, there is something poetic in the thought that from this little ol)servatory the author of the Declaration of Independence could descry the soon-to-be historic Nel- son House at Yorktown, fifteen miles away. In a letter from Governor Page, attending Congress, in New York, to his son " Bobby," at Rosewell, the proud metropolis is thus described : " This town is not half so large as Philadelphia, nor in any manner to be compared to it for beauty and elegance. I'hiladelphia I am well assiu'ed has more inhabitants than Boston and New York jjut together. The streets here (N. Y.) are badly paved, very dirty and narrow as well as crooked, and filled up with a strange variety of wooden, stone and brick buildings and full of hogs and mud. The College, St. Paul's Church and the Hospital are elegant buildings. The Federal Hall also, in which Congress is to sit, is elegant." He fiu'ther says that all the drinking water in New York is gotten from wells — " Four carts are continually going about selling it at three gallons for a copper; that is a penny for every three gallons of water." Governor Page died in 1808, after which time, though Rosewell was still owned by the Pages, it was very seldom occupied by them. In 1838. it was sold to one Booth, whose chief object in becoming the owner of the proud old pile seemed to be to bring humiliation upon it and to make as much money as possible out of it. The venerable cedars that formed the avenue from the door to the river were sold to make tubs. The mahogany wainscoting was stripped from the walls and sold, as also the lead that cov- ered the roof. The carved mahogany stairway was white- washed. Even the bricks from the graveyard Avail and from the tombs themselves were converted into cash. This Booth, who had paid $12.000.00 — a mere song for such an estate — for Rosewell, after making about $35,000.00 by the THE YORK KIVKR ( Ol'NTRY 225 work of (leinolition, sold it tor $22. ()()(). 00. It liccaiiie the property of the Deans family of (Gloucester, in 18.5.3, ami is now the residence of .Jud<>c Fielding Lewis Taylor and his wife, who was Miss Deans. SHELLY Shelly plantation, adjoining Rosewell and originally a part of it. is still owned by the Pages. Its pretty and unique name was suggested by the great bed of oyster- shells upon its shore, which, says Bishop Meade. " indicate it to liave been a great place of resort among the natives." Shelly was long believed to have been the site of Pow- hatan's residence. \Verowocomoco. CARTER S CREEK About two miles above Rosewell. upon Carter's Creek, stood until a few years ago, when it was, unhappily, de- stroyed by fire, the early seat of the Burwell family * of Virginia. Its original name was Fairfield, but it was later called after the stream that washed its shores, and as Carter's Creek it was longest known. Architecturally. Carter's Creek House was uni(]ue among \'irginia mansions. Instead of the eighteenth century type which, though with many variations, was almost universal among brick dwellings in the colony, it followed the fashion of an earlier date and resembled the smaller English manor houses of the sixteenth or seven- teenth century. It consisted of a main building with a wing extending back at right angles at each end. One of these wings was binned, or torn away, long ago, though its foundation can still be traced : the other contained a very large room known traditionally as " the l)all room." There was a spacious basement whose ceiling was sup- ported by heavy brick arches. In the middle of this base- ment, entirely detached from the outer walls, was a small, thick-walled room, something like a modern bank vault, * Burwell family : William and Mtirij Quartcrli/, vii, p. H et seq. 15 226 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES which was douhtJess used as a safe for valuahles. How handsomely some of the rooms in the house had been finished was shown by fragments of marble mantels found in the basement wheii the deserted old house was in a state of decay. The small windows and clustered chimnej-s were unlike those in most houses to be seen in Colonial Virginia and contri])uted laroely to the extremely quaint appearance of the house. Carter's Creek was undoubtedly the oldest looking, though not the oldest mansion in Virginia. Upon one of its gables was in iron figures the date 1692 and, also in iron, the letters L. A. B.— the initials of Lewis and Abigail Burwell. In the year 1648, Lewis Burwell, first of his family in Virginia,"patented 2350 acres on the south side of Rosewell Creek, as Carter's Creek was then called. His wife, Lucy, was, according to her epitaph, " the only child of the valiant Captain Robert Higginson, one of the first commanders that subdued the country of Virginia from the power of the heathen." From this couple, the Carter's Creek plantation de- scended to their son Lewis (died 1710), who upon his marriage with Abigail Smith (1656-1692), niece and heiress of President Nathaniel Bacon,^ acquired a great estate in York County, upon which he seems to have lived most of the time, though he probably built the Carter's Creek mansion. That he was a prominent as well as a rich man is proved by the fact that he was a member of the Council of State. From him Carter's Creek passed to his son, Nathaniel Burwell, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert ("King") Carter, and was the father of Lewis Burwell (1710-1752), third of the name, who was presi- dent of the Council and acting governor of Virginia, and was the next heir of the Carter's Creek estate. President Lewis Burwell was educated at Cambridge, ^ For an account of the Smiths and Bacons see Virginia Maga- zine of History and Biography, ii, 125-129. AKTKRS (KKKK il'AIUI'IKl.IVi, (;T.nr(KSTF.R ((11X1^ r.REEN PLAINS. MATHEWS POINTY THE VOKK l{I\KH ( ()l XT1{V 4^29 and was noted for his k-ariiin-^-. Ilis dau, 1 92-19.5, 240 242 ; iv, 128-129 ; v, .-}4-r}.5 ; Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, viii, 83-89, 309 312; ix, 192-194. ^23C. VIHGIXIA HOMES AND CHURCHES marriage of Dr. AVilliaiii Taliaferro with two daughters and co-heiresses of the lioiise of Throckmorton. Tlic Thi-ockmortons, desceiuled from the old family of Throckmorton, of Hail-Weston, Huntingdonshire, Eng- land, were long i)rominent in the social and jjolitical life of Gloucester. Tlieir name is now extinct there, though numerously represented in other jjarts of the country. Church Hill is now the property of Judge James Lyons Taliaferro. Only one wing of the original house remains. ELMINGTON Returning to North River, we find, just above Dunham I^Iassie, Elmington, one of the choicest estates in the old county. The mansion looks upon the river from a setting l''''^^^^^^^^^^^^^^li^^^^^^^^^l ELMINGTON, NORTH RIVER. (iLOUCESTER COUNTY of loveljr grounds and within there are spacious rooms and hall, and a wide stairway winding to an upper story capi)ed by an observatory. During the Colonial period, the Elmington plantation Till-; YORK KIM.K (OIN TKV 4:J7 was the Iioiir' of tlic W'liitiiin- family, loiii^- itroiiiiiu-iit in ^'i^^•iIlia as ni(.'iiil)(.'rs of " his Majesty's Coiiiu-il " and of the House of Hurt'esses and C'oiiveiitioiis. Tlie present house was huiil 1)\- Dr. I'rosser Taiili. Khniiiyton lias some literary assoi'iations. Soon after the War lietweeii the States, a Mr. Talhot, who is said to have hou<^ht it from the Tahhs for Confederate money, .sold it to Colonel (ieorge ^Vythe Munfor