INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HOUSES OF OLONIAL TIMES ! Sl lel i it lt a SR aSUniversity of Virginia Library NA7235 .V5S3 1927 ARTS Interiors of Virgin Vl i AMM YX O05 I 035 houses o 1,i aieinennetutae stately tat a eee a Vii) ? L Ln Oe rai * rey r RU eek pA, SAR OC er RGA BL a PPL She We EP LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA GIFT OF Charles F. Gillette a he a a ee pa eS a paabietentahaniaiteetmenen en encee een eee a Se Eee te WPL ALSLT HD n SOMA He ey aE f Cee hba ~~ D & ; | | | | :t ee ; | ae en als So ; Wn ni Ha HE bi TRANR Rea i r f i ea a) PRUE tL ShNey a per 37d ‘ 4 2 P ie r Ms fot a r 4 hee 5 : i . | ae ered CS acernmetniet apmenarn in areree saat nccoenicermetec ee On el Lee ieee(3 fe | H i 1 i I ( (ONC CEE eM iee Ce gb Mb te Ne ae ph ‘1 ; vera ete v a’INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HOUSES OF COLONIAL, fiviwsOf this volume one edition only has been printed and the type distributed ae - - — S aieeieehentiemehe eek tate eatin eendan nel eee a ee Oe ae ea ee aoe TD OHH Hi i iN ( , Mt CA Saee eee aieteretiieletadecniet ee NN ee Oe Te een TT See Se foc erat he ea teet nt oon A alia RE A POR y f eh Af, AI RRO URC rar Re Braet Pah A TEN ha a ar ra yh Beha | « ne rihie \ PSL PUH RUSE ari VLC A AT Wh au AO HAY DCH ia “eh tanh 7 ar Ce aren Droom WIndOW a 0VeETLC + t oking Toddsbur 4 f \ y { OUNTY ’ i | | ee — — celalSoRIERRTODD H) re we " [reer HY i vay 1 Pa Se aN ; ‘ aes CC ara A ! beFi ee aS KIN ANG ONE, Pp OES 7s Sntertors of Dirgiua Na | | ie Houses of e Colonial Times EDIDE TUNIS SALE FROM Tue BEGINNINGS OF VIRGINIA TO THE REVOLUTION \i ys a) | S \ => Exhibiting the development of Interior Architecture and Decoration y e . . ~ woe . oat 7 S of the oldeft ftate in the Union, fpecial emphafis being made rc y/ on illuftrations and material for text hitherto unpublifhed and unknown, and fhowing where the True Colonial ftyle of archi- tecture began and ended with reference to the hiftory of the houfes | and the lives of the original Owners. ed Illuftrated With Three Hundred and Seventy- KG macs IN Printed by the William Byrd Prefs, Inc. (AN | in Richmond, Virginia AN VW \ M,DCCCC,XXVIICopyricut, 1927 BY EpitH Tunis SALE ene Set oe : ge eT nro Sa ee et 7 WEEN EEC ad “a AgeDEDICATED In AFFECTIONATE MEMORY ‘ | i i j 7 OF MY FATHER WILLIAM WRIGHTSON TUNIS ee ee ee ee rc a ee rte eee pees orPLLA EA POT eh EE f 1 ARCOM ae Me es PR yr AH th oe NERC AE PtH Pty) naa a vs aa) r aR} ORE F ; i SUB! F , }FOREWORD ANN presenting this volume to the reader a most | hearty tribute should first be paid to the hospi- tality of the owners of Virginia’s existing Co- lonial houses who, without exception, generously opened wide their historic doors in order that generations of the future might see and love the interiors revered by them. Until now no attempt has been made to de- scribe in detail these beautiful old rooms and this is the only book that has undertaken to tell exclusively their stories. Both text and illustrations have been gathered from personal visits to these ancient dwellings where precious family papers and rare records were gra- ciously placed at the disposal of the author. Though much has been written of Virginia’s historic buildings, of her romantic old gardens, this is the first time the interiors of her true Colonial houses have been seriously considered, though it is in the interiors that one sees clearly what the daily life of the Colonists was. In these, the builders always managed to touch the very heart of things regard- less of the obstacles they had to overcome. Both the founders and their master-workmen were conservative artificers and they have left us a heritage that can never be duplicated. Just as the interiors of many of these old dwellings have never before been open to the public or the camera-man, their inner his- tories have never been revealed, making thereby the greater part of the material in this book entirely new. Photographs for the pic- tured architecture were made exclusively for its pages and the ma- jority of the floor plans were drawn for it alone. Only the Colonial houses now in existence have been treated. re There is a permanent charm about the old homes of Virginia that has a distinct appeal for all who are interested in what has been [ix ] ee he] 4 ‘ | | | | | | ee a Oe EE Pt he 4 oe See eae oe rg \Case > | i t ' i 1 H i i t a f INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs oF COLONIAL TIMES wrought over a long period of vigorous labour and who have genuine concern for the future. Their architecture is so honest, so straight- forward, so admirably created on good design that however small, they contain intrinsic beauties which should entitle them to vener- ation. Steadily, there has been developing an intense interest in the true Colonial houses of Virginia, the houses built in the perilous years from Sixteen-seven to Seventeen-eighty one. Representing America’s purely national architecture which was born of the exi- gencies of the time, these dwellings vary greatly according to indi- vidual taste and requirements and because of their isolation. But as different as they are, each has great significance and personality and all have intensely interesting histories and legends to tell. The only way to possess oneself of their spirit and character is to observe them minutely, and in presenting this volume attention is called to the deplorable fact that only forty-five notable examples remain. Since the book was begun, three fine old structures have fallen victim to flames. The author would record her deep gratitude to those who aided in her research and would express sincere appreciation particularly to the able assistance of Mr. Coleman Baskerville who so kindly lent his architectural knowledge. It would be well indeed if America would return in a marked degree towards the simplicity of our Colonial forbears and live as sanely as they did. Their homesteads—some small—some large, but none mansions in the great sense of the word—may be called the country’s cornerstone, and have played brave parts in laying the secure foundation for the stupendous growth of a mighty nation. Epitu Tunis Sate. TuckaHor Buurr, Vircinta, June, Nineteen-twenty seven. a : Vy i v i: CT NUT pio BA ARS tL Tee a ara rae Peart Ny Beckers UU TCD Teor ere Ce Athan eH PPh ae ba AP LMU TEEForeword Introductory Old Lynnhaven Farm — Carter’s Grove The Page House The George Wythe Figuse The Galt House The Peachy House ABE OF CONG tings GEORGE WASHINGTON HIGHWAY PocAHONTAS [TRAIL More Houses of Old W allie imsburg York Hall The Sheild House Temple Farm Toddsbury Rosegill Chelsea ~ Mount Airy Sabine Hall Menokin . . Stratford Hall Marmion Kenmore Gay Mont Elmwood Brooke's Bz arte Blandfield GoLtp STAR HIGHWAY Tue PAMUNKEY [RAIL Tue Kina’s HIGHWAY THE TIDEWATER TRAIL PAGE 1X XVil mm em Qh Mamnarnrnsr on Oo 89 97 107 lS) 125 139 tere er ene once ora A ee aoe oe i % Vy 4 ;| | ‘e | 4 i H | ' ! { i } iH H i Hq | i of Li b Fin AS s i INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES The Ritchie House Gunston Hall Mount Vernon ~~ The Carlyle House Prestwould The Old Stone Hicuce AmMpenil = = . Brandon Claremont Smith’s Fort Bacon’s Castle Tuckahoe Wilton Shirley Berkeley — Westover Tettington Monticello cotchtown Jerrerson Davis HiGHway THE James River Roap JeErrerson HicHway PAGE 269 281 289 299 309 325 333 343 359 371 379 387 407 419 435 449 463 485Eis OF VeLUsST RATIONS A Winbow At ToppssBury, Gloucester County . Frontispiec OLD LYNNHAVEN FArM, 4; Chimney End, 6; Stair Hall, 7; Dining Room, 8; Parlour, 10: A Bed Room, 11; First Floor Plan, 12. CARTER’S GROVE, 16; First Floor Plan, 16; North Entrance, 17; Main Hall, 18; Stairway, 19; Detail of Stair, 20; Stair Landing, 21; Drawing Room, 22; Chimney Breast of Southeast Room, 24; Detail of Pilaster, 25. THE PAGE House, 28; First Floor Plan, 29; Stairway, 30; Detail of Stair, 31; The Hall, 32: The Colonial Chamber, 33; Detail of Chimney End, 34; Outside Kitchen, 35. THE GEORGE WYTHE Howse, 38; Hall, 39; Stair Detail, 40; Hall Doorw ay, 41; Detail of Cornice, 42; Interesting Windows, 43; Detail of Library Wall Paper, 44; Wall Paper of Upper Room, 45; Floor Plan, 46. THe GaL_t HousE—Entrance, 48; The House, 49; The Parlour, 50; Floor Plan, 51: The Li- brary, 52. THE PEAcHy House, 56; The Chimney End, 57; The Dining Room, 58; Detail of Dining Room, 59; La Fayette Room, 60; Detail of Panelling, 61; Floor Plan, 62. OLD WILLIAMSBURG—Saunder’s House, 66; Tucker House, 67; Coleman House, 69; Bassett Hall, 70; Peyton Randolph House, 71; Plan of Randolph House, 72; Hall, Randolph House, 73; Mantel Detail, Randolph House, 74; Parlour, Randolph, 75; Garrett House, 76; Plan, Garrett House, 77; Chinese Chippendale Stair, Garrett House, 78; Stair Detail, Garrett House, 79: Chamber, Garret House, 80; Hall, Garret House, 81; Tazewell Hall, 82; Plan, Tazewell Hall, 83; Hall, Tazewell Hall, 84; Stair Detail, Tazewell Hall, 85; Drawing Room, Tazewell Hall, 86; Archway, Tazewell Hall, 87. YorxK HALL, 90; The Hall, 91; Original Stairway, 92; Dining Room, 93; Window Detail, 94; Floor Plan, 95. THE SHEILD House, 98; Entrance Door, 99; Hall Arch, 100; Mantel, 102; Window, 103; Floor Plan, 104. TEMPLE FARM, 108; Floor Plan, 109; Hall, 110; Door, 112; Shutter Holdback, 113. ToppDsBurRY, 116; Floor Plan, 117; Hall, 118; Stair Detail, 119; Cornice Detail, 120; Drawing Room Panelling, 121; Bedroom, 122. ROSEGILL, 126; Floor Plan, 128; The Two Hallways, 129; The Two Stairways, 132; Stair De- tail, 133; Drawing Room, 134; Dining Room, 135; Original Kitchen, 136; Kitchen Fire- place, 137. CHELSEA, 140; Stair Hall, 141; Chimney End of Library, 142; Drawing Room Window, 144; Drawing Room, 145; Floor Plan, 146. Mount Arry, 150; Floor Plan, 152; The Loggia, 153; Drawing Room, 154; Dining Room, 156. SABINE HALL, 160; Great Hall, 162; Stairway, 164; Stair Detail, 166; Floor Plan, 167. MENOKIN, 170; Entrance Door, 171; Stairway, 172; Stair Detail, 173; Doorway, 173; Chimney Breast in Hall, 174; Mantel Detail, 175; Floor Plan, 176. [ xiii ] ne ee ey ey r : se ‘ , no Poe R R - = a ae i a ae bi ot i | ne ne ee ae ae Se:cena a panne a en ee ay ae fo Shs INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA riot SES OF eon ONIAL T IMES STRATFORD HALL, 180; Entrance, 181; Hall Detail, 182: Great Hall, 184; Parlour Mantel, 186; Bedroom, 187; Original Stairway, 188: Famous Lee Room, 189; Doorway, 190; Floor Plan, 191. Marmion, 194; South Chimney, 195; Floor Plan, 196; Corner Fireplace in Sitting Room, 197; Hall and Stairway, 198; Dining Room, 199; Marmion Room at Metropolitan Museum, 200; Detail of Painting, 201; Chimney End of Original Parlour, 202; First Floor Chamber, 203; Kitchen Fireplace, 204; Pilaster Detail, 205. KENMORE, 208: Floor Plan, 209; Hall, 210; Detail of Saloon Cornice, 211; Saloon Ceiling, 212; Saloon Detail, 213; Drawing Room Mantel, 214; Library Window, 215; Stairway, 216; Stair Detail, 217; Lock, 218. Gay Mont, 220; Hall, 221; Detail of Arch, 222; Dining Room, 224; Cornice Detail, 22 ; Dining Room Wall Paper, 226; Floor Plan, 227. E_mwoop, 230; Hall, 232; Cornice Detail, 283; Blue Room, 235; Drawing Room, 237; Stairway, 239: Stair Detail, 240; Floor Plan, 24: Brooke’s BANK, 248; Chimney Detail, 249; Hall, 250; Stair Detail, 251; Stairway, 252 ; Drawing Room Chimney Breast, 253; Drawing Room Window, 254; Dining Room, 256; Arch Detail, 257; Floor Plan, 258. BLANDFIELD, 262; Great Hall, 264; A Stairway, 266; Floor Plan, 268. Tue Ritcuie House, 270; Hall, 271; Chimney End of Parlour, 273; Panel Detail, 274; Floor Plan, 276; Mantel in Gray House, 277; A Witch Door, 278. Gunston HALL, 282; Hall, 283; Music Room, 285; Detail of Doorhead, 286; Floor Plan, 28 Mount V ERNON, 290: The Kitchen, 291; Hall, 292; Banquet Hall, 294; Floor Plan, 295; Wash- ington’s Room, 296. Tue CARLYLE House, 300; Circular Stair, 301; Music Room, 302; The Braddock Room, 303; Blue Room, 304; Floor Plan, 305; Detail of Alexandria Mantel, 306. PRESTWOULD, 310; Music Room, 311; Great Hall, 312; Drawing Room, 313; Detail of Drawing Room, 315; Dining Room, 316; Upper Hall, 318; Lady Jean Skipwith’s Room, 319; Floor Plan, 321 Oxtp STONE House, 324; Poeana Room, 325; Hall and Stair, 326; Window, 327; An Upper Room, 328; Garden Entrance, 392; Floor Plan, 330. AMPTHILL, 334; Hall, 336; Panelling of Drawing Room, 337; A Recessed Window, 338; F loor Plan, 340. BRANDON, 344; Floor Plan, 345; Exterior Detail, 346; Hall, 347; Stairway, 348; Drawing Room, 349; Drawing Room Chimney Breast, 350; Dining Room, 351; A Bedroom, 352; Chimney Detail, 353; Chinese Chippendale Stair, 354; Detail of Chamber, 355; Block House, 355; Original Grant, 356. CLAREMONT, 360; Classic Entrance, 361; Floor Plan, 362; Hall and Stairway, 363; Upper Hall, so A Guest Room, 366; Secret Panel, 367; Panelled Chimney Piece, 368; Original Office, SmiTH’s Fort, 372; Stairway, 374; Panelled Chimney Breast, 375; Floor Plan, 377. Bacon’s CAstLe, 380; Floor Plan, 381; Hall, 382; Third Storey Ceiling, 383; Attic Room, 385. [ xiv ]List oF ILLUSTRATIONS TucKAHOE—‘‘Platform i a Mansion House,’’ 388; North Front, 389; North Stair Detail, 390; Carved ivewell 391; Carved Step E nds, 392; White Parlour, 393; Detail of Stair Landing, 394; Detail of Parlour Mantel, 395; “Burnt Room,” 396; Jefferson’ s Bookcase, 397; Hall Arch, 398; South Stair, 399: Powdering Room, 400; Dining Room Window Panes, 401; Master’s Room, 402; South Door, 403; South Portico, 404; Colonial Kitchen, 405; Floor Plan, 406. Witton, 408; South Doorway, 409; Hall, 410; Stairway, 411; Stair Detail, 412; Drawing Room, 413; Dining Room Ceiling, 414; Southwest Chamber, 415; Floor Plan, 417. SHIRLEY, 420; Frieze Detail, in Hall, 421; Hall Transom, 422; Hanging Stair, 423; A Double Transom, 424; Drawing Room Window, ee Carved C himney Piece, 426; Drawing Room Doorhead, 427; Dining Room Doorhead, ; Dining Room, 428; AC ham yer, 429; “The Little Room,’ 430; Floor Plan, 431; ichen 432: Kitchen Interior, 433 BERKELEY, 436; Original Office, 437; Plaque with Date, 438; Hall, 439; Drawing Room, 440; A Doorway, 441; Detail of Cornice and Arch, 442; Floor Plan, 443; Stairway, 444; Upper Stairway, 445; A Bed Room, 445; Musicians’ Stand, 446. WEsTOVER, 450; Floor Plan, 451; Stair Detail, 452; Stair Pilaster, 453; Drawing Room, 454; Black Marble Mantel, 455; Music Room, 456; Dining Room Detail, 457; Original Kitchen, 458; Detail of Panelling, 460. TETTINGTON, 464; North Entrance Portico, 465; Hall and Stairway, 466; Stair Landing, 467; A Chimney End, 468; Secret Stair, 469; Folding Doors, 470; Floor Plan, 471 MonTICELLO—Floor Plan, 474; West Front, 475; Entrance Hall, 476; Mantel Frieze, 477; One of the Two Stairways, 478; Wedgewood Mantel, 480; Kitchen, 481; Original Tables, 482; Jefferson’s Clock, 483. ScoTCHTOWN, 486; Exterior Detail, 487; Hall, 488; Cupboard Doors, 490; Floor Plan, 492. [xv] ¢ \ aq | if | ee ae a ee ee ee Ses rT r; ae ¥ ~a ea UPA ran a Bad hl + i i a j ! H fj \ 1 { i t t : t i | } } ‘ i H z ! ‘ Y i fT ORR ay EY se 4 Kah CRM ECK An ‘ FA RLERE CRU i re rf vai eae { Ptr eaen et RADOVAN PEDO R HN ve MS ee ee RY casINTRODUCTORY T is unfortunate that a romantic misconception of the earlier architecture and social existence of Virginia has obscured the far more important and lovelier reality. Virginians themselves are almost entirely responsible for this—they have shown a steady preference for the forms of imagi- nation rather than for the structures of fact. There is often, in houses and people, a need for the embellishments of affection, but this is not true of Virginia insti- tutions. The romance is so remote from actuality that it has brought about a totally false impression of the entire State: the Virginia plan- tation of the most applauded Virginia writers is a great white man- sion of the purest pseudo-classic order; its impressive fagade is sup- ported by a massive flight of Ionic columns; before it terraced lawns fall away to historic rivers. There are such houses, with such lawns, but they are not characteristic and they are not, naturally, Colonial— a Colonial house is a house built within the life of the Colonies. Such mansions, almost invariably, were built by tobacco merchants hardly earlier than the year Eighteen-fifty. The social existence is equally misrepresented: in the best re- led works it is described as a combination of the highest domestic The head of the plantation is never He is a hot-tempered garc virtues and an utmost luxury. exhibited away from a portico or his horse. ( Episcopalian individual in a planter’s hat and immaculate linen; his sole preoccupation is whiskey combined with mint and politics. He is the immemorial Virginia gentleman. His wife is symbolically shown bearing sherry wine cup to aged negroes in the slave quarters, his daughters are perpetually stepping from the portico into the coach of matrimony. The trouble with this is that it is vaguely col- oured with truth—planters were eternally on their horses, they drank [ xvii ] r statherin teak ened meee omnes ienimeeteets ‘ ‘ x le a = S / a eterna a aeenadl ead ie ae are be nce ee eicnemeren meee ache =. - eee ee LW Pee ee ied We .i ee ae ee INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs oF CoLoNIAL TIMES purely domestic; but these qualities were realities far different from gilded romance. ; : ie It is a commonplace to think of New England settled by religious refugees, of Pennsylvania by Quakers and Virginia by gentlemen. The beginnings of Virginia are traditionally held to have been aristo- cratic, but that is true only in a very narrow sense. The majority of the settlers who came first were small people; they originated in the small cities and towns and honest occupations of England. This 1s easily discoverable, for careful and comprehensive lists exist together with the different legends of knights and ladies. There were ladies and knights, but they were few. Virginia, from the landing at James- town until Fighteen hundred, was almost wholly a wilderness; the clearings gathered along the rivers scarcely made a mark on the forest; life for the great majority was hard and dangerous; the multi- plication of wide plantations, of great houses, of large properties in slaves, was limited. An aristocracy developed, but its beginning—appropriately— was in Virginia and not in England; like all aristocracies it came when a general equality of bitter labour was reaching an end. The early settlers cleared a primitive forest and planted tobacco, their wives and daughters bore the weight of an infinitely various domestic toil. Their houses were small and wooden—the houses an unskilled neigh- borhood could erect together. This was not always true, but it was so general that any contrary description or emphasis is false. The increase of luxurious circumstance followed the introduction of slav- ery; and with the decline of tobacco, the attending depreciation of slave labour, the vitality and importance of Virginia shifted from the tidewater inland. The passion for western movement was already drawing men across the mountains. The people and houses of Virginia were far more various, infinitely more vital, than conventional romance describes. In actuality they were almost totally different; the houses, for example, were not pseudo-classic, they were not all white, and had small, close veran- das with neither long porticos nor columns. They were, On occa- sion, beautifully built of dark brick, and took one of two forms—a high square edifice with a steep and often gambrel roof, or a central structure with galleries on either hand connecting smaller sections. Shirley is an example of the first and Brandon of the second. Those [ xviii ] whiskey with mint, and they were very political; the women were CRT OL DL PEED ae, LAUT ee Cae’ i tN Re eveINTRODUCTORY are the actual fine and dignified dwellings of Virginia. Beautiful courses of brick, doors at most with pilasters and pure arches. They are, like a great deal of Virginia, sombre until their beauty is understood; it isn’t a gay country; they are not gay houses. The deep red of the walls against dark old sod is serious. The dwellings, the lawns and the gardens are darkened by long habitation and his- tory. The echo of old music, of vanished youth, is as melancholy as the influence of death. In their own years these places were light with life . . . but no longer; they fit ill into the present; the pres- ent awkwardly, inappropriately, inhabits them. It is impossible to restore them except in imagination; they were provincial; the phy- sical limitations of the conditions they knew were a large part of their validity and charm. However, only a few were brick, most of the historic dwellings of Virginia were unimpressive buildings of wood. Unimpressive, that is, to the insensitive romantic mind, the mind damaged by false images. Plain wooden houses often deep in boxwood hedges; old rambling wooden houses with minute dormer windows on bare hills protected with pines; lovely shy cornices and practical fireplaces severe in restrained proportion. They, it is clear, were built by men and women in a difficult struggle for existence. The luxury of idleness, the paper porticos, came later; w hiskey v was a drink and not an artificial ceremony of sentimentality. A wide hospitality naturally existed in such a scarcely settled land; any trip at all was long and hard and dangerous—the taverns were nearly closed by the widespread private willingness and pleas- ure in entertainment—but such trips were seldom taken; celebrations were rare. The practical life of the plantations was the life of their owners. Provincial men and faithful women. What today 1s re- garded as society literally had no existence; parties were the result of chance and situation and not by invitation; there were almost no public occasions except an election or the infrequent racing of horses; and gambling, like drinking, was confined to men. Dancing w was not unknown, negroes fiddled; but it was all informal, a few couples made up on the minute. There were, of course, exceptions—draw- ing rooms and the minuet; but fea compared with the present, were simple and innocent, largely family affairs. ‘The men, who, it must be remembered, were farmers, hunted foxes in the pleasant [ xix ] ooo Sie i ' i Set ele Sahl tee alte a eater ee er ‘is Bleakley eer oeINTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs OF COLONIAL [TIMES farmer manner—everyone was eligible to ride and brought his own miscellaneous hounds to add to the local pack. << Later, when the tidewater was at the height of its prosperity, society took a more definite form; travelling was easier and safer; politics had been organized; there was a period of formal aristocracy. It, too, was very ingratiating; but, quite aside from the destruction following the Civil War, it was addressed to disaster. Economic change fell upon it; the time for aristocracy had gone. The defeat of the Federal party by Thomas Jefferson, the increase of population in the farther valleys of Virginia, left the river plantations, with their old allegiance to English forms and memories, in a pleasant tran- quility of unimportance. The Civil War, bringing so much to a sharp end, converted it into a tradition; the Virginia of the past took on the radiance of a golden age. There were, the truth is, two principal Virginias—what may be described as the Ante-Bellum Era and the Colonial Period. The former is the one celebrated in tradition. It began, actually, only after Eighteen-twenty and it came forever to an end in Eighteen-sixty. It was an era in the tidewater and river regions, of security and plenty. Looked back on by men who survived the tragic changes of war, 1t was peculiarly fitted to take on a golden glow. Slavery, then, was not a vital fact but a peaceful tradition; Virginia became, in reality, largely a lazy haven for negroes; they were less oppressed than in any other slave holding commonwealth. In the cotton States—cotton and slavery came to be synonymous—Virginia ne- groes commanded greater prices than all others. However, the Ante-Bellum Era was without vital beauty: its houses, where they were eminent, were hardly more than preten- tious mid-Victorian projections of artificial classic orders. Its men were decreasingly impressive. The individuals born in sparer times were infinitely more able. The domestic engagement of the women became increasingly ornamental. It is, almost, an era without a history. The Colonial Period, however, which began with the settlement of Jamestown and ended at the Revolution, was a period of engaging importance. Its smaller houses, its more harassed men and busier women, owned a simplicity that was often heroic. The houses were frequently lovely. They were architecturally sound, following a tradition brought from the land of their long development; the pro- [ xx ] kh ier aeINTRODUCTORY portions and details were appropriate and fine; the staircases had the graceful sweep of the flight of a bird; the chimneys were designed with correctness and dignity. a There were, in a formal sense, only a few gardens: commonly a rough lawn with great trees reached from the house to the river; irregular beds of herbs and bright flowers were tended by the women; a small burial ground was planted with myrtle and box; the fields of tobacco changed into fields of corn. The cabins of the house ser- vants were near the detached kitchen, the field hands were scattered in log or brick dwellings across the domain. It was simple, scarcely more than primitive; and because of the simplicity, of the countless actual difficulties of life, it bred a virtue in women and a desirable hardness in men. No period has a monopoly of admirable qualities; isolation and physical hardship do not civilize minds; it 1s incorrect to regard Co- lonial Virginia as a land and time of classic knowledge. Fortunately, there were, occasionally, tutors; but for the great part the early education of the children, black and white, was conducted by the mistresses of the plantations. It was, naturally, limited .. . to spelling and the simplest arithmetic and the Bible. There were no general books for children at all. Again there were exceptions— when the plantations lay close together the children might gather at a privately maintained schoolhouse under a hired master. Thomas Jefferson went to such a school at Tuckahoe; a small square struc- ture of lime-washed wood set at one side of the main avenue of cork elms. The dwelling at Tuckahoe is at once characteristic and finer than most, built of both wood and brick where the land falls abrupt and wooded to the James River. The panelling and stair rails are as dark and fine as possible, dignified rather than luxurious. Dignity rather than luxury was characteristic of the important houses of that time: it was characteristic of the time. Ease, indo- lence, came later. The important minds were dignified as well, and passionate and individual. Honour dwelt in the men as a requirement rather than an ideal. It was acted upon and not talked about. Men differed bitterly with different political and social persuasions, and died for questions of conduct and belief. This is reflected in the houses they built, the rooms they occupied, the furniture they used. The houses were sombre and undeviating, the rooms plain and square, the furniture in rigid inherited form. in aa a : ey ea » | : | i i liexexd | ae Toa Se A ee 28 x 7,a ha ST eh ht ee RO ak an Ser try rary ee rom Uns CAG hk a ek Lek Pe OO eet INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES It is important to understand the true beginning of Virginia, for in no other way can it be entirely appreciated. Romantic and mis- taken conceptions, ridiculous architectural dreams, have blinded practically everyone to reality. The ideals of Ante-Bellum builders, the glamour of memories, the recorders of lost and impossible perfec- tions, have substituted a vision as wrong as it is unjustified: a ma- terial and conventional existence without foundation. But it is easy to understand—it came from love and a part in the soil. That, together with political necessity, gave the South its immovable local attachment. Virginia was not a State of cities and the concentra- tion of capital but a place of nativities; men were born and died and elected to honours from particular neighborhoods, localities they knew, land they owned. The trees and lanes and fish in the streams were familiar; their families were buried beside them; and they had, as a result, the enormous virtue of provincialism. They fought for a village, a single field, it might be, or a mere clearing on the side of a mountain. When men have ploughed and tended a land of their own, when they have put their sweat and lives into it, it has a deep and secret meaning for them. They may sell it and desert it, but equally they will defend it with their lives; they will always turn back to it in their minds. That was the virtue of the dwellings of Colonial Virginia—they were, in a sense long since lost, the castles of their builders, private domains. They had to be. After the Revolution and the triumph of democracy fine houses became an exception rather than a rule; taste, diluted by the masses, was thinned almost to extinction. The poor who had too little began its attack on the rich who had too much, and both suffered defeat. The plantations fell into neglect and the people fell into dissatisfaction. The Civil War destroyed a pastoral Virginia, but it left standing monuments of the Colony. Virginia herself ignored them until a new prosperity brought a renewed self- consciousness. However, the present cannot appropriately inhabit the dwellings of a more severe time. It is, for that additional reason, necessary to remember and re- gard Virginia correctly, to dissipate the absurd legends of shining mansions inhabited by convivial saints. Books about the infinitely more moving actuality are invaluable. Yet it is conceivable that the other, the contrary vision, will persist—it is more flattering to personal vanities, and it is more obviously romantic. Obvious ro- [ xxii ] a ee ee eee pha Nl LLL er er Neh ler cS eR io ar Pre ee Ee ‘ “ ¢ 4 Fi A rae) eS FINTRODUCTORY mance is not, in America, a trait limited to Virginians; and Virginia has become a conventional paradise in the American mind. All that today lacks, it is insisted, Virginia once possessed, money and ease and faithful service. Yet it was, within the meaning of gold, very poor; it was founded and maintained by infinite labour; and the faithful service was taken away from it by economic necessity and by war. Its beauty, in other words, is not for everyone; it 1s too fine and too select for the democracy of today; it can never be rebuilt and the different present cannot inhabit it. JoseEPpH HERGESHEIMER. SN ar j H i | ‘1 j H ! i i [ xxiii ] Oe ee ee nD — on Steines tenance a eae ee ene os A ee foe Se er ia Fam Mb ot SOT aii} fies Cea le ae rt i Hi i i i H $ Hi | 4 a i ia ~~ OO y ' r Day ty uae CR errr 7 ry ee) y f ‘ CYR Rea] CS A ara FEA mri Ht \ > m di t fl ae SEAN ahInteriors of Virginia Houses of Colontal Cimes iP ' aan es 4 D re ; i iF 1 i hae fy A a a ai 5 Hi i 3 iio yf i ae Hy a iB iT a q | aa ae} i} " in i) a es an yy Pe Ie >» Hi i ae : eh ia f } | | fa f 5 a " t i ae me Hl 7 a i é i ‘ Rd a oe , fs 1 on See Se a” Se Bos a \ ” he Ua ts BON aan a SOL arena ee en ee ee ee Sees SR a ee en ee ea ee ES ae ee ee ee eres . amr; ARP LOE PORE Ce MO eC ne x bil ai HT A i uy Ny i ve WH y MY hi . yey J ie pee om ras i eit Me i CLL \4l) aLYNNHAVEN FARM OT far from the sand dunes of Cape Henry, upon a cove of Lynnhaven Bay, there is an old house which seems grown from the ground upon which it poises. Standing on a point that juts into the bay, it has defied, aloof and alone, the onslaught of time, the roar of elements. py This relic of the early seventeenth century was SQ built when the Virginia Colonists were three thousand miles from the nearest outposts of civilization, by Adam Thoroughgood, who emigrated to America in Sixteen-twenty one, and to whom the new world was a godsend. The son of Thomas Thoroughgood and brother of the Knight of Kensington, young Adam obtained more than five thousand acres, his grant stating that the lands were given him “‘at especiall recommendation of him from their Lordships and others of His Ma’ties most Hon’ble Privie Counsell of the State of Virginia and also due for the importation of one hundred and five persons.” After considering other sections of Virginia, Adam Thoroughgood took up his residence on the scalloped shores of the bay he must have named for the port of Lynn in the County of Norfolk, England. In order to have food and shelter—to live—the youthful Colonist had to work, and work hard, for there were few to lend him aid. With his axe he clove the clearing in the virgin forest, then split the fallen trees into rough timber for his house. Then, after he had cleared his acres and built a rude shelter and learned how to live in the new country, he went back to England in Sixteen-twenty six to marry Sarah Offey. It was probably shortly after he returned with his bride that he began the erection of this house which was their home. At that time, if he and Sarah wanted anything, they had to go and get it. They had to grow their own flax, and he had to help shear [3] oe oa a a ee a eo Re a ee TE SRE a ae aE RDC Se STS TT aT) f et ee Fe ae eee eed ee a ter \,ui iu i ( in i a i ' : i } i ‘ i H i i } i : 5 Ea fi A i i i t [ACS s INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES The house at Old Lynnhaven Farm was built by Adam Thoroughgood about 1634 and seems grown from the ground upon which it poises. his own sheep for their wool in order to clothe his family. Mis- tress Thoroughgood spun the wool and flax on provincial wheels and wove them with a clumsy loom, for both husband and wife had to keep working from sheer necessity. Adam shot his game and fished in the river. He dragged oysters from the bay in winter and caught crabs with a net when summer came, although in England he had known only the life of the gentle-born. The house that was the outcome of this labour is intensely inter- esting to contemplate. It seems to be sinking into the earth and possesses a tone which cannot be counterfeited. If its Colonial builder attempted to achieve distinction he succeeded, for the little house left behind him is the most perfect picture of Virginia’s ear- liest civilization. Nor were there any skilled carpenters in his day, for those who worked at that trade were joiners, wheelwrights, turners, and co-ordinated all branches of mechanics. For all of [4] are rE A rr ae ren TE: 5 NY are Wi i! i Tan Ato eR aoe PRN ERE nt ey Et Perea eat UR RUE DCG eC ein bane rare pe panna ShO_p LYNNHAVEN Farm which they were paid thirty pounds of tobacco for each day’s work. Built of straw-bound earth sun-baked nearly three hundred years ago and laid in alternate courses of headers and stretchers on one side and the Flemish bond of Inigo Jones on the other, the small structure has steep mediaeval gables which end in chimneys built in the form of a T. These chimneys have been made distinctly im- portant parts of the composition, and are by their great height and bold proportions one of the most striking features of the house. A dentil cornice runs across both fronts above the second storey win- dow heads, a level that is not more than twelve feet from the ground. The house is only twenty-one feet wide and forty-eight feet in length. Circular stone steps on the east and west lead directly into the hall, which, in common with those of Colonial days, has a width in propor- tion to the depth of the house and cuts straight through. There are at both ends very large and heavy doors with wrought-iron strap hinges and box locks. These doors are three feet six inches wide, six and a half feet high, and show six rectangular panels. The hall is wainscoted in unpainted pine and has a panelled staircase. On the left of the water front is the old kitchen, now restored as a kitchen-dining room without disturbing one of the original lines. The room is twelve feet square, and of this the fireplace takes nearly eight feet from the chimney side. Nearly five feet high and about as deep, the fireplace has in its brick sides niches which were used by the housewife to hold her ‘‘cooking candle’ or to keep dishes warm. The room is lighted by three windows, one on the land front, one on the side, and one overlooking the bay. Each window has eighteen panes of glass eight and a half inches square, and deep, low seats. Below these, cupboards are built into the pine dado which encircles the wall. The pine cornice in a curious way extends so far down on the chimney side of the room that it seems to rest directly on the window frame. Hand-made homespun curtains, woven to show a mulberry and green plaid on a tan ground, hang straight down from the windows. A fine gateleg table sits in the centre of the room and at its ends are ancient turned chairs. An old form or stool stands by the fireplace and between the windows is a quaint chair placed where Adam Thoroughgood must have often sat. A small door balances the fire- place window, but this leads out of the house and was evidently cut [5] Soya e~ es era a St ee Seeee eee eerste ee ee TT NEE ees esl yy Oe 9 ‘i aleee Pp CAMA URC wren” Ay tee PPL DA Ace ek es aioe oe ae Pisin. Cee HY Ses Se Ge EE RES aS: SRY One of the two ivy clad chimneys which, by their bold steepness, have been made important features of the exterior composition. ee aan ere rd td —— Ut Sb nme Uae tegen) outs i) ; hE r AUST sla hf } RSM SACS Rrra GRU Y OTO_p LYyNNHAVEN Farm The hall which cuts through the house has white plaster walls finished below with a pine wainscot in natural tone. many years after the dwelling was built. With its fire utensils and heavy oak lintel, with bricks facing the sides of the fireplace, the room is an excellent example of the Colonial kitchen-dining room. It was around this old fireplace that the good housewife must have performed her innumerable tasks of baking, cooking and soap mak- ing, and where she moulded her fragrant myrtle candles which gave so clear alight. It was here that she and Adam must have discussed witchcraft or the politics of the day. It was here that they armed themselves for a siege should the Red Men threaten trouble. [7] a a Te Barthes rs x, fica es a hee teatro tt re ey y J \ xry rs ‘ Pi hy ¥ 5 j.gl#@ennpeaen 0 pL Be Dra) a) INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES On the other side of the hall and also stretching from front to front of the house is the old parlour or keeping room. The best architectural feature of the interior is a panelled chimney breast which, receding at an angle rather than a straight line, cuts boldly into the room. Like all early fireplaces this has no mantelshelf above, the Tudor panelling coming down directly to the lintel. The type of the panels recalls those at Clifford’s Inn, London, dated Sixteen-thirty four. The wide fire-opening arches at the top and the sides are faced with brick within an enframement of pine. Four windows, each two and a half feet wide, are set in deep embrasures which prove the walls of the house to be three feet thick. Gobelin blue curtains of some old-fashioned fabric lend privacy to the win- dows and each piece of furniture is true to the time of Adam Thor- oughgood. There is a maple desk and a tavern table with small legs and heavy stretchers upon which sits a lamp made from an old eee --= a early le and, like those of the im Tudor sty panelled AY piece in the parlour The chimneyO_p LYNNHAVEN Farm open fireplaces and curtains of India print, with other distinctly provincial furniture, fit in admirably with the setting of the life of the early Virginia planter. The quaint simplicity of these furnish- ings 1s one of the most appealing charms of the house, and the pres- ent day interior is delightful, for the owner has sought to maintain its original atmosphere. The two small windows at the fireplace end were originally loop holes. Such is the house planned and built by Adam Thoroughgood. Although later it passed into indifferent hands and stood untended for years, it is now under the care of a sympathetic possessor and its walls seem to smile once more. To-day the house of Old Lynnhaven stands restored in every characteristic detail, according to the Inventory made by Madam Thoroughgood in Sixteen-forty one and on file in Princess Anne County. Much of the charm of the dwelling is due to the fact that the furniture is stylistic, and on visiting it one is as greatly im- [11] Sen bi a meme nS ee aT ae ee ee nee a ae See i ; j i H a i | VY » < x i “id ra H \Dx aera te we Sera ye 4 Pa Vasa ee UT aa eh D rr en (Won) COEUR IM Mey BL Ia ie Drath Ve A Bey Met Diy DOUSC Hw ir ll RAMA he InTEeRIoRS oF VirGINIA Houses oF CoLoniAL [TIMES pressed with the interior as with the exterior. The place 1s so very old and replete with atmosphere. It has so much history to tell. All of the rooms are still warmed by logs of hickory or oak which burn in the open fireplaces. Though candles are still used above and below stairs, they are far from those moulded by Mistress Thorough- good from the myrtle berries picked in her swamp. KITCHEN PARLOR AND OR DINING KEEPING ROOM ROOM A recent floor plan of the house made after its restoration and carcfully following the lines of the original dwelling. Adam Thoroughgood was one of the most conspicuous figures of the seventeenth century in Virginia. Among other offices, he held that of Commander of the County, and was a member of the King’s Council. When he died in Sixteen-forty at the early age of thirty- seven, he was one of the richest men of a wealthy parish, and when he was laid to rest in the yard of the Old Brick Church, the Colony was robbed of a fine and influential man. In the restoration of her old house, Miss Grace Keeler, whose father, Judge Keeler, bought Old Lynnhaven Farm some years ago, has removed an incongruous addition, and in re-furnishing it she was guided by the Inventory made by Madame Thoroughgood just before her marriage to John Gookin. a ; Brick gateposts bearing the place name inform the traveller where to turn off of the main highway—which, incidentally, was one [12] Fa th Ra laa a Nl a en Eee ea) Than 4 RR a rs Uv qi ANT Wa Pr Ae kb iby Cane AO LEA PUN ee on oe aa fey iri Pit Al) | ( Farary OPV Oe ey ee OMEN,Otp LYNNHAVEN Farm of the first roads ever built in America. The lodge is a small log cabin in perfect tune with the estate. The roadway is surpassingly lovely as it winds between red-berried branches of holly and cone- tipped boughs of pine; the tender pink of young oak leaves and tents of dogwood with shallow banks whitened by frail wood lilies in the spring—all tied together with golden streamers of the yellow jessa- mine. This woodland stretch breaks to permit the view of well tilled fields; then on again it goes to end in a grove of pecan trees. At the end of the pecan avenue the quaint, lovable, gabled house stands in its setting of green grove, where a magnolia blooms upon one side and box clumps guard the steps. The old house, which holds one captive with the first glimpse of it, has had stirring times and cruel treatment. As a jewel of Colonial architecture it takes one by storm, for its bricks have been warmed and mellowed by many suns and a human charm emanates from the quiet walls. Birth—life—death—repeating itself from generation to generation has passed through its ivied walls, and he who would find old-time peace for his soul has but to look at this hostage of history which has recently been brought into new life and dignity. Again the sun pours in through the tiny panes of the deep-set windows; once more the cavernous fireplaces blaze with the glow of burning ‘logs. One—two hundred years are forgotten, and the happy relic of pioneer days seems to have remained fixed at the point in time from which its history began. é i H i ae a at ae ; ip ' i } # 4 * 1% | 7 a eee eee— ae ag DRG yeu 974 FiPhe . Son re SOO oer ary Chi ie hea : — eT F = art OH : A e MERE ea it yi pe CaO We aoa ban aie Se = SR Ay ene ee ea ea ee Se aa Say Seren es te Fin os ETON NTT REET LA I OOOO OT IRR OURAN TUR in OE trae he. PUPUBURL BPC Brey iat rt SM ee CY XL AEP eon es BTN SCALE nDOBERT CARTER of Corotoman, who obtained the sobriquet of “King,” owing to the numerous lands patented by him, owned among these a fer- tile tract on the James where the river flows the width of seven miles between the two shores. This plantation, while originally a part of Mar- tin’s Hundred Parish, founded in Sixteen-eigh- : teen, was given later by King Carter to his daughter, Elizabeth, as her dower when she married Nathaniel Bur- well. The historic estate lies but a few miles from Williamsburg and has its entrance on the modern concrete highway where spirited motors have ended forever the romance of stagecoach and cavalier. The house is set off from the open field by a double planting of cedars of age unknown with a sweep of thickly turfed passageway between. The cedars give way to four lines of locust trees which end at the grove, which suggested the plantation name. The south door of the old brick dwelling is visible at the end of a vista and two very tall chimneys emerge through the foliage above the hipped roof unbroken by dormers. Nine windows with eighteen panes each penetrate the walls on both fronts, with four upon each side, and the exterior character is emphasized by the precisely made flat brick arches above them. Indicative of the age, the cornice has a dentil course. Circular stone steps lead to the classic doorway where the architrave, pediment and frieze are of moulded brick— a style seldom found in this country, but in common use in English houses of the age. The pediment extends to the belt course, which has six rows of bricks, finished on each side with a row laid up on end. The base course stops one foot above the top step and consists of two rows of convex bricks put together to give a semi-circular effect. [15] <5 tanta” i = ’ Fe i : r s = 3 a a= Pe ee a Site ete cate ar ee Se ee eee on =— 6 Saal eee ne Te i es 2 oe pedals e eee P Vide RE seer ress a » sd \" ,td ‘SAB SK = - - ae ee en eee ere aee eee a ata ee ee te een pee nee ne eee eet i fae eS 7 TITRA IR ELT ra A OT RT ney AA OD i ROG Br A ESO ot INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs oF COLONIAL TIMES 7 The south front of Carter's Grove, built by Carter Burwell in 1751. Carter’s Grove 1s a four-part composition, with a main building, a west wing, an east wing and one covered way. In the central por- tion the bricks are very simply handled, but the covered way which connects it to the kitchen is laid in running header bond and was PARLOR. : Original first floor plan of Carters Grove. added much later. Interesting features of the outer walls are white window frames and cornice and green shutters with holdbacks in the form of a bunch of black grapes. [ 16 ] WEN Rar ar PCOS PCM ET in ana Dra: aL Uc RCE ee aneCARTER’S GROVE A long porch detracts greatly from the appearance of the northern front, and this entrance door, like that on the south, has a classic brick enframement although it follows different lines. Great trees, some remarkable for their foliage and others showing the scars of time—elm, paulonia, catalpa, poplar and sycamore—reminiscent of Colonial horticulture, are scattered over the river lawn. Where the steep bluff begins to fall are the remains of a once beautiful gar- [17] Y es ete | } ( HM | a i H | i i i ; Hy 3 cd s iu ¥Wy) PY aca ty Ca ms tae Ng Op eh 4, * ern i it DCPs None aad ota DOMME POR TG FUER BRO a APO er cn fi Ur yp re laa vot erhid an Oran OND aT ve Oar ed iu Cece er an by ornate hand carving. istinction The hall, panelled in walnut and pine, aclueves dCARTER’S GROVE The black walnut stairway with majestic sweep is a most beautiful specimen. den, the terraces of which, in the happiest days of the Colonial era, extended down to the river. On opening either of the front doors one enters a splendid hall which has all of the dignity, spaciousness. and hospitality of the finest southern manour-houses. An arch eighteen feet wide, framed by Ionic pilasters, breaks the hall into two parts’ just where the stair begins its ascent, and applied strapwork ornaments the soffit of the broad arch. The hall is panelled in black walnut and pine with fine detail which reflects the exterior character of the house. The rather nar- row rectangular panels are bevelled on all edges and stretch from the chair rail, which has a Grecian treatment, up to the modillion cornice. The doorways are flanked by pilasters like those supporting the arch, which appear to rest upon the dado cap extending around the room. The door frames are plain, but their two-foot jambs and broad cap- pieces have an applied design of the Wall-of-Troy. It is probable [ 19 ]a ae : = 2 = a tt aT a EN oe talieeitereemeeeee nie x ae ae SE ARS ah ed PR eR MMW otra ott Acie PASAT Doth VR ICRP arr Cth ih INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL [TIMES that the abundance and the richness of the carving in this hall could not be excelled in all the country, for it seems that every possible space has been decorated with a design made especially to fit it. The stairway, with majestic sweep, was the centre of elabora- tion and is a most beautiful and dignified specimen. Developed as an artistic end with very wide steps and five-inch tread, it is the focal point of interest and would add distinction to any house. Famed in the historical and architectural annals of Vir- ginia, this stairway has a most elaborate treatment and _ the twisted newels, ramps and eas- ings, although put there one hun- dred and seventy-six years ago, still awaken intense admiration. It is a most beautiful example. The ends of the steps show a foliated design of great beauty. oumemenecmncss Acainst the wall and used as Begg ore esse eles § pilasters the height of the bal- asia 3 o = a bi = = UJ YY s H S cy a H ~ } iS) = = ~S - 5 ee ee en ee eae The drawing room on the east side g Nee ee eee ee ee RLF a TATE RRDT r Y - saw SUPE Oa eM TYCARTER’S GROVE caps embellished with the same Greek Key motif that is used exten- sively all over this storey. Panels of no less than six different sizes and bevelled on the edges cover the wall space, the majority being rather narrow. ‘The two between the pilasters flanking the mantel are wide and shallow rectangles. The mantel, an importation, has a cornice into the frieze of which is embedded Sienna marble whose orange tone gives a bright touch of colour to the otherwise white room. The bal- ance of the flanking pilasters and the harmonious relation of the fire- place mould and over-panels form a happy combination. The southeast room is in pine also, but here it has attained a wonderfully soft tone of red-brown at the hands of time. The chimney breast is sheathed with narrow boards placed horizontally and which, although unusual, give, with the perfectly matched edges, a very good effect. The hearth is stone and the facing of the deep fireplace is white marble. A delicate moulding with carving in high relief, although put there many years after the house was built, commands admiration for the manner in which it borders the archi- trave in true Colonial fashion. This room is twenty-one by twenty- one, while that on the west side of the hall measures twenty-six by twenty-seven. These curious and various sizes of the rooms give a highly individual note to Carter’s Grove. The hinges, the door knobs and most of the locks are silver plated, and if the floor boards are not very wide, they have the old-time dis- tinction of being held together with iron staples and wooden dowels. The doors are mahogany. The first storey of Carter’s Grove is an unity of pure form obtained by right angles, straight lines and the related tone of the woodwork that has been restored. The upper hall almost equals in size that of the other storey. An arch twelve feet wide separates the south from the northern end which is now used as a library. Both sections have plain moulded cornices and wide chair rails; both show the natural colour of the pine, and three windows on the water front give an extensive view of James River near its outlet to the Chesapeake. Mahogany book shelves with cable moulding—a comparatively recent addition— are in perfect accord with the rest of the house. All of the bedrooms are large and painted white. Above stairs as well as below the in- terior woodwork is rich in elaboration of detail. Throughout the house one appreciates the architectural harmony of the interior de- [ 23 ] tek ae = al 2a ap ae LS TOT} aie eo ie ~ - - - ——— a Se ee A ee . aD ck hansen Ok ot eeori aL ae INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES In the southeast room the chimney breast is sheathed with pine although the rest of the walls are panelled. velopment which shows a high degree of good taste, wealth and formal arrangement. According to the best principles of architectural design, the kitchen and office—alike in size and form—are located equi-distant from the main dwelling. The kitchen has exposed hardwood beams, hand- hewn rafters, and dormers which are visible from the floor, as no ceil- [ 24] a a She , réCARTER’S GROVE ing interrupts. It measures twenty-three by forty feet, and is given light by ten large windows with eighteen panes of glass. Although modern conveniences have supplanted antique methods of cooking there is enough left at Carter’s Grove to show the quaint kitchen of Colonial times. Originally, both wings were unattached to the 9 “Greate House,” butwhenitwas restored about twenty-five years [7 a ago a covered way was built to connect the kitchen in Colonial fashion. The now abandoned office stands as it always did. Both of these little buildings are of brick, with alternating head- ers and stretchers, the contrast being particularly intense owing to the smallness of the bricks. Carter’s Grove, whichcrowns a bluff eighty feet above the river, was built for sophisticated living by Carter Burwell in Seventeen-fifty one to supersede the home of his father and mother. A venerable planta- tion book gives illuminating in- formation regarding the erec- ~% pilasters flanking the hall arch tion of the house which, we are _ Detail. of , told. was built under the direc- and doors showing the fine carving of the , Ionic Capital. tion of David Minitree, who was brought to Virginia for the purpose. The dwelling is said to have been begun in June and finished in September and to have cost but five hundred pounds, which appears doubtful. It seems hardly possible that so much work could have been accomplished in so short a time and at such small expense with the ponderous tools of the day. According to the plantation book four hundred and sixty thou- sand bricks were used in the construction of the house, two hundred and fifty thousand feet of lumber, forty thousand shingles, fifteen thousand laths and five hundred and forty square of glass. Not- [25 ] a a ee aa aa eat tl x SN Hi re decree ee ~ speeenemieemeee ee Te att Zi ea oe aeeee t yMERU HOLE TY ee NG ARCO rT eet an Tree ar . % ” rP! Ore y : MH Lab ARS ar . PACA RA PUP SL REE PT Rn ee ‘ aah A x eC Re tn ght INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES withstanding its age of one hundred and seventy-six years, it 1s today in as splendid condition as when it was erected. David Mini- tree realized that the interior of a house to be successful should be made worthy and spent much time upon the fine detail. Twice was the plantation ravaged by the British, once by the Federal troops, but it was left to Tarleton’s dragoons to bequeath ineffaceable scars as they slashed their sabres right and left into the stair rail. Crescent marks on the steps are also credited to the Red- coats who are said to have ridden their horses up the first flight. The house at that time is thought to have been headquarters for the English. Not long after the War of the Sixties, in a burst of mistaken patriotism, the beautiful woodwork in the hall was painted by the owner red and white and blue! Fortunately, the walls were well scraped a quarter of a century ago and the hall then so garish is now an example of quiet dignity. George Burwell was the last of his name to live at the plantation, and since his tenure the thread of ownership has been broken many times. Carter’s Grove was restored by Percival Bisland in Nineteen- eight; it was unchanged with the exception of a corridor and cer- tain unseen modern conveniences. Mr. Harwood, the present pro- prietor, although he does not reside there, has the house and farming land kept in beautiful condition. In a reserved spot in one of these meadows, beneath the deep shade of ancient trees, and asleep under mouldy broken stones, there are some generations of the original family who seem to have been forgotten, whose names have been lost, whose lives overlooked in the hurried march of progress. When Carter’s Grove was built neither David Minitree nor his employer considered any part of it merely for show. Neither did they permit anything to offend the most trained architectural eye. The old dwelling left as a monument to their combined genius ts still an ideal country house as perfectly adapted to the needs of modern luxurious living as it was for the practical requirements of its Co- lonial master—Carter Burwell. ee Tn ee EET er 4 fW508, PAGS, TIO Now known as Audrey’s-House> HOEVER enters the park-like quadrangle in Wil- liamsburg, known as The Palace Green, will be at first glance enchanted with the front of the town house of Governor John Page, one of the most important men of his time in Virginia, and a member of Their Majesties’ Council. With all of the simplicity of a clapboard cot- tage and in a setting of dense foliage, the tiny dwelling is given the quality of a folk song. Like the majority of the American houses of the seventeenth century, the Page House is of frame construction, and was probably the work of foreign carpen- ters and joiners—indented servants, perhaps. The little dwelling, which has so beautifully borne its age, had both care and good taste lavished upon its Colonial construction. Standing back of an immaculately white picket fence with green gate and gatepost finials, the high-pitched roof and steep gables place it early in the century and, as John Page came to Virginia in Sixteen-fifty, it is probable that the plan for his residence followed those of the smaller English cottages, with wood substituted for brick or stucco. The T-shaped chimneys are placed in an uncom- mon way. Instead of having been built at the extreme ends, they mount from the slope of the rear side of the roof some feet from the ends. Their tops are barely visible from the street. The little building measures twenty-one by fifty-one, and four win- dows on the front with two on the sides—each with eighteen panes of glass eight by eleven, and extremely heavy muntins—admit the sun- shine. A porch drags its way the full length of the house with rose vines and wistaria to screen it, and above this a balustrade, which seems of another century, draws a distinctive line between the first [ 27 ] os See eG Ste net a a eT i aaa ltat ita rere een aioe cienenindarny Sn near mea he CAEL i A INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES f oe | Pen U Wis ee) oe PSA SSE AERO RC a WAS = Sets xe kX ae a aS The outside kitchen which, though built of brick, is in harmony with the dwelling. This very small house, with nearly three centuries to its credit, is ideally adapted to the requirements of those who appreciate ro- mantic history. It is this kind of place one naturally expects to be impregnated with the scent of lilacs and lilies: of star jessamine and tea roses, for its atmosphere—even in this ultra-modern age—seems to have been born of lavender and old lace. if 4. Mas = oe saad SRR ERRRR ESE memmnmaterente toc: eee ee Te oor a ee Sane ER St ee rt LW ha OR ER ere co ee eeCoca vet Okemo 7k) rs A PAD AODL ae Ke e Laweed MEP PT athERHAPS the most interesting old residence in Williamsburg is the Wythe House, although f, George Wythe did not erect it. One does not ’ wonder, however, that the name of this most eminent of its owners has clung to the venerable structure, for Wythe was the first Professor of Law in America. At the College of William and Mary, in Virginia, he taught John Marshall, Thomas Jefferson, Edmund Randolph and James Monroe, together with other students whose names are bravely written in the history of America. George Wythe was a member of the Continental Congress and the first Chancellor of Virginia. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and designed the Seal of his State. Small wonder that his name and fame have lived through the centuries. Transfers of the property trace its existence back to the middle of the eighteenth century, when the house was erected by Richard Taliaferro, whose daughter, Elizabeth, became the wife of George Wythe. It was in this house that the Chancellor lived while resi- dent in Williamsburg. The large building appears almost square, although it has a depth of thirty-nine feet two inches and a length of fifty-four feet. The bricks of which it is built are smaller than the majority of Colonial days, and though age, with the aid of various vines, has darkened the walls, it is plainly seen that they are laid up in Flemish style. The hipped roof is pitched at a very slight angle and has an unbroken surface, through which two large chimneys with in- teresting caps rise skyward. The water table, like that at Carter’s Grove, consists of extra courses of flat brick stretchers within lines of others laid up on the side. Nine windows—four on the lower [ 37] aa a ea eens Sa ae 7 2 ; ‘ id i by i 4 ; H t ‘ ; 4 ty cy I 4 es wa \ all ‘ Re bat | Sj 4 a = ae | Sa eesf ET eel aa A ri DAKAR 1 { { G a i Hy fi “i 4 i i ‘ , a ’ ¥ ? ¥ ‘ i : © i B ’ 1 BY nS 7 Py ry V4 ff * * INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF CoLONIAL TIMES CXEXERAI The George Wythe House, as recently restored to its original lines. and five on the upper storey—penetrate the front walls, and broad steps lead up to the entrance door which, in the restoration of the house, has been made to duplicate the original. A larger porch succeeded the latter in Eighteen-fifty nine. A fine modillion cornice extends around the building. Shaded by trees, which tower above the roof, and embroidered by the leaves of delicate vines and shrubs, the old Wythe House, looking across the Palace Green, tells silently, In its semi-seclusion, the story of the happy life once led within its walls. Panelled doors, with a four-pane transom above, lead into a spacious hall which measures thirty-three feet six inches long and twelve feet wide. Four large rooms—almost square—open into this central hall on its way through the house. The deep transom above the rear hall doorway is rudely broken by the stair which, from the first to the second storey, climbs at a steep angle, thus forming a triangular transom. [ 38 ]THE GEoRGE WytTHE House BS Ss Sloat. The spacious hall from which four rooms open. The stair climbs from first to second storey with easy tread. The panelled staircase has been relieved of many unfortunate coats of paint and restored to the natural beauty of the wood. The hand rail springs from the top of a plain square newel post and the balusters—three on each step—are in perfect accord with the well designed brackets. The turning of these balusters is out of the ordinary, and on the whole they seem rather frail for the great Stairway with very wide steps and a six-inch tread. This hall, so capable of beauty, must have suffered during its years of neglect, but in the restoration that has been accomplished it has again come into its own. The richly panelled wainscot, painted antique sage green, has walls the colour of cream above it, and a narrow line of black defines the mopboard. The door and window trim are also green, and the combination of colours is delightful. The door on the left of the main entrance opens into the parlour, which has the dimensions of fifteen feet six inches wide and eighteen [ 39] Peer emer ¢- partie Geng aha wean niente a a cat saanon FI re ep me ee eT a eae Pe ee ce re ee eciidieeeiesial o-teetseeitiee mei er YF en ae ¥INTERIORS OF VirciINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES feet four inches long, and is done in old ivory. The narrow line of black between the floor and baseboard is again seen here and gives an effective note. It is hoped that the parlour may be made memorial to George Washington, as it is probable that in this very room the Yorktown battle was planned by the American Commanding Gen- eral in conference with La Fayette and Rochambeau. The sitting room adjoins the parlour at the rear, and this meas- ures thirteen feet six inches by eighteen feet four inches. Like the drawing room, it has three windows and a door upon one side, which opens beneath the stairway into the hall. The dining room on the east front of the dwelling is delightful and has the same ivory dado as the parlour across the hall. ~A rich modillion cornice accords with the colour of the wainscot, and the walls are decorated with antique paper. The windows ot the Wythe fem) «=Housearecharming. Each one has vay. eighteen small panes of glass di- vided by very broad muntins, and the frames cut into the wainscot almost half its width. The seats are low and narrow, as the frames do not recede much more than twelve inches, but the jambs and cap pieces were panelled by trained craftsmen. The inner window blinds consist of an outer and an inside piece—the former panelled, the latter perfectly plain, the two parts held together by dainty butterfly hinges which awaken one’s envy and greed. An unusual bit of workmanship is found in the panelling beneath the windows. At the hands of vandals, some of these blinds were torn away, but one of great interest, from which a loophole once sounded a warning, hangs still at a certain window. When not in use, the blinds fold back into the jambs. In few rooms [ 40 ] Detail of stairz Ne eee Se aLS EF EN adn ac a ee oo is ifTue Georce Wyrue House will there be found a more satisfactory expression of dignity and worth than in those of George Wythe’s House. The kitchen and service department are in the southeast corner of the house and, at the rear of the building, without disturbing or concealing the ancient brick wall, there has been added a sun porch eighteen by fifty-two feet. This wide porch will serve as the auditorium of the Parish House and will look out upon the restored Co- lonial garden. All of the woodwork in the dwell- ing is heart pine, and the floors have been repaired, then scraped to show a light colour. The ceilings are twelve feet high. As the stairs mount to the sec- ond storey, they find on the first landing a window in deep reveal. This brings in the light above and below, the upper triangle of the transom also doing its part. Upon its third flight the stairway is con- cealed by a plaster wall from be- low, and pendants ornament the ends of cornice and stair stringer. The plan of the second floor dupli- Doorway in hall looking into drawing room. cates that of the first, with the ex- ception of the room on the southeast corner, which has been cut into dressing room and bath. Each of the large rooms has three windows and a panelled pine wainscot; all have light-coloured floors, and the wall treatment given the house in its restoration is in per- fect tune with the period during which it was built. he Rector’s Study has soft gray walls, with antique ivory wainscot, dentilled cornice and other trim. A calm and quiet place of refuge. The library paper seems very gay by contrast, for here the walls are covered with gorgeous Chinese paper, with mandarins and dragons among the colours of lemon and blue and gold. The ‘wood trim is the same shade as the background of the paper, with the [ 41 ] a a Sige Sette Senco a a a rc ee etter ee q PR aT eee a eee fo eighteen t oee e e e eS MAHaay INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs OF COLONIAL TIMES exception of the deep cream cornice. Upon the walls of the bedroom peacocks strut among flowering trees beneath a moulded cornice. The wainscot, cornice, door.and window trim is old ivory. Like the first storey, these rooms and hall have, just below the dado, a narrow, black painted basecourse which is of great value in defining the proportions. The door that was cut in the front of the upstairs hall about Fighteen-fifty nine as an entrance to the balcony above the porch of that date, has been bricked up and a window of the original type has been installed. The upper ceilings ———————— ee are ten feet five and one-half inches Detail of the pou ton cornice, im dining high room, antique ivory in colour. : RI cco | In the restoration of the George Wythe House the work has been complete and exact, and today the historic structure stands as it stood when built by Richard Talia- ferro about Seventeen-fifty five. Those who have lived in the old dwelling and loved it were, since George Wythe’s time, the Skip- withs, and the family of Doctor John Millington, the distinguished scientist and professor at the College of William and Mary, whose tenure was long and happy. It was from Miss Mary Sherwell, whose family had owned the place for many years, that the property was purchased by Bruton Parish Church to use as a Parish House. The two structures occupy the entire square. During the Revolution, when the Yorktown siege was in prog- ress, the old structure was the headquarters of General Washington, as has been proven by an entry made on a French military map of Williamsburg. The fact has also been established by a notation made in the Diary of Judge St. George Tucker. It is very probable that the famous battle of Yorktown was planned in the parlour of the Wythe House, and many a brave young American bearing an aris- tocratic name slept his last sleep within these walls before battle. This, among other memories, comes before one on a pilgrimage to the historic building, bringing a feeling of profound interest and a deep reverence for its past. A whimsical interest also arises on hearing the ghostly traditions, for the dwelling is said to be inhabited [ 42 ] Ss ae et eee eT (? ta i ae at BS BT Ty reTHE Grorce Wyrue House A corner of the Wythe House before its restoration. The windows, inner blinds and hinges are very fine. The white spot in left blind was a loop hole. by a throng of invisible visitors who will assert their presence and protect their rights as long as the ancient house stands. The sudden death of Chancellor Wythe threw suspicion on his nephew, who was also his heir, and the story tells that he who sleeps in the Chancellor’s chamber on the anniversary of the Chancellor’s death will feel at the hour of midnight an icy chill and the presence of a being not of earth. Another tale declares that all through the night may be heard the dainty trip of ancient slippers. Now the steps are merry—again pathetically sad—and this ghostly visi- tor who invades the silent structure is said to be Lady Evelyn Skip- with, a beauty, and a niece of Evelyn Byrd. The room opposite that of the Chancellor is said to be haunted by a young Frenchman, an officer on the Staff of Rochambeau, who died before the battle of Yorktown. These stories of the psychic world add a flavour to the historic walls, and the traditions have come down through so [ 43 ] SN ae ee aoe = paedtaiatnietinaaiaiainiee neat a Le ee en cee aes oe a hy i JDAR UET Siw tebe Surly DPA a Cen: er Oe a 7 . UM AY aaah us r ule eh a Tt yee Lerner InTERIORS OF VirGINIA Houses or COLONIAL TIMES Peper cohen ter eee nee Ee epee 3 The Chinese wall paper on the library walls. many, many years, that now they seem a real part of the building’s history. In George Wythe’s time the aristocracy of Williamsburg assembled on the Palace Green—the men brave in silk or velvet attire; the women in fine laces and brocades, their proud faces seen daily along the shaded thoroughfare over which the home of Chancellor Wythe presided. [ 44 ] Cee ee Se eT are ES ae ee ee f ti i (ey “NyTue Georce WytTHE House For a number of years the Wythe House was without necessary repairs. Time had play ed havoc with the exterior cornice and window sills; on the interior the wainscot had fallen victim to dry rot. The water-filled basement weakened the foundation and made the walls damp, thus causing the plaster to discolour and fall, and in every sense the old house was a wreck. Then came the restoration by appreciative hands under the direction of the Reverend William A. R. Goodwin, who, just twenty years before, restored so perfectly Bruton Parish Church. In consul- tation with the authorities on the Colonial Period with the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Doctor Goodwin, in securing a Parish House, will also have for the use of the Court Church of Virginia a charming home of the Colonial era. After the purchase of the house by Bruton Parish in May, Nine- teen-twenty six, the Colonial Dames of America, Chapter Three, of Washington, D. C., assumed the F E : purchase price, and the Colonial Ueinillvte cue RiKe Uo perro ome Gay Dames of Vi irginia con tributed the peacocks strut among flowering trees. funds to restore the dining room in memory of Elizabeth Taliaferro Wythe, whose father erected the house. The walls and all brick work have been thoroughly repaired; the basement has been drained and given a water-proof floor. The exterior cornice, door and window frames have been restored to the true Colonial type, and the lighting fixtures have been selected by the expert advice of students of the period. The landscape wall paper for the rooms has also been favorably passed upon and, when completely finished, the George Wythe Se will be conspicuous among the most eamneskall and dignified examples of Colonial archi- tecture in Virginia. [45] a tee ele eeineee e e Ce hte il a eee a - Saeon g i Bet Sa a LC ee a a Se Lay Kei ails eee whee Oe At Lar oss Pred st OA a INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses or CoLoniAL TIMES Within a short time the furniture in the various rooms will be stylistic with pre-Revolutionary days, and it 1s planned to main- tain a ““Period”’ museum in the parlour, dining room and front hall. PSS eB y OOM PANTRY SITTING ROOM KITCHEN PARLOR) DINING ROOM First floor plan of the Wythe House as restored. Upon the walls of this part of the house will hang portraits of distingué men and women who played brave parts when the Colony, by no means secure, was gasping beneath the great paw of the British Lion. Reclaimed, rejuvenated as in former days, the house will endure as a lasting monument to George Wythe and its restorers. [ 46 ]T a Grand Assembly begun at Middle Plantation at the house of Capt. Otho Thorpe—roth day of Oct. 1677—1in the 29th year of the reign of our Sov. Lord, Charles II of England, Scotland and Wrelandcay . 5 = Thus is the old Galt House first heard of in authentic, historic form, and thus is its owner proven to have been Otho Thorpe, whose brother, y killed by Indians whom he thought friendly. Otho Thorpe was a man of splendid character and was in every way typical of the sturdy pioneers of those first trying days in the Vir- ginia Colony. There is a tradition that Nathaniel Bacon took refuge in this little house when he fled from Jamestown during his disastrous Rebellion. Whether the building was erected by Thorpe or not is unknown, for the family whose tenure has been the longest had two brothers of the Galt name in Virginia as early as Sixteen-eighty four. These brothers, John and William Galt, from Ayrshire, Scotland, fled from Great Britain after defeat in battle. As officers in the “Rebel” army, which was organized in the cause of religion, a price was put upon their heads, and the two Covenanters were fortunate in reaching Virginia. Samuel, the son of one of the brothers, settled in Wil- liamsburg about Seventeen hundred, and he it was, probably, who purchased the house from Otho Thorpe. The matter of the builder of the Galt House is immaterial in the consideration of its architectural and historical merits. Erected according to directions given in Hening’s Statutes, the early home of Otho Thorpe resulted in a long, low building apparently one and a half storeys in height. This quaint, low browed house, which [ 47 ] = | , 2 | “a a ue Ss Se i ae eee a ee ee ee C0 ev wre ie ano materi fens te tem hep Aho er . sn ees a ed els ae dg ee eR LORNA vs v7 a bea Nt a pn a I ONSET SABE eRe wars INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HouSES OF COLONIAL TIMES stands back of a white picket fence on a quiet shaded street in Wil- liamsburg, claims as its most interesting exterior feature a hooded entrance of a type seldom seen in Virginia. With a shingled roof above the door and supported on rather crude console brackets, the unique pediment springs out from the clapboard walls in a man- ner that shows its builder was efficient in his line. The steps with. brick sides appear newer than the interesting hood, but the uneven sunken bricks of the walk from gateway to house tes- tify to their great age. Along this walk canterbury bells are naturalized, and over an old- fashioned arbour roses of ancient name climb. The steep, shingled roof ot the house is broken by three dormer windows placed with precision a short distance apart in the centre. Never were chim- neys built to form a more per- fect T, and seldom weresuch caps put on after the seventeenth cen- tury. The roof drops so low 9 | ek s that little of the cornice is seen, es , ace except the row of blocks on the One unique feature of the Galt House is the order of dentils but which are hooded entrance. much farther apart. The cornice appears to rest immediately on the window frames. The smal] paned windows that are an essential feature of the true Colonial house present a curious arrangement on the front. A large window with twenty-four panes of glass admits the light on each side of the entrance door, and one, not more than a fourth of the size of the others, penetrates each end of the building. The only windows on the side are in the gable end of the second storey, and these, like those described, have outside shutters, painted green, which are always effective against white walls. The house is almost smothered with trees. Elms and locusts [ 48 ]Tue Gatt House lil HA All 1X z The Galt F Araeitear ee as nog ae LA GitonerS peel Neelee Soge : ee a Touse. Nathaniel Bacon took refuge here during his Rebellion, and the Grand Assembly of Virginia met here in 1677. provide dense summer shade, with magnolia and cedars for the joy of winter months. With an octagonal summer house on one side and on the other the original kitchen—where, tradition claims, the first attempt at Indian education was made—in the midst of old shrubs and flowers, the picture presented recalls the days before Seventeen-seventy six. It is a rare pleasure and a great surprise to see so much left of the olden time, and the white and green with the grays of age make the composition very charming. A basement six feet high with walls one foot and a half thick underruns the building, making it—regardless of its appearance—a house of three low ceiled storeys. The interior plan is unique in several respects. The bisecting hall which is five feet wide is not in the centre of the house but some feet to the eastern side. Doors near the south front of the hall open respectively into the parlour and library, but the only one near the [ 49 ] “ ‘ Heracpaeairs! ae eet SeaEEnnEier ee ee aa ea ee en a > es ee eae tetera oe Ditoamhicatel. ebeetdnsiicipesecnestho-ieaediea nee en ee oo EN os a Se eet‘SNe x 7" = ee eT PRC tes f ’ KAS Aw hale ae eer ae a eee ae N NS ‘Oo i = ~ is) = & » S = Ss ~ Ss 3 a 6 “= = me <) = X 4 4 3 8 i S i) = ~~ ~ =} = ~~ = Ss S x 2 = ~~ aS a S 3 ~ ~ Ee The parlour. la a at re ae On eT a arog St L| 4 eee POMC enTue Gatt Houses north front is opposite the entrance and leads into the modern service wing one step below the level of the main floor. No stairway is apparent, but an opening in the wall near the north door shows, at the end of a deep recess, a winding stair whose exposure would merit admiration. The white plaster walls of the hallway are adorned neither with panel nor wainscot, leaving the chair rail and base. board to do duty in regard to the woodwork. There are few pleces of furniture in the hall owing to its size, but there is a small “shoe and stocking” chair that is bewitching and most unusual. WINDING STAIRS PHYSIC ROOM CHIMNEY SPACE LIBRARY CLOSET First floor plan of the Galt House. On the left side of the hall is the historic parlour with measure- ments of fifteen feet six inches by eighteen feet eight inches. One win- dow looks over the street and two over the yard in the rear. A wainscot much higher than the average is panelled in two styles—in squares of fair size below and with small rectangles on the upper part. The moulded dado cap protrudes slightly. A black mantel stands over the fireplace whose space the economic years have claimed in exchange for a small grate, but the chimney space of uneven lines is still five feet deep. On the south side of the mantel a door discloses a closet, but on the northwest end the little room has served a different pur- pose, for here the chimney takes on a curious form. The theory 1s that the alcove, two by four and a half, has some connection with a safe hiding place, for it must be remembered that when the Galt House was built the Red Men were more numerous than the Palefaces. The tiny windows at the east end of the building are in these closets. sal rtiesitl hatebiieatenieae eee eee SOE oe as eA oe ean alcere ere OY] Pu CRON ry Terie t ib 1 * 1 Mateo ene (hd bP Li n crag ic Room. SIUC he Phy ening wto t a, S x S Ss 3s Ss S 8 ~~ x itu h a store of rare furm y wit The librarTue Gatt House This is the very room in which Nathaniel Bacon is said to have taken refuge, and one year later it was the scene of the meeting of the “Grand Assembly.” With its wealth of historic lore, the par- lour is also rich in furniture, and there is scarcely a piece that is not interwoven with some early legend. The most interesting of all are three Chippendale chairs that were saved when the Capitol was burned. These have low, square legs and lyre or fiddle backs. One sees in them the work of a craftsman to whom the style was new and who essayed nothing but the plainest ornamentation. A walnut drop-leaf table with twisted legs stands in the centre of the room, a tripod table in one corner, and both the walls and the ancient wood- work are painted white. The library, whichis across the hall, is smaller than the parlour, its space covering only twelve by fifteen feet. This, however, is a most delightful room—the uneven lines, the curious placing’ of the doors, the original furniture, all contribute to its Colonial charm. The chimney end is divided into three parts, the firebreast naturally occupying the largest. Here an open fireplace, with antique and- irons and other old-fashioned fire utensils, has panelling all around it. None but a skilled artificer could have arranged such a series of panels of different size to fit so perfectly this particular end of the room. The panelling which is along Elizabethan lines extends almost to the top of the door frames and, though there could have been no shelf above it when built, a plain narrow board with moulded finish now answers that purpose. The treasures of the library are the fine portraits. The three hanging above the mantelpiece represent by their attire three various ages, and others limned by Masters of the art are of bewigged gentlemen, watteau-like ladies and youthful cavaliers with velvet coats and ruffled stocks. On the panelling and the plaster wall beside it, miniatures and silhouettes are hung. he chairs are original but less elaborate than those in the par- lour, but all who are in quest of any form of the antique would be enchanted with what they see in this old room which is lighted by just one window. The chair rail reminds one of that at Temple Farm, and is merely a five inch board along the centre of which two pieces of moulding have been so put together that the deepest side cuts five inches into the room. The baseboard is dark and the floor- ing is very wide. The alcove on the left of the chimney stores shelves of books, [53] wea SS SactierSeaer a a a SET Sie amen ie ee eh eee ee Sete crceatdetees adc ere ee OS a FoR ss iCORI UA, INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES a a a NF eS SN ESS bi VU 4 but the larger space on the other side is known as the “Physic Room”’ and into this a library door gives entrance. ‘This tiny room has the curious dimensions of six feet five inches by ten feet five inches, and it was here that the doctors of the family mixed their medicines and concocted tonics from herbs. Such little rooms were the ancestors of the modern doctor’s office, and who knows but that they were more satisfactory in the end. At least one of the Doctors Galt was a most eminent man. Though he was at school at Edinburg when the Revolutionary cloud swept with fury over America, Dr. John Galt returned to Williamsburg and in time became Surgeon General on the Staff of General Washington. The second storey has one large room, two smaller ones, and is reached in poetic fashion by the winding stair. The peaceful old rooms are just as they might have been when the Colonial family lived there. The low ceilings and the sunshine which pours in through the small panes of glass of each window con- tribute their share to the home-like atmosphere, and the unaffected simplicity of the architectural treatment all combine to add a peculiar air of distinction to the ensemble, an asset fully appreciated in the tiniest of houses. _ Since Samuel Galt acquired the dwelling those many years ago, it has remained in the possession of his direct descendants, the present chatelaine being Miss Annie Galt. In graciously showing the stranger-guest through her little gem of a home, Miss Galt makes one feel how deeply she appreciates her inheritance. Even the iconoclast must admit, after accepting the hospitality of the old dwelling, that in age—in design—in history and preservation, the charming little Galt House is unsurpassed.“OW NE of the most engaging homesteads to be found in a region of singularly delightful Colonial architecture is called the Peachy House, sup- posedly because the well known family of that name once lived there. This old dwelling over- looks the turfed expanse of the Court House Green in Williamsburg and has before it the ever-present reminder of Sir Christopher Wren in the Court House walls. Neither history nor tradition gives the date of the erection of the house, which stands on the corner of Nicholson and England Streets, for its early days are enveloped in a film of obscurity. Its date is usually placed between Seventeen-twenty and Seventeen- fifty. Its frontage of sixty-seven feet presents a mass twenty-two feet wide, and the wing, which makes of the floor plan an L, extends almost half the length of the house on the northwest side. The building is of frame construction except the ends, which are brick, exposed on the east but faced with clapboards on the west. The latter is known as stock-brick construction and is seldom found in Virginia. When it is discovered in this section it is considered extremely old. The roof is shallow and hipped, its surface broken only by the two chimneys much lower than the majority to be seen. The old domicile stands in formal seclusion with no more than its picket fence as guard. The bare, old-ivory boughs of an ancient crepe myrtle lean inquisitively across the gate, and a magnolia tree—a magnificent grandiflora—stripped high of limb to show its strength and with the aged effect beloved by artists, looks capable of ringing the tocsin. A white narcissus next a sky-blue squill, a ssi] a ry a HY f a Sa i TT ikl - E oe a eee sa Settee cheated aceon ee Se RR Ee ei eo eeth fae ealenbdteaiieleeinetineeciesees eemieee nena terre . a a a SOO EPO INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF CoLoNniIAL TIMES great clump of daffodils; the spring bloom of shrubs with the promise of summer, are scattered around the house in delicious confusion. Painted white, with the customary outside shutters dark green, the Peachy House is perforated upon the front by twelve windows, those on the first floor containing eighteen panes of glass, while those of the second storey have only fifteen. Two windows afford light at each end. True to Colonial times, the long house has very low ceilings, that of the second floor being outlined on the exterior by a cornice formed of blocks enframed with moulding. More than one of these qualities lead one to place the house in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The Peachy House is entered over a flight of stone steps which lead to a flagstone portico, built in the restoration of original material, on the original foundation—a refreshing prelude to the interior beyond. A walnut door opens immediately into a rather small hall which, though of good proportions, is marred at present [ 56 ]THe PEacuy House \ NGS The chimney end in the drawing room where the fireplace facing and over-mantel are of Carara marble. by a twentieth century stairway. It is gratifying to know that its presence here will be brief, for the present owners prefer no stairway at all than one so out of sympathy with their house. Being double fronted, the door at the rear opens outdoors, and this, like those of the rest of the first floor woodwork, is said to be black walnut. Monopolizing the right side of the building, beyond the entrance hall, is the architectural centre of the Peachy House. Three windows are cut upon each side in the panelled walls, and the chimney end, with outside exposed bricks, becomes the feature of the house by a mantelpiece of Carara marble flanked by two tall, narrow doors, and all in the midst of panelling. The fireplace facing is of the same marble, and this, at the top, curves slightly in the manner of Tudor or Elizabethan days. Above this a long marble panel with deeply bevelled edges stands out in bold relief beneath a moulded shelf, which appears to have added its effectiveness since the firebreast [57] ee ee eine rere ee : el ere Scletieietl sheds inirnadtietieteeean ete ede * - he t i i : ca x - a ab H ¥ - MePig kd a a Sy RR Ae ET iJ \ Ls | j mY he The west end of the dining:room showing a delightful built-in cupboard and unique door. was placed there. The mantelpiece, the frame, and the over-mantel are all of Carara marble, and combine in one graceful, parti-coloured unit. The: chimney breast-is absorbed in the thickness of the wall and cupboards or powder rooms are arranged in the spaces at either side. Each of these doors is very narrow and tall; each has two square panels above and below, with four rectangular panels in the centre. The original locks were of brass and very small, just as the first hinges must have formed Hand L. All these, however, were ripped away and sold by an owner who valued money more than art! The panels above the doors and mantel are much wider than are usually seen, and they, with the long, narrow and oblong wainscot, follow the lines of the marble. The refinement of this chimney breast and the bold relief of the woodwork are particularly noteworthy and perfectly in harmony with the best traditions of Colonial building. There is an unhappy story telling that five of these magnificent [ 58 ]Tue Preacuy Houser marble mantelpieces were taken away from the house, the one that was left being too difficult to remove. This evidence is found in the deep, harsh crack that extends through the lintel and a chipped bit of marble from the«sledge of the defrauded possessor. Here again is a reminder of Sixteen-ninety. Fireplaces of early examples had no mantelshelves, the panelling or sheathing coming to the lintel or its =m ce oe a moulding. SS The parlour is panelled on all > sides, the panels stretching from dado to ceiling. Unlike many seen, the wainscot has narrow, oblong panels, but the hand rail is inde- . pendent, with ends mitred wherever A it breaks. The work in the room is chiefly by hand; many of the floor boards are original and the light from six windows makes it always cheerful. One envies its great size and, while wishing for the return of the natural wood walls, which by now would be of a glorious hue, the effect of the white-painted walls and gently coloured marble is more than pleasing. Across the hall, at the foot of the stair, is the library, panelled, | and with but two front windows, Detail of the dining room. the extra space having been bor- rowed for the cupboards at the end. The panelling above the windows compensates, in its unusual pattern, for the lack of extra sunshine and awakens great speculation. A door opposite that of the entrance connects the house with the original stair hall—a fairly large space with a fireplace, two,end and one side windows. Double doors between library and dining room form an informal entrance to the latter. In the library there is a corner fireplace, and this, with five others, are supplied by one chimney. It was in Elizabethan or Jacobean times that one chimney took care of a number of flues. The [59] a, wy gf SJ ee Seco a al Sad a a et Rr Sn ny Se I a een ee Oat aen Nel ee eee Thr Ste ete annem eas nee pe F fs “i edSS a NE SPE EY ~~ N co ~ = ‘= >= Ss & rS = Ss = & S Re <3 3 & ~_ ~ SS) > S ce 8 nn) > rw aS) & ‘= A >= S & Ss = Ss Ss S x -S S ~ 5 "= s iS) = w a Ni Se tee aie ee et re eee yTue Peacny House other Virginia houses conspicuous for this feature are Bacon’s Castle, Marmion and Mount Vernon before the remodelling of the latter. The dining room, like the parlour, is long and impressive, although this, by a pair of doors, can be made into two rooms. The door which gives entrance from a narrow passageway out of the main hall, though single, con- sists of two pieces hinged to- gether with old-time hinges so it can be made still narrower. Double doors composed of still more doors open or close by hand-wrought iron H-and-L hinges. The windows are all in the northwest end and have a number of opalescent panes of glass and heavy muntins. All of the first floor hinges are H or H-and-L, and the ceilings are nine feet high. An ample stair landing leads to the north front of the house and also, by one or two steps at the rear, to a portion which is said ES have been added, and A massive four-poster showing detail of will, accordingly, be pulled Queen Anne panelling in room. down. The ceilings of the sec- ond storey lack perhaps one foot of being as high as the lower, but the hall of the former is not very much smaller than that at the en- trance. As the parlour below is the centre of architectural interest in the Peachy House, so the great room above is the centre of romantic interest, with the Marquis de La Fayette as the focal point. Just as in the great room below, there are six windows on the two sides of the chamber, and the open fireplace with black bricks is flush with the walls and doors, which permit closets behind them. A mahogany bureau of age unknown is here, a tiny chest of drawers, and a flax wheel upon which all gentlewomen spun in times of war [61] ~N PN Fi eee —— eine eenaineindemenmen sae aeons ee ee a ee NL Sie Ce ee ape eee ee Seer eres " wg) Shae en ata ey ssn inseiabeaecianidl on hemeaheaman tataeeroatehineene edeCy ‘a i s f Sa a a a a ee nt eT eae re P ee Oe ee GL eer tre oe ete eee ere MOE E PLO Lue RLY Ae ar ts Ae ae RM od 2 Pee UN eh ee DO es ak ol A i c INTERIORS OF ViRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES and stress. The white-painted panelling is of the Queen Anne order—sunk panels and raised stiles—and both door and window frames received the best attention of the early craftsmen. But the piéce de résistance of this bright and cheery room is an enormous four-poster bed whose legs have never been cut down and whose top reaches almost to the ceiling. This rare piece of furniture is still so high that steps must be used to reach the candlewick spread, and everything about it bespeaks the long ago—the age thought by modern materialists impossible! DINING ROOM <” Closet PARLOR OLD STAIR HALL “ CLOSET Original first floor plan of the Peachy House. It was this old-time room that the Marquis de La Fayette left to address the citizens on his farewell tour of Virginia in Eighteen- twenty four. He was introduced by the Governor to the chief officers and leading citizens of the State, to the distinguished gathering, many of whom recalled his heroism and valour when America needed friends—and all from the Peachy House. Rochambeau is said to have been with the French general, and it was this room that the man termed the most romantic figure of the Revolution occupied while visiting, for the second and last time, old Williamsburg. One window pane bears the jewel marks “‘S. 7s The house was then the property of Doctor Giffen Peachy, but it is traditionally related that Mistress Elizabeth Bland Beverly en- [ 62 ]Tue. Peacuy House tertained the Compte de Rochambeau here in Seventeen-eighty one, when this same dwelling is thought to have been her home. Among the melange of lore and legend that envelops the long, low house, there is a tale that would lead one to believe that it was standing in Seventeen-sixteen, that when Governor Spotswood re- turned with his Horseshoe Knights from the transmontane expedition they were the guests of the Peachy House, known then by another name. There seems scant possibility of there being any truth in this. After many thrilling episodes the old house quieted down, and the Peachy family lived there happily until almost the end of the nineteenth century, when both in architecture and history it fell into unappreciative hands and the old walls wept at the sorrow that had come. The dwelling became the victim of heinous vandal- ism about thirty years ago and has been greatly changed since those unhappy days. Stairways from the two halls were sold, and, wherever possible, the panelling was torn out for the same purpose. Five marble mantels and over-mantels like that in the parlour were pulled out for money. The little brass locks were taken away, and a sacrifice of Colonial woodwork and household articles took place within the walls of the historic house. Then came a period of lassi- tude when nothing was either taken from nor added to the old dwelling. After one or two changes, the property became the possession of Mrs. Mary Proctor Wilson and her daughter and son, Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Ball who, with deep sympathy, are bringing back the old lines and tearing away the new. Happily, the family now controlling the future of one of Williamsburg’s most historic shrines is_faith- fully preserving the architectural past that is embedded in the Peachy House. =~ a 4 Seal Ta, eee ar ne Oe er ee ee i “ ay ‘= SPE ee es oe ala ea a nee tte ee ee ee ee eet heen et eee TE Hf ‘ ca k 4 a ‘ | f ¢ 1 a odvga stalseiweiita es GAA PALAU ce i i Hy i a a tN re ae ee eee ee ttMORE HOUSES OF OLD WILLIAMSBURG HERE are in the Library of the College of Wil- liam and Mary many documents almost unread- able from their faded parchment and script. These creamy papers, which may only be seen under the eyes of a watchful page, are appar- ently the first records of the magnificent attempt to make of a ridge between two rivers a Capital City. All who are interested in “Middle Plan- tation’ —for that was the first name of Williamsburg—have only to journey from Richmond for fifty miles, then stop where a signpost announces to all the world: “Williamsburg.” In the peaceful little settlement so far from the Old World and so seemingly safe from the persecutions at Jamestown, houses were built not long after the town was impaled by Governor Harvey in Sixteen-thirty two. From then until Sixteen-ninety nine, when the seat of the Virginia government was moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg, some of the most historically interesting and architecturally charming houses were erected, the most remarkable part being that these relics of the seventeenth century are in per- fect preservation to-day. ; This is a saga of the Colonial dwellings of a Royal town, and it seems only proper to begin the story with the dwellings that face the Palace Green. Although the Wythe House, which has lately become the Parish House of Bruton Parish Church, has been given a chapter of its own, one can not pass the calm old churchyard with- out a pause—and many thoughts. The churchyard of sunk armo- rial slabs and mossy table stones; the pink hawthorn of springtime; the ever-constant ivy; the varied colours of other vines in which the [65] a a 4 ‘ i} \ iu é “ a in a ‘pe Te H 1 ir EM i; Pe Hoey erat aaa a ee ED a) “ 6, 22 pu: pre, a> a ae ene aerate a eeee emeee ee e ee elena bt a i RY eet i bt . ff ame b a 7 i rH i i by = rv. iad A WY \ae ca a a ee EET) a ne — i a’ a Big Corres 7 SED The Saunders House, built by Robert Saunders, and the home of Governor Dinwiddie wn 1751. old church is wrapped, make of Bruton Parish Church one of the most beautiful buildings in all the country. The majority of Williamsburg dwellings are of the small English cottage type, but the Saunders House, next door to the Wythe, is really pretentious. Facing the Palace Green, this old dwelling of frame construction was built of wide siding at the order of Robert Saunders, whose wife, Lucy, was the youngest child of Governor John Page. The mass of the house is almost square and covered by a hipped roof, within which there seems to be a second and smaller roof from which the two chimneys mount. Four windows break through the lower front of the house—two on each side of the door. Above stairs, however, in a most extraordinary fashion, the left side of the upper front is windowless. The two-storey porch on the east has a well-designed pediment with fanlight, and the upper balcony istmade safe by a balustrade. Though once the home of Robert Carter Nicholas, Treasurer of Virginia, and occupied by Governor Dinwiddie when the Palace was undergoing repairs, thanks to mod- ern additions the old house has lost the Colonial atmosphere. The present owner 1s Doctor Susan Price. [ 66 ]More Houses or O_p WILLIAMSBURG The home of Judge St. George Tucker, Professor Randolph Tucker, and where John Randolph of Roanoke grew to manhood, For the searcher for pure, Colonial architecture, Williamsburg is the centre of most productive interest. The quiet, inconspicuous houses in front of their gardens and back of their white picket fences, the delicate scale in their design, although the builders may not have recognized it, the number of seventeenth-century houses still de- lightful and in excellent repair, forces one to admit that no American town possesses such a combination of historic beauty and architec- ture as Old Williamsburg. Though much could be said of Bruton Parish Church or the Court House and the College guided by Sir Christopher Wren, none of these are included in this claim. Standing on the Court House Green, from almost any direction one is enchanted with the Tucker House of many angles, now the property of Mr. George Coleman, a relative of the early owner. The building is painted white, and each wing seems to have been built at a different point in time. The central dwelling would not [ 67] Bi nell wee tare es i Mee ee ee Sea ee rs 7 = % a sas a a a eee a ee ee ee Sa Ee ee area Sea paieeraas_x~iesisdineartadriacarranmintoone eter ee ~ i t i { 1 ca Fc . ary ¥ (éf ence ST a a a Ee SPOT — : os AS a os seed tec tenet ant inert eT eR EE 2 e INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs oF COLONIAL TIMES appear very different from many other houses, but so many divers ap- pendages have been built about it in such a bewitching fashion that they carry the visitor from Virginia to a messuage in the older world. The tiny wings that may have become artistic by chance, the dor- mers, the inevitable white picket fence, all add to its charm. In the plan of the Williamsburg dwellings the second storeys do not duplicate the floor below. No little cottage of this richly ro- mantic town is just like any other, but the house now being described is as filled with history as with architectural interest, for it was the home of Judge St. George Tucker, of Professor John Randolph Tucker, and of Judge Tucker’s brilliant step-son, John Randolph of Roanoke. Within, the house is charming. Rare furniture from England— via Bermuda. Heirlooms of many generations. The Lares and Penates of English and American Tuckers and, smiling down upon all, an extremely fine portrait of John Randolph of Roanoke, which shows a very young man with a gentle, almost spirituelle face, which had not been unsweetened by an iconoclastic world. Though the man was forced to change, the smile remains on the face of John Randolph, the most distinguished descendant of the Indian Princess, Pocahontas. The main dwelling is three full storeys in height, for the base- ment is high above ground. Three windows penetrate the upper walls, each with conventional green shutters. The lower windows seem placed at random, and the unbroken line of the gable roof is in happy contrast to the wings of the two small roofs which stand close beside it. Each of these wings encountered next the chief building is but a storey and a half in height, with two dormers in each sharply gabled roof. There are two windows and one door on the main floor, while one alone affords light from the east end. This wing also has an old-fashioned uncovered porch on a level with that of the central house, and altogether this tiny bit of architecture would seem to the artist and architect of very great charm. The chimneys, which rise far above the apex of the wing roof ends, are rather low above the undormered central roof. The inevitable white fence, the great trees, and a slender vine of golden jessamine from the woodlands, with the glory of spring-blooming bulbs, present a very lovely effect around the old house. Not far from the individualistic Tucker House, and also on [68 ]More Houses or O_p WILLIAMSBURG The Coleman House, one of the earliest Dutch Colonial dwellings in Virginia. Nicholson Street, there is another interesting dwelling known as the Peachy House. As the old house played host to the Marquis de La Fayette and the interior presents many very original features, the Peachy House has been dwelt with at length in a chapter of its own. . Just below, and still on Nicholson Street, there is a well chosen setting for one of the earliest Dutch Colonial houses in Virginia. The three-part dwelling consists of three entirely different houses. The main structure has a steep gambrel roof cut off very squarely at the top, from which the stiff little dormers seem to drop, and the unusual chimneys on the main dwelling date it in Sixteen-hundred. A hedge is substituted for the ubiquitous white picket fence, and in the centre a gate painted green provides an entrance. One wing of two storeys and a gable roof presents a very straight front to the world, but the other is charming. It is a tiny bit of a house with a long range from the roof which stands next to it. Different, always [ 69 ] a A oe ee en oad Sle ae Se aati a eat eee net ee Peedi eet arene ae Fe ‘| XX aim Tad ac a ey a Se | a i Of arerpra ree aCe caesar ee - Ny INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses or CoLontAL TIMES Bassett Hall, where George Washington was frequently entertained before the Revolution, was the home of President John Tyler in 1841. different, are the houses of Williamsburg. The present hospitable chatelaine is Miss Cynthia Coleman, who each autumn matches the colour of great quantities of Saffron crocus with the walls of her house as they raise their gay little heads above summer’s dying flowers. One of the most interesting residences in Williamsburg is Bassett Hall, the town house of the Bassett family, who were of great social renown. This undoubtedly gave the place name, and the old frame house, true to Colonial proportions, stares from its own situation on Francis Street down two other shady walks. The dwelling has all the appearances of an early American homestead which has been left alone. Broad porches cross the frontage and tall chimneys assure the visitor that the house is capable of great warmth within. It was here that General and Mrs. Washington often visited, as the latter was Mrs. Bassett’s sister. Thousands upon thousands of jon- [ 70 ]° = 2 SPAS House of Peyton Randolph, first Attorney General of Virginia, Speaker of of Burgesses, and President of the first Congress. quils awaken the lawn each spring—deep gold, pale yellow and snow white. Hundreds of narcissi poeticus and glorious Lucifer—all of them great-great- and multi-great-grandchildren of those imported in Seventeen-sixty five. Every spring bulb and every old-fashioned shrub, many of the great trees, are the descendants of other impor- tations, and some garden fairy plants the garden a different colour each month of the year. The interior of the house is rich with heirlooms of many gener- ations. The quiet dignity of the splendid hall; the hanging stair somewhat like that at Shirley, but with soffits richly carved; a flam- ing open fire to cast reflection upon the panelled walls and ancestral portraits. In the dining room there is a rare amount of family plate, of Lowestoft, lovely old willowware and Canton of rare design. The panelling and other woodwork was scraped of many coats of paint and now shows the original soft brown pine, against which the antique furniture shows at its best. bon Me eS se a ed eine ates eee ear Mey — See ‘ bel Ae p : a | a ta Pp Mice cee a ee eee Oe ee ON ary SEE teBST Hex ors Fo an a a NC ETSY = — ; ee ro = a eer SEES i A er ae 5 INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses or COLONIAL TIMES In Eighteen-forty one Bassett Hall was the property of John Tyler, President of the United States, and now its happy owners are the Misses Smith, to whom are due the beauty of bud and blossom. By untiring care and deepest affection every old flower and shrub has continued to thrive. DINING ROOM BSAOVNNOTOO Ee I | | l | | | I | I 1 | | | | | | COLONNADE | | First floor plan of the Peyton Randolph House. Adjoining the arrow-shaped end of the Bassett Hall lawn is the old home of Peyton Randolph, first Attorney General of Virginia, Speaker of the House of Burgesses and President of the first Ameri- can Congress. The present owner is Mrs. Rebecca Cooper Reeve. ___ The first impression of this buff-coloured clapboard house is that it has been completed as the years progressed. The central portion of three storeys seems to have been erected before the wings on either side, because some of the exterior js siding, and this, with various other facts, lead one to that belief. Besides this, it was cus- tomary in those halcyon days to build as the families grew, neither [72]More Houses or O.tp WILLIAMSBURG money nor labour being plentiful. However, whoever did build the additions, the work was so skillfully done that, but for these trifling changes, the house would appear of one date. Even the course of dentils that follow the pediment and the pedimented portico are in perfect tune with that of the cornice and gable end of the right wing. The main building seems a lit- tle high for its length, and two very tall chimneys rise above the gable. The house should probably be called two and a half storeys, but the second floor has a very low ceiling, for much space was taken for the attic above. Three twelve. pane windows are cut through the upstairs wall, while the lower storey has only one of eighteen panes on each side of the heavy entrance door, on which a charming antique brass knocker adorns the central rail. The one-storey wings are just alike but for the cornice on the left one; each have windows similar to the lower windows in the main building, and green slat shutters guard them all. Sie an Overhung by elm and catalpa rh leading fom transverse hal in trees, with ancient roses climbing and twining about both wings, this house of Peyton Randolph’s will always be reminiscent of his statesmanship, and the slightly classical flavour that hangs about the exterior gives an idea of the days prior to the accession of the House of Hanover. Five stone steps lead to the delightful little portico, at the rear of which is the entrance door with a four-pane transom above. One glimpse at the plan and one will appreciate that it was drawn by no architect, for the doors, the windows and the many halls follow un- certain and devious ways. The door opens into a narrow wing pas- sage, which grows wider through the breadth of the main dwelling, [73] a | | See x Es Sectincss od ee oa ace a beer nein a a ec SA a ee eee Satie aie mene onirsa areo-aeamsciemenena oe Oe ee a fy wt iL ‘ Sy yy oe ee eeeee Fa aC a a Ce a ae rae nT 5 ‘ = a eee ri f f A oad ee INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES then returns to the narrow width. It ends first at a chamber, then turns swiftly down to the service stair and the colonnade beyond. The hall runs straight across the house front. A well shaped arch— but not built for any particular need—is carved out of the sanded plaster, and this is as plain as any monastery could have. The ceil- ing here is low, and the only attempted ornamentation is a broad chair rail with moulded, projecting centre. The parlour is on the right of the house as one enters, the music- room in the centre, and back of this, in the leg of the T-shaped plan, are the colonnades and dining room, each most attractive, with windows on three sides. The main stair ascends from the colonnade, and although there are two stairways in the dwelling, there are but two open fireplaces— one in the drawing room and the other in the first floor bed- 7 room. The parlour occupies the —— : i whole of the right wing, and or ) [ here a beautiful mantel deco- a rated with an interlace motif is rivalled by one of the hand- somest cornices in Williamsburg, or in Virginia. While rather nar- row, Owing, one supposes, to the low ceilings, with a strip of moulding above and below, modillions of the cornice hold one entranced for many minutes in the wonder how at such a far away date it could possibly have been so well made. The mantel is a gem, and one hates to admit that it is years younger than the cornice, but the admission must be made; no mantels were used until after the Revo- lution, and Peyton Randolph had been glorying in his cornice long before the Colonies won their freedom. f Rambling through this beautiful little city one sees on each street fagades of houses high in the esteem of architects. One of these, on Capitol Street, is delightful in every line. It has the atmosphere of great age, and although it might be called a four-part composition, has no one roof boundary, the skyline of each having a different height. That is the delight! The original portion of the dwelling was built very early in Co- lonial days by John Coke, who came of the Coke family of Trusley, England, and was a man of importance in the Colony. This is [ 74] pew seamen ininanin nat arene tip tive hanstittanatam inane nn Ce RA TMU POI OT OT OT STAT ST, OO ee. Sr STS OO | SANNA NN DPSSMore Houses or Otp WILLIAMSBURG a a Chimney end of parlour. The mantel enriched with interlace and the modillion cornice are noteworthy. incorporated in the long, low house, which seems shy as it huddles back of the customary white picket fence heavily hung with vines of green and other vines of colour. The largest of this four-part composition is fully two and a half storeys high, and beneath this the less ambitious buildings seem to hover. The end building is charming. It has a high-pitched roof pierced by three narrow, | 7G |, on 4 & ad ra - ot ~ ne ee! = a ee eed A ia lace Satanic patel attest sid eerciemreee eee See eaeSie Fhe aca oar Se Ta ie = Pe Ren a A a A IS = eer aS The Garrett House, one of the most charming dwellings im Williamsburg. peaked dormers and one chimney, which breaks into the sky some distance above. The tiny building is very, very low, the pediment of its portal touching the line of the roof. Two eighteen-pane win- dows with eight green-painted outer blinds occupy almost the en- tire space of the front wall. With trees and vines and shrubs around it, the clapboard house is like a pastoral painted on a Louis Quinze fan. The next part of the house is three storeys in height, and this, too, has a gable roof, end chimney and two dormers to make the third floor habitable. The second storey has very low ceilings, but it is very light, as four windows of fifteen panes of glass each stretch across the front—and probably across the rear. All have green shutters. ‘The balcony on this storey is encircled by a balustrade of Chinese Chippendale lattice of a very ornate pattern. Curiously, the porch below has no railing in front, but has lattice at each end. The tiny little building next encountered is like the cocked hat of [ 76 ]More Houses or O_p WILLIAMSBURG the ancient regime. Its gable roof, half the length of the first wing, is a trifle lower, and two dormers are there instead of three. The same type chimney rises from the same end position. There are in reality two windows and one door on the lower storey, but an ancient lilac bush has so thrown out its arms that now just one win- dow is seen as it peeps shyly out at the street. The fourth or last addition stands at right angles in front of the other building, and, though this has no dormers, it has a fanlight in its deep gable end. Whether this is merely used as a porch or has living quarters at the rear, it forms a very delightful ending to the rambling, charming house. ENTRANCE HALL Ne i DRAWING ROOM HALL DINING ROOM CHAMBER SMALL PARLOR. STAIR HALL SECOND > First floor plan of the Garrett House. The Garrett House well represents three different architectural periods—the true Colonial, the Renaissance and the Jeffersonian. The hall of the west wing is just about large enough for the Chinese Chippendale stair which, tradition says, was put there when the house was built. Such stairways are not common in Virginia. There is one at Brandon, but the rest, it is supposed, are to be seen in Williamsburg. The steps are high and narrow, with each line betraying unskilled workmanship. The plain newel post is much higher than the majority and is built into the lowest step. The angle post is, like the newel, square of shaft and cap, but the sheath- ing of the stairway, while less than a foot deep at the bottom, is many feet higher at the rear, although the balustrade maintains the same width. ‘The lattice is very narrow and is interlaced in two di- rections between the sheathing and an interesting hand rail. At regu- [773] Se Ee : 3 a nape , ae ae ee ct ethan Siedntdnineensinst Seetnar eee ee a . 7 ee NS TT Se a eal eee Se ia has ie abate ee eet Senden terre eee ee ae eee tte 5 yerSiac ahaa RCT SAUL Sts SL Ce By PPNOW) Koh pearl ea OE | a a a a a OI eS TE ee earl eeMore Houses oF O_p WILLIAMSBURG Detail of Chinese Chippendale stair. The scalloped effect is caused by the wall stringer showing through the lattice. & lar intervals upright pieces make of the lattice squares. The portico has at each end balustrades which show the same oriental influence as the stairway within. Arare old Chinese lantern hangs above the stair, and the doorways, wall stringer and balustrade are of walnut. The entrance door, with its mark of the craftsman, stands immedi- ately beneath the one landing; the door frames are white, the floors [79] vl a TH ow a mA I )a | y ee Cl em Lk: PoP ety rh Re AL ee ee RC jaca Ade Pi A i CL LT a a a aE INTERIORS OF VRIGINIA HousEs OF COLONIAL TIMES very old, and an antique chest fills the space on one side of the white plaster wall. On the west of this hall is a small bedroom, on the east, the small parlour, with doors leading into both direct from the entrance. The right-hand room has an open fireplace, and it is into this chim- ney that the drawing room fire- place opens. This was the line, too, where the first addition probably was made. The hallway, following the Colonial idea, extends from front to front, and though longer, is but little wider than that along Chinese lines. A plain and heavy arch spans the hall where the steps —unusually narrow for the period— begin their rise. The stairway is distinctly angular. The mahogany or walnut newel is round and slen- der, except at the top, where it flat- tens out into a small square to uphold a turned ball. The hand rail and angle post are also of dark wood, and the latter is enough like that at Stratford to prove its Colonial iden- tity. The side is panelled, and the wall stringer meets on the landing Z <— _ a wainscot sheathing of very wide Chamber in the south wing room. boards. Aghis) 4s Viet yy Nakhow, merely an upper piece of the wall, but the latter is covered with what has helped make the Garrett House famous—imported wall paper with an all-over design of convention- alized leaves. Upon the walls hangs a most interesting collection of Indian relics, and next them stand card and tilt-top tables and a chair inspired by Chippendale, but made by some craftsman on this side of the ocean. The woodwork of the hall is painted white, and from the key- block of the broad arch hangs an antique lantern that would be a prize in any collection. The dining room is entered from the south end of the hall, and [80]More Houses or Otp WILLIAMSBURG The stair hall. A rare collection of Indian relics is seen inthe right foreground. here is more old-fashioned wall paper in soft shades, a pleasant:back- ground for old silver, china and mahogany—the inheritance of long ago. The parlour completes the first storey of the main house, and is given great interest by the Chinese wall paper which dates from Seventeen-fifty, when chinoisiere were in favour. The condition and the colouring of the paper in the drawing room are remarkable, because it is the first brought to Williamsburg. The design con- sists of small landscapes in rococo frames on a seeded background, and narrow decorated strips of paper are used to simulate panelling. The landscapes of different types alternate on the supposed panel- ling. A provincial cornice of many moulded lines slopes toward a narrow moulding above it and forms, in a way, a coved ceiling. Whatever may belong to a post-Revolutionary day, the majority of the Garrett House and its surroundings is very old. Trees, lopped by storm, but clinging fast to the life that is left. Crepe myrtles, [ 81 ] Ps 4 tee ee ye Se Sa eieme eaeeceee cee T et eee ee Se lene ee - “ ee - = Blaser titrant seen teat rete EE ee ; er EN ae SE nee ee poe 3 3 Ss 8 > 3 x S — 9 ~ 2 S = 2 e S = = S$ S x SD > -S S x 3S % = SS ale Rectan led eee ee ee a : ; rg les EES Daa neeMore Houses or O_p WILLIAMSBURG the architrave and its facing of the same marble. The chimney breast is panelled, and where it ends on the sides the arches begin to prove their beauty. These are not very broad, but they are beautifully deep, and each permits space for an alcove of varied uses. Each alcove has in it a window the size of the others in the house. The modillion cornice shows the touch of a master craftsman—par- [J Coos a ticularly where it breaks out over =n the firebreast with a round frieze. The wainscot is panelled in squares ‘ and the dado cap is of three parts, with ovolo moulding, which is lar- gest and in the centre. The panel- ling, except above the mantelpiece, is done in the French fashion, wide panels alternating with very narrow stiles. With the exception of door frames and doors the woodwork of the room is painted white. This room is well designed, and the beau- tifully executed woodwork can not be excelled in Virginia, all of which is well set off by the proportions of twenty-five by thirty-five feet. When Tazewell Hall was built, Sir John and Lady Randolph were among the most popular hosts in fie a the Colony, and no one visiting Archway between hall and dining room. Williamsburg was considered of con- sequence without being entertained at their residence. There was a son, Edmund, in the family, and two charming daughters, so no one wondered at the popularity of the Randolphs of Tazewell Hall. Then a black cloud rose over Virginia and, in common with the other Col- onies, when the roll of the Loyal Americans was called, the name of Sir John Randolph was not on the list. Lady Randolph is said never to have given up her dish of tea and Sir John continued to be “My Lord.” When Lord Dunmore was to embark with his family for England, the Randolph family were included, and tradition tells that it was just before this voyage that John the father and Edmund the [87] ’ 1 me Vs a ee , - Tre Se aetna eerie a dea ee i i ; ci ki J ’ ow | : Re cB : = ai { i i i i f iH H H i i LU i Pe ' yi iC 7 . H 4 ; MY ‘ Yi Sete GL INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs oF COLONIAL TIMES son parted forever. The elder could never give up surveillance to his King; his son was a true American. Edmund became the next owner of the estate, and the very year that Dunmore sailed he married Miss Betsy Nicholson, a belle of Colonial days. The old house of the Randolphs has known the best of the Colonies. It has grimly watched the tea-drinking in a home divided against itself. It has been moved from its original site, has known the ignominy of additions and alterations. It has existed through the least artistic period the world has ever known and it will, we trust, continue to live through the period of enlightenment that is on the way. The present and most hospitable owner of Tazewell Hall is Mrs. Peyton Randolph Nelson, a relative or con- nection of the original family. Of such are the old houses of Williamsburg—houses over which time and storm have passed gently, touching some with the moss of unavoidable decay, some with the heartrending scars of certain un- happy years, but all with the greens and grays of age. The secret of Williamsburg’s fascination lies, of course, in its history, and all through the town may be found the buildings closely identified with the very dramatic incidents that marked our beginning as a world power. Founded by the makers of history, each house is cherished and revered, and as the years have lengthened into cen- turies a romantic atmosphere has enveloped every old dwelling which stands today in the midst of gardens blooming in the gentle dignity of more than three hundred years ago.YORK HALL N the historic province of Yorktown, not far from the river’s edge, stands a picturesque old dwell- ing that carries one back to the days when George III ruled over the English dominion: on both sides of the broad Atlantic. This ancient house was built by William Nelson in Seventeen-forty. Thomas Nelson, the emigrant, was born in Penrith, England, in Sixteen-seventy seven, and came to Virginia about Sixteen-ninety nine. Five years later he settled permanently in York County, where, according to the epitaph on his armorial tomb, “he completed a well spent life in age? Thomas was succeeded by his son William, builder of the house and who has since been known as President Nelson because for some years he was President of the Colony. There is a pretty legend, which says that Thomas II, the little son of President Nelson, though but two years of age, with dexterous assistance managed to hold in his tiny hands the brick used in laying the corner stone. The massive structure is placed on a terrace above the street corner with brick walls surrounding it upon all sides. On the west there is a modern garden which follows the lines of the old Blow Garden in England, a garden of boxwood and crepe myrtles, with almost every sort of flower, all dominated by a Chinaberry tree. Upon the north is the street. In rather a provincial way the house appears to attempt the reali- zation of a foreign ideal, and is a fine specimen of Flemish pattern. Heavy chimneys with very unusual caps arise above both gables, in the east of which embedded cannon balls are a reminder of a dis- tressing chapter in the history of the place; for two years the Revo- lutionary war bore hard upon the old dwelling and left it injured and defaced. The cornice is very elaborate, and the delicately arched [ 89 ] ta SE ie es para hemeentam doe I er Seta ae en j ae N feee InTERIORS OF VirGINIA Houses or CoLoniAL TIMES York Halli, known originally as the Nelson House, was built ti 1740. window frames are spanned by flat brick arches, the middle voussior of which is white stone. The stone quoins of the house “‘key”’ per- fectly into the brick, and between the first and second storeys a belt course traverses the field of the wall. Within the past few years the shingles of the roof have been re- placed by slate of varied hue, and in order to make the attic habi- table according to modern ideas, dormers were cut out of it. Four windows look out over the tidal reaches of York River and over the rear, while three more penetrate the sides. In a way, the entrance might be called a porch chamber, as it meets such a need by having brick walls with an archway. Originally there was but one entrance arch and no windows, but in the restoration of the house a second arch was cut and windows added. Going through the arch one enters a large wide hall with two rooms on each side—the dining and drawing rooms, library and study. The walls are panelled from base to top with pine painted [ 90 ] ea Sa eC en oe edYork Hay The hall where tesselated floor and impressive stairway are among the few changes made when the house was restored. old ivory, and the cornice is puritanically plain. A floor of white and black tesselated marble supplants the older one of wood. Like the floor, the impressive stairway is more modern than the house, but these are among the very few changes made in the house. This stair of mahogany finish replaces one with a balustrade made of three rectangular rails. The balusters are delicately turned; the newel swings out farther than the majority of Georgian design, and the hand railis mahogany. Half a hand rail separates the dado from the upper panelled wall. Although modern, the stairway follows beautifully the lines of King George’s day, and forms a very distinct- ive part of the composition of the hall. The furniture is Louis XV. The walls of the drawing room—also panelled—are painted the colour of sand, with the bevels picked out in a deeper shade. They have been purposely mellowed to give the effect of age. The cor- nice is more formal than that in the hall, and from the ceiling hang [or] a ee ee Sa a i eee ee Sea eat ee Pl eS ee See eera et TTT Se cme etna ceac N ONE CRE TET en ee Ue as | CN ot at by fare Vee ey ft eae te ROL Abeer ‘ead INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES the tinkling, iridescent pendants of a crystal chandelier. Pilasters, with the customary mingling of reeding and fluting, decorate each side of the fireplace, and their capitals seem to be the result attained by an untrained artisan who, with meagre information, attempted the Corinthian order. The window frames are arched as on the exterior and give within a_ very graceful line. Each has eighteen panes of glass and a comfortable seat. In the old fireplace, flames still leap about the quaint andirons, and rich mahogany gleams where once loomed more ancient walnut. This spacious room has in both col- our and furnishings the beauty and wealth characteristic of the houses of Tidewater Virginia in Colonial times. The pine panels of the dining room are painted two shades of gray, and splendid proportions and great dignity mark the room. An application of segmental columns stands on the sides of the flush chimney breast and windows; these too, show the mark of the inexpe- rienced journeyman. ‘The denticu- lated cornice has great vigor and the The original stairway with balustrade of treatment of both panels and win- iemnccinicE linn als dows corresponds to that of the drawing room. The fireplace is faced with light marble cut on Elizabethan lines, and hanging above the marble shelf is a painting of merit. The majority of the furniture is Chippendale, in the midst of which a lacquer commode is permitted. The small chamber leading to the secret stairway of Colonial days was sacrificed for domestic purposes in the restoration of York Hall, as the house is now known; though the stair was removed, the panel in this room which gave access to it may still be seen. The library on another side of the house has panelled walls of that curious orange colour so popular when America was very young, [ 92 ]ry ts psa eee ee eee Nee a tad or ee 7 i/ 4 Loa ua VA Set Mich . : - 3] at i = z ae sin z 35 2 ip es be gt ry 7 i Pe pe oF " : ieee ae fe! “ ye hand Pe = rar if * : ie Sita Se ee Sa The many repairs to the dining room were so successfully accomplished that it remains a fine example of the Colonial builder’s work. ——— a a ee en and the bevels give an almost eastern touch by being painted black and lighter ochre. Above stairs the chambers duplicate the first storey rooms, and here the woodwork, like that of the rest of the house, is heart pine. All of the rooms are painted two shades of the same colour. For many years the panels were whitewashed; for other years they were painted an ugly buff with stippled surface. In the restoration the walls were scraped of layer after layer of paint, but when this was all removed, the wood beneath was found to be a delightful shade between mahogany and rosewood. The little boy who held with such effort the brick for the corner stone developed into a conspicuous figure of Colonial America. He was a member of the Williamsburg Convention of Seventeen-seventy six, signed the Declaration of Independence, and was made Com- mander-in-Chief of the Virginia Militia as the result of having [ 93 ] Sel A ee re Baereshde beaten emorrad iets pe ee ee pees = So, ¥ "i 4 rs \i { i H H 7 i ' i “i H i } ( ' f bi yi i 4 H H : 4 H a Ls Eero os Ss Sac INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES equipped three hundred troops at his personal expense. He gave so much of his estate to the cause of patriotism that it was not remark- able that he died a very poor man. When Lord Cornwallis took Yorktown, he selected General Nelson’s residence for his headquar- ters, and at the request of the owner the Continentals under the di- rection of La Fayette, opened fire upon the Nelson House, as the can- non balls so firmly embedded in the east wall will testify. One shot did great damage to the dining room; others tore the wall, while General Nelson calmly looked on. Although he was left an ample fortune, Thomas Nelson II loved his country far too much for pros- perity, and the scars made by the Revolution remained without and within the historic dwelling. In Eighteen-twenty four York Hall again came into the limelight, for it was here that the Marquis de La Fayette was entertained when he visited Yorktown the last time. The old building suffered again during the War between the States, but today York Hall dominates Yorktown as the Nelson House did Detail of recessed window between in the olden time. When the PACES applied segmental columns. CrGy Came pinto the possession of Mr. George Blow in Nineteen-four- teen there was much repairing to be done, and so well was this ac- complished that the house still remains a splendid example of the Colonial builder’s art, and one feels the splendour of its brightest days within the panelled walls of the spacious rooms. The stately house, of great height, curiously enough, seems shy. It hides back of great boxwood clumps which tower above the ivied wall and it is now reaping the benefit of the repose due after the vicissitudes of its early days and the anguish of Seventy-six. York Hall appears far away from the present, a bit—a real glimpse [ 94 ]York HA.y of the past, and as year follows year and century merges into cen- tury its atmosphere of peaceful age will gain in startling contrast to the modern restless day. = Ef i ay D ne RM ¥ sa CEILING ™. } ~ A k ‘o" HIGH’. : 7 a 4 12-0 i os @ 2-F = ll LIVING/R0oM PARLOR Original plan of the first floor of York Hail. Yorktown has changed, is changing daily, but the old Nelson House remains much the same. It has seen a meadow transformed into a thriving little city; it witnessed the climax of the war drama of Seventeen-seventy six and it still exists as if to prove to twentieth century iconoclasts the great charm of the true Colonial house. if t Pf i i a ra a a ay ay my pene he eemeet SU npn pen | GAAP Pr ke aries 1 ri oe as SendSHORT distance from the sandy beach of beau- tiful York River there stands upon a corner of an ancient city’s thoroughfare an old brick house. It is not a large dwelling but is supremely beau- tiful with its aged bricks, and with ivy and rare coloured vines climbing at will over the walls and chimneys. The creepers shoot up to the delicate * cornice and give an unparalleled Colonial effect. Rising upon the lot marked “56” on the original plat of York- town, the house was erected about Sixteen-ninety three, and shows in every line the architecture that was born in the reign of Charles II and is more or less Dutch Colonial. The curb roof and dormer windows show the Dutch lines, while the dentil cornice and vine- hung T chimneys bespeak the latter influence. The well laid bricks in a Flemish pattern of which the walls are built are a tribute to the originality of Inigo Jones. Now the residence of Mr. Conway Sheild, examination shows that the builder of the house was Thomas Sessions, who purchased the site in Sixteen-ninety one. The property was not sold without restric- tions, however, for with it went the requirement that within two years from the date the lot was bought a house should be standing on it. Sessions was evidently satisfied with his bargain, and the next heard of his property was in Sixteen-ninety nine when the house was given as a boundary line. This seems to prove the date of the building. The chimneys rise high enough above the slate roof to become important features of the exterior composition, and the five dormers, spaced with meticulous care, have twelve panes of glass. Four windows of eighteen lights break through the front walls, with one of the same size on the west side and one much smaller just be- low the roof line on the second storey. The denticulated cornice [ 97 ] ae et oan RA Nyssa ae Se ee See Sc eee ee a enn ET cag JSON ses. arei i t 4 Py j i ; 3 i i i é i H r y ' : 4 ra i a ' t i at, hy Hi f by INTERIORS OF VirGINIA Houses oF CoLoniaL TIMES The Sheild House, built between 1691 and 1699, is the most lovely house in old Yorktown. which ornaments the front only is so low that it rests almost on the window frames where shutters painted green are in harmony with the vines. The brick walls are very lovely—the faded black of the glazed headers, the salmon colour of some of the bricks—the brown of others; the grays of yesterday, the greens of today, make the ex- terior surprisingly beautiful. The portico on the river front was added after the house was built, for its slightly slanting roof is above the cornice line, thus hiding the dentil course for as many feet as the porch is wide. The basement entrance on the west side must always have had at least a hood. The basement is high above ground, which makes the house three storied. A flight of steps reaches the porch from the side and a massive door swings open to reveal a delightful glimpse of the seven- teenth century interior. The entrance door is at least eight feet tall, and eight bevelled panels alternate to form double crosses. [ 98 ]eT iTh) Tue SHEILD House None of the rails or stiles measure exactly the same, and on the street front of one of the latter is an antique knocker. The door hangs on old H hinges which are unusually large in order to bear its weight. The hall to which this great door gives entrance is ten by eighteen feet and its dominant note is struck in the archway which forms an al- cove on one side and has at the rear a door companion to that on the front. Reeded pilasters are placed against the frame of the archway which on each side ex- tends about two inches. The bases of the pilasters are the type frequently seen in Colonial work, but the capitals, with plain, deep frieze below, show the crude handiwork of an early carpen- ter. They are merely narrow mouldings which project at an angle beyond the frieze. The arch that spans the opening con- sists of four parts and seems a bit shallow for the height of the frame, and the spandrel with mouldings and bevelling is wider on one side than the other in order to meet certain architectu- ral exigencies, another indication aaa ~ eo BS. an eta ee of the ancient journeyman. The The entrance door is eight feet high, and simulated keystone is roperly swings on antique H hinges which B are unusually heavy. in the centre, but its lines and the manner in which it is placed are worthy of observation by the student of seventeenth century methods. The wider part is reeded and is below the top of the arch, the upper portion being above, but the builder was not particular about having the two exactly in line. The wide chair rail extends more than an inch beyond the sur- face of the wall, but the baseboard is narrow. A door on the side, but near the front of the house, has an en- framement which is mitred at the corners, and this opens from the hall into the reception room, which is almost square. The door is [ 99 ] Seated ietienetaiatatet stead ee re ee a ee * Sw KOE Sa cheater nee otoEAU Ee Wt a ey Or kn DANGER a ets ie th v1 at cm pL ay tam SWAP ar K : CECE CUAL Soul bd ar The arch that spans the hall near the rean is a delightfully provincial attempt at the classical.Tue SHEILD House of the six-panel type and has H-and-_L hinges; and opposite it on the east side of the room is the large fireplace with wooden mantel above.. With the exception of a two-inch mould around it, the fire- place is unfaced, the vertical and horizontal boards of the mantel leaving a full view of the brick lining within. An excellent mould- ing follows the outer edges of the boards, extending even beneath the mantelshelf. The moulding was evidently cut when the shelf was put on and now goes only as far as the brackets which support the latter. The extension of the top of the mantelpiece shows that the latter has been in the house many years. The three windows—-two in front and one on the side—are worthy of study. Set back in deep reveals with vigorous muntins dividing the. panes of glass and with panelled inner “window shuts'; as Got lonial blinds were called, this feature of the Sheild House is worthy of admiration. The blinds fold back into the deep-panelled jambs when not in use and afford, with the outside shutters, great protec- tion: .The cap piece of the window frames has one narrow sunk panel and a larger oblong panel fills the space beneath the window and above the seat. In a most unusual manner for walls neither panelled nor wainscoted, the panelling incident to the windows con- tinues from the frames to the floor. An original etching of General Lee on Traveller hangs above a candle-stand, and much of the furniture in the room is in character with the dwelling. Across the hall is the Colonial chamber with the same style win- dows and an open fireplace. The chair rail here duplicates that.1in the hall, and many of this exact type are found in the earliest period: of Virginia houses. This was because its simplicity made it possible for many to be built by inexperienced men. The baseboard is nar- row and appears to extend beyond the lower panelling of the win- dows. The walls of the chamber are papered, and on one hangs a frame of rare prints taken from Godey’s Magazine. Another wall displays within a framed glass a large number of Confederate stamps. All of the woodwork in this part of the house is said to be heart pine and all of it is painted white. The only stairway in the delightful dwelling ascends from one side of a transverse hall which is only three feet wide. This stair seems so very old, for the steps are worn with the tramp of many feet during many, many years, and the balustrade is crude but tn- [rox] sari meee oc eee a earl LIE is a a st woe ee eesti eemka terete ad le ns Se Pea >” Sa"Se tee ee “Taattsx aa SEEN AE SE TT ane ee i = : 4 ye) INTERIORS OF VirGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES The mantel of the reception room is painted white, and with projection of top piece and moulded edge is—without the shelf—a very old style. teresting, being formed of two narrow rectangular rails exactly like the original in the Nelson House across the street. The inconspic- uous stairway not only ascends to the second storey but descends to the basement as well. Just beyond the steps and at the end of the narrow hall is the dining room. Though faithful in detail to the spirit of Colonial days; in the Sheild House are gathered the essen- tials of comfort which are not permitted to interfere with the effect of age. The third floor has a hall and two large rooms. Each storey has a different plan. Perhaps it is in this that rare papers are stored away among other unseen treasures of the old brick house. So many there are and of such interest are they that it would take a long, long time to complete the examination of them. Family papers tracing the descent from the beginnings of the Virginia Col- ony—ancient deeds, one of which is dated Seventeen-twenty two and [ xo2) |THE SHEILD HousE One of the many windows with small panes, fat muntins and panelled inner blinds. relates to the famous Swan Tavern; the register of that popular hostelry which read, through the years of the Revolution, like Burke’s Peerage. Still other deeds to which are affixed the signatures of some of Virginia’s most distinguished men and letters—scores of letters where one may read of the hopes and fears, the loves, the lives of many generations ago. More modern registers contain a wealth of autographs of personages of today. [ 103 ] oN a) 5 eer Ta, ee a Le ena eeenteiee ne eo ee eT a a anlar ieee tattle teeta oe OE ee eee H Bu Rg yl a D Ag ‘ A + oy g \Fa a en a INTERIORS OF VirGINIA Houses oF CoLoniaL TIMES Being as close as it was to General Nelson’s home when Lord Cornwallis had his headquarters there during the Yorktown siege, it is scarcely possible that this cottage-like dwelling could have es- caped sad memories of the Revolutionary War. When La Fayette, acting under the orders of General Nelson, bombarded the latter’s splendid home, some shell aimed at the larger must surely have in- flicted damage to the smaller houses across the way. Neither his- tory nor tradition can recall the story of the part the Sheild House took in Seventeen-eighty one. BACK HALL CHAMBER xs LIVING ROOM First floor plan of the Sheild House. During the sad conflict between the States, when Yorktown was held by the Northern army, this residence was used as headquarters by the Federal officers, and when the Marquis de La Fayette revisited the scene of his early and dauntless valour, he recalled the quaint little house in the shadow of his commanding general’s home. Many have been the owners of this jewel of a house which, with a background of splendid trees, still stands beneath the brow of York Hall, or the Nelson House. The four wars it has witnessed may have been the cause of a constant change in the names of its possessors. But the tenure of no family has lasted anything like as long as that of Mr. Conway H. Sheild, whose family since Nine- teen-one have called the enchanting little place home. — The Reverend Samuel Sheild, of York County, who was awarded the Botetourt Medal for classical learning at the College of William [ 104 ]Tue SHEILD Houser and Mary in Seventeen-seventy three, was one of the great-grand- fathers of the present owner of the house. Robert Sheild, the father of Samuel, was a captain during the French and Indian Wars of Seventeen-fifty six No one of prominence visits Yorktown without asking to see this quaint old house, and in the register kept by Mrs. Sheild will be found the names of Presidents and Cabinet officers: of authors and artists; of foreign ambassadors and heroes of the wars; of governors; of officers of the military and the navy. The list is long and is fraught with intense interest. This small building of great individuality seems to speak of the tranquil beauty of life within its ancient walls, and its story belongs to a. country that should revere its record as one of the few houses which has withstood the wash of Time, the roar of war and the unfortunate changes of the modern day. - ae Da eons ee ieee a ‘se . ? aa | us i i i os i H A i i, ! OE ema ae Perea ee Sia ‘ xDOT eter : t hr ere Ae BcTEMPLE FARM HREE QUARTERS of a mile from Yorktown, basking in the serenity of its mellow age, there is an old house which stands alone and apart from every other dwelling in the world. Surrounded by a grove of walnut and locust trees, with here and there a gnarled catalpa, this rambling struc- ture of clapboards painted white strikes a respon- sive chord in every loyal American heart. Known now as Temple Farm, this historic property came into legal existence in Sixteen-thirty three. The land was leased under the name of York Plantation, to a man by the name of Baker and others by deed of Sixteen-thirty four. On this spot a few years later stood the house of Nicholas Mar- tain, a leader of the first American rebellion. Martain it was who led the Colonists when they captured the arrogant Sir John Harvey, then governor, and sent him back to Great Britain. In July, Sixteen-forty six, George Ludlow, of an influential English family, obtained a large patent, six hundred acres of which had belonged to Baker. Ludlow’s tract, “beginning at the mouth of Wormeley’s Creek and from thence running to the river 555 poles unto certain marked trees.” Upon the death of George Ludlow, the estate was inherited by his nephew, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Ludlow who qualified on the property in Sixteen-sixty. After the death of Thomas, his widow married the Reverend Peter Temple of York Parish and moved with her family to England. In Sixteen-eighty six, “Ludlow’s Land” was bought by Lawrence Smith, a man of consequence in Virginia. There is a pretty story which claims Governor Spotswood as the owner at a later date, although the research of Dr. Lyon Tyler would seem to have disproved the tradition. However, the story is [ 107 ] >a densi cemeiiaietere tame ener Feneeeeeted ate as ms 5 lle aonGt Le lar ee nee ae io & aac ener a ee aiteeneeeineeeneeeeee a Temple Farm. In the room on the right hand corner was signed, October 19, 1781, the most momentous document in the history of America. so old and so much credence has been given it that it does not seem out of place to pay a tribute to this scion of the ancient Scotch family of Spottiswoode. The first of his name in Virginia, Alexander Spotswood came over as Lieutenant Governor under the Earl of Orkney. He reached Hampton in June, Seventeen-ten, and was rowed in a Bedford galley to Jamestown. This man who had followed Marlborough and been wounded at Blenheim—an autocrat and an aristocrat— has been called the greatest of Virginia’s Colonial governors. He stood for many things, among which were changes in the mode of granting land and the collection of Quit rents. At the time that he was, developing mines, he was projecting an Indian school and re- building the College of William and Mary after it had been burned. His most romantic episode, however, was in leading his Horseshoe Knights on the memorable transmontane expedition. He toasted [ 108 }TEMPLE Farm King George from a mountain top September fifth, Seventeen-six- teen, and christened the river that ran through the fair valley the “Euphrates,” which is our Shenandoah. The central portion of the house at Temple Farm is said to have been there in Spotswood’s day, and this is reared upon a rectangular _ CHAMBER PARLOR ROOM IN WHICH CORNWALLIS SIGNED CAPITULATION oO First floor plan of Temple Farm. plan which afforded much interior accommodation for the material and labour. The front displays a breadth of sixty feet with a depth of thirty. A modest cornice finishes the eaves, and five dormers pierce the roof—part shingle, part tin. The tall chimneys are shaped like a TI’, and on each side of the first floor four windows look outward. An attractive little porch on the river front opens directly into the house where doors of six rectangular panels stand at each end of the hall which is twelve by seventeen. The door and window frames are put together by mortise and tenon, and a dark baseboard finishes the walls at the floor. The chair rail protrudes to an unusual degree and shows three distinct mouldings in place of the one ordinarily used. The white stair- [ 109 ] eta arta aa wry Screen ee ER Yor par geern neem ee —s ere a st ae a 21sateen ae ne Cente Fa Se tate Se Relea bead ee ee (i> oo ali A enema ae FS re atti ate ae aos et - - ar Se ee INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES The hall is austerely plain in woodwork and design. way which begins at end of the hall has a mahogany hand rail, and this rises from within a curious newel. The steps of natural wood are narrow, and a stringer, also very narrow, takes the place of brack- ets. The spindles are perfectly square. The walls are painted cream colour, and all of the woodwork, except the steps, hand rail and baseboard, would undoubtedly disclose the soft colour of pine beneath the white paint. The west door leads out to the porch which runs the length of the house. A wide stair window lights the only landing which is a little over four feet wide, and this has square- capped angle posts where the balustrade changes direction. Four rooms fill the space of the first floor, each of a different size. The largest is twenty-two feet square, and was undoubtedly the Colonial drawing room, where Colonial balls ‘““were made,” no other room being large enough. A much worn and shallow step drops from this room to the level of the latter-day kitchen and more modern addition containing the service quarters. Back of the drawing room [ 110 ]TEMPLE Farm is a small, narrow room, and opposite the latter the characteristic chamber is but little larger. Between this and the historic room on the river front are double doors. The southwest room measures twelve by eighteen feet, and in it the very soul of the house is found, for here it was that Lord Corn. wallis met George Washington and signed the most momentous docu. ment in the history of America. In George Washington’s Diary, under date of October seventeenth, Seventeen-eighty one, one reads: “About two o’clock, the enemy beat a parley and Lord Cornwallis proposed a cessation of hostilities for 2 hours, that Commissioners might meet.at the house of a Mr. Moore (in the rear of our first parallel) to settle terms for the surrender.” The greatest scene of American history was played on the stage set in this simple little room at Temple Farm that October day, one hundred and forty-six years ago. The most interesting architec- tural detail in the house is found in the same room across which the fireplace cuts diagonally. A crude mantel and curious window frames show an unskilled attempt at a certain elaboration, and both walls and woodwork are painted white. The frames of the doors leading in and out of the room are provincial, and like those of the rest of the floor, the ceiling here is about ten feet high. Above stairs the ceilings make the rooms seem low-browed, and here the walls are cream. The hall is rather large, and some of the rooms have fireplaces in the corners. Temple Farm has had its place in fiction, with the Colonial gov- ernor as the hero, but what Bishop Meade wrote many years ago is true to-day: “Its capacity for improvement is very great.” The house has changed hands often, and at the close of each tenantry the interior seems to have parted with some portion of its early grandeur. During the Revolution it was known as The Moore House, as its owner was Augustine Moore, and later it became the property of William H. Shield, who thus described it: “The house at Temple Farm is built of wood and is in a rather dilapidated condition at present. The original building was very large and consisted of a centre building with two wings, either one of which was as large as the present house, which in fact was the centre building.” The plantation, supposed to have been loved by Governor Spots- wood, has been a place of many masters, to none of which is credited the place name. It was known as Temple Field for a time, and next urns] 4 3 eo % ae Fe ae ee ee ee ~ ‘ Ce er ee Sick aaa ee a 4 H } i H f i i at { ti rf i i 7 i : i ry i t ca 4 Fs oY a ¥Pe a oe ae renee a ee ee eR EE a La aed ee UNV es 7h Poet a Ne a aa INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES was called “Temple Farm.” There is a legend about a classic tem- ple said to have been built inthe garden by Sir Alexander, and to this for years has been attributed the origin of the name. . How- ever, this is altogether untrue, and no doubt the name, first Temple Field, then Temple Farm, was suggested by that of Mrs. Thomas Ludlow’s second husband, the Reverend Peter Temple. Shaded by hoary-headed trees and strewn with periwinkle and violets, this now neglected Acre of God has frequently been pointed out as the burial place of Alexander Spotswood. There is little truth in this, for as Spots- wood was on the eve of depart- ing for Carthagena, he died in Annapolis June seventh, Sev- enteen-forty. The only Colo- nial tomb that has been identified at Temple Farm is that of Major Gooch, who died in Sixteen-fifty five. Throw memory back to Sev- enteen-eighty one, when the Revolutionary armies were drawn up along the road leading through Temple Farm. These Hoe red pom the hall into the room of the two historic lines stretching for “angular panels ond provincial frame. nore than a mile, just twenty yards apart—the Continentals commanded by George Washington on the right, the French under Rochambeau on the left. At two o’clock a scarlet column advanced slowly and in perfect order. The silence was profound as the English troops moved toward the field selected for laying down their arms. Cornwallis, suffering the depths of humiliation, did not add lustre to his name that fateful day, for he plead “‘indisposition,” and or- dered General O’Hara to act in his place. Tears rolled down the faces of some of the Redcoats as they threw the arms, with which they had lived for nearly five years, upon the ground. Others, in aay eee = | i ||TEMPLE Farm the deep degradation of the moment, turned away or hid faces. Silently one leaves the old house to dream in the summer sunshine—leaves it to the story writers who have made so much of it. Let them re-weave the spell that will bring back to the old messuage the river view of London ships loaded with finery for the daughters of the Colonial governor. Let them visualize the vanished scenes of Colonial brilliancy, the drama of love and war. To-day the visitor to Temple Farm leaves it with a feeling of profound reverence for its Colonial association. The place should occupy The type of holdback use on the extertor shutters at Temple Farm. their d forever a shrine in the hearts of the American people, for within its confines—after many hopes and times of suffering—the brave Colo- nists saw the close of the Revolution which ended the British Empire in America. SSP ew nein ie Se SRS See ew Stow ope cf | ‘ o a i 4 y hy Be eo > 4 ee bi_ — ae a , Phe orgy POSS Wa OPP, ew ha Sc ST eer Aiea ba Shoaib ig Heme en om SUD Rr Diarra ; PAUP TLRS Sie ac = H ) San ep a a ta eT aca laa ee et et ee aneTODDSBURY ONSIDERING the many counties of Virginia— their ages or beauty or history—Gloucester, one of the oldest and most beautiful, has suffered more in the preservation of its Colonial houses than any other. Being a shire of Tidewater, Gloucester was naturally among the first settlements, for the early Colonists were at first too timid to venture from the water highways. Not only was the settlement of this part of Virginia extremely prosperous, but the families who made their homes on Ware or North Rivers came of the best blood in England and commanded great wealth. Before the Revolution the County of Gloucester was one of the gayest places in the new country. There were fox hunts and horse races with other sports on land. There were balls for the women and elections for the men, and for both there were the beautiful rivers for amusement. The county was notable for its great houses, its churches. The finest architects available at that early date were employed. When one could not be found, master-builders with scores of drawings were brought from England, with a corps of workmen and cargoes of material. At that time everything was done in Gloucester upon a most lavish scale. But a great change has taken place in the Tidewater county. The rivers are there, the people; many splendid late Georgian dwellings, but the fine old walls of the houses of Indian days have succumbed to storm or fire or war. Warner Hall, with its line of princely masters and undoubted history, has gone. Fair- field, a noble Jacobean dwelling on Carter’s Creek, Rosewell, upon which a fortune was wasted by its builder, and Hesse, have long Since gone or been so embedded in modern construction that not even the shell remains. Nothing original is left but little Toddsbury. [erase] are = Selenite ene ener °Saat ad ee et Ot EEE ee ore pe eee INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES ed See, %, ne! ea Sah Toddsbury, said to have been built by Thomas Todd about 1658, the most famous Colonial house in Gloucester County at the present time. This plantation was patented by Thomas Todd early in the seventeenth century. It would appear that he had a house on his Gloucester property in Sixteen-seventy six, for with his will, in the Clerk’s Office at Towson, Maryland, there is a letter addressed to his son and heir, “Thomas Todd at his home on North River, Gloucester, Virginia.” The first Thomas Todd emigrated to Mary- land, but shortly after this took up lands in Virginia. Though the house is typical of the seventeenth century, it is hardly possible that in such a short while he could have erected a building so perfect when he was living in Maryland. The date of the building of Toddsbury, however, is given as Sixteen-fifty eight. Whether it was the son or the father who built it, the house 1s a Joy to owner and visitor. When the little manour-house was erected the wish of the well-to-do planter was to possess a pre- tentious home, to hold his tobacco until he could save enough English pounds to house his family as he wished. One is now so [ 116 ]ToDDSBURY grateful to Thomas Todd because he essayed to be original and succeeded so well that his quaint little home is loved by every one who sees it. Architecturally, Toddsbury is a rarely perfect little building, with every line drawn as clearly and meaningly as if planned by the NOW USED AS KITCHEN = PARLOUR RECEPTION HALL DINING ROOM oaks First floor plan of Toddsbury. most efficient modern architect. Built of brick covered with stucco, it is a house true in every angle to the Dutch Colonial type, founded upon hand-hewn beams, with thick walls capable of showing the beauty of doors and of windows set back in deep reveal. Com- manding one of the most beautiful marine views in Virginia, and right on the brow of old North River, the small building, which attracts attention from every one who passes, is entirely without affectation, and even a superfluous examination shows the Colonial workers’ most skillful touch. The house has a frontage of sixty feet and a depth of twenty. The [117 ] Sl on eee ee ee ee Ce esc a eae eeSO a Pie a a a Sa OO PST aT TTT + ' i. a & The entrance hall where on the stairway landing a grandfather's clock marks time. gambrel roof is shingled,.and, where it is cut off in Dutch fashion, the sharp caps of the dormers stand exactly in line. Where the roof begins to slant, the line continues around the pediment of the quaint porch chamber. Two chimneys of fair height terminate the cement ends, and a third—probably from the wing—is visible from the centre of the roof. The dormers are narrow and unpretentious, proving pleasant instances in the roof rather than a dominating influence. Each have fifteen panes of glass, while the four windows with narrow shutters that light the first floor front have just three panes more. Two windows are in the north end on the first storey and four afford bright light in the porch chamber. Four slender columns rise almost from the lawn to uphold the portico and small chamber above, and an ancient wistaria, with other screening vines, add great beauty to the exterior during spring and summer. At the rear, on the south side, a wing twenty-five feet wide and thirty feet [ 118 ]RTT eet oh 5 eee) we ee ~ — ae ee ToDDSBURY long gives the dwelling the appearance of an L, which, like the main portion, is surrounded by_a skillfully made dentil cornice. The dor- mers and six narrow windows light the wing, which is occupied by a hall, a:modern kitchen and a second stair. Here chimney pots project slightly above the chimneys. All of the first storey windows at Todds- bury have slat shutters, and a three-cornered porch—one half for each wing—gives an unique effect. Though the latter opens into the secondary hall, the main en- trance is from the west portico, where a door gives immediately into a hall twenty feet long and sixteen feet wide. It is incredi- ble how a house as delightfully small on the outside as Todds- bury could produce such space upon the interior, but this is very true. As soon as the hall is en- tered it strikes one as being as large as almost any other in Vir- ginia. The stairway, too, is a marvel. Ascending as it does from the rear end of the hall with pleasant tread and gentle sweep it appears as imposing as that at - fa emeeeenetneen eitammene cet nenee mareareeae te a a ee ee Wilton, although the latter will show much larger dimensions. Detail of stairway showing original “Witch Door” which leads into the dining room. The balustrade at Toddsbury is delicate and slim, three spindles rising from each step, while the hand rail which outlines them is mahogany on top. The newel is small and has a dark wood cap, square of line in order to accord. The brackets are turned by hand in a graceful pattern and are very much like those of other Virginia stairways. The dado which ramps along the wall opposite the high hand rail is a very beautiful piece of work, and this, with the exception of the dado cap and half hand rail, is, like the test of the woodwork in the hall, painted white. The walls of the hall are white plaster. The cornice is exceptionally fine, with [ 119 ] fees estan editor ort rae oe ade ce eee — a ee ee eee a eas y )SS oe = StS he) alae Ta a ee ee te if D ie a INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES a course of heavy dentils running above the frieze with a denticu- lated line. The sincere detail of the woodwork at Toddsbury shows the spirit of delicate beauty which is neither heavy nor ornate, but well repays critical examination. seo POPPER TEEPE TEER REEDED EERE EDU e EE EE PD EERE ERA ee EEE ea =a ae Detail of hall cornice. The drawing room is on the left side of the hall, and here one finds white: panelled walls which harmonize with the chimney piece as it was originally, but for a moulded mantelshelf. Below the latter is a long, narrow panel between the mantel and fireplace facing. While the walls are panelled and the cornice carries a frieze ornament of very small dentils, the drawing room is in no way as elaborate as the dining room, whose ingress is from a door near the stair. This room is entered on the right side and measures twenty-one feet one way and twenty feet the other. The dining room possesses as much beauty as the most fastidious person could wish. It is ornate and yet simple; of strong character, yet with a most delicate finish; the maple panelling 1s different from any in the house, and the room 1s harmonious and beautiful and liva- ble. The chimney end is exquisite. Where doors are found in other rooms, arches are seen here, and where closet or powder room 1s elsewhere concealed, the open arches permit alcoves. Fluted pilasters with inconspicuous caps stand on narrow bases to support the graceful [ 120 ]ToDDSBURY arch head, with panelled triangles as spandrel ornamentation. A keyblock, the exact width of the moulding of which the arch head is made, is fluted, then springs fan-like to give the effect of a cornice breaking out. The sides of the alcoves are panelled, the window seats, too, and the inner window blinds are given a quaint and prim effect by rectangular panels above and below a central panelled square. & et es ey A note of interest is that these blinds | stop at the sill below the windows of eighteen little panes separated by broad muntins. The rest of the house with all of its charm and beauty could easily be forgotten from one of the window seats, where a green lawn, misty shores and rest- less water carry one’s thoughts to the sea—to the sea of life and love and then—eternity. The panelled alcoves conceal cupboards, and that between chim- ney piece and arch pilasters is said to hide tiny secret chambers behind the mantel, the same little hiding — places being also found between the ) dormer windows. The physical and - eS i Dail architectural beauty of the Todds- ce: bury dining room will never be for- Ent gotten by one who has visited this Detail of panelling, pilaster and cornice jewel of a house. in the drawing room. Four bedrooms and a fair sized hall complete the second storey, and each of these is finished with the same type woodwork as the rooms below. The porch chamber with its four windows is most unusual and delightful and measures twelve by sixteen feet. The dimensions of the remaining rooms are almost square—eighteen by nineteen feet. The plantation passed from the Todd family upon the death of Christopher Todd, the great-grandson of the émigré who left it to his nephew, Philip Tabb. The latter, with his wife, Mary Mason Wilkes-Booth, were among the most remarkable characters in the [ex2re] ted eek a a — Saath eeiettats betaine eee aod eer = Tee ne ed Aten Satna eet Scabritrtat nema tenet ee sala ne ee ED ene eeNT a ee Te INTERIORS OF VircINIA Houses or CoLoniAL TIMES ae a SEER i] Bi ve 2 eae hinatasebanly ne One of the four second-storey bedrooms, rich in woodwork of splendid detail. social life of Gloucester County, and at this time the gayest sort of life is said to have been led at little Toddsbury. The lawn is studded with large and small trees about the old house. On the shore, lapped by the water on three sides, is the cem- etery, where, among many tombs, is one dated Seventeen-three. There is said to be no larger family plot than the one beneath a blue myrtle mantle at Toddsbury. The garden, with walls half brick, the other part of pickets, takes from the lawn the needed size for another beautiful spot. In Eighteen-eighty the estate was bought by Mr. John Mott, whose son and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. William Mott, still make their home there. It is not difficult to see that this family tenure of nearly half a century has brought into their hearts a love for this gem of a house and everything about the ancient plantation. The guest with vision will find at Toddsbury things of yester- year beside which the restlessness of the present century seems [122]ToppsBuURY jejune enough. The house is a picturesque bit of Virginia history associated as it is with the pioneer settlers of the Colony. Rich memories of those who made America, of their ideas and manners, are still retained and cherished within its restful walls. This story of house and plantation—of Colonial days or of the present time—should be cherished not only by Virginians, but by every American who reveres the traditions of the few old homes which have existed almost as long as the nation has been founded. ee Te i ae dr dee S ornemcseina eed ree Soe ei he a SrPO i Crnet ee Re DAP Na brie Cari ; Cae byROSEGILL HE great plantations of the Rappahannock River are linked together by ties of affection and con- Sanguinity, very interesting on the part of those involved in them in the acceptance of the re- lationship and of great value in any genealogi4 cal search in this locality. The Beverleys of Blandfield, the Carters of Sabine Hall, the Robbs of Gaymont, the Garnetts of Elmwood, the Sales of Farmer’s Hall, the Tayloes of Mount Airy, the Brookes of Brooke’s, Bank, the Wormeleys of Rosegill, with other families of distinction have married and intermarried until it would seem that one huge family tree would have a twig for each. In tying the name of family and estate, authentic genealogy is given in very few words. ! In writing the saga of Rosegill, there is but one family that comes to mind—and that is Wormeley, whose country seat on the high bluff of the Rappahannock is strikingly individual. Certainly no’ Co- lonial manour-house was ever built at greater care or cost. This magnificent plantation came into being shortly after the settlement of Jamestown and can be traced back to the year Sixteen- forty nine, when Ralph Wormeley—who, with his brother, Christo- pher, had emigrated to Virginia in Sixteen-thirty—received a Crown grant of thirteen thousand acres. There seems to be no definite knowledge of the exact year the dwelling was erected, but it was undoubtedly begun by the patentee who soon after his arrival in the Colony became a member of the King’s Council and of the House of Burgesses. The same year that Ralph Wormeley re- ceived his grant, Norwood, the traveller, speaks of Rosegill. His “Voyage to Virginia” states that he landed at the Ludlow planta- tion on York River where he was well entertained. “But,” he con- tinues, “It fell out at that time that Capt. Ralph Wormeley (of [ 125 ] nasty’ a \ 1 4 2 cs os x a ia a ert a ee ee ee ee ae ar - i ert | A i i i n i 3 ca cy eh Ae on | ¥ ~ ada Sa a aa a a INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses or CoLoniAL TIMES Ty Ff Ly ae : & ge Sah Bs Rosegill, showing manour-house between kitchen and present dairy. Founded by Ralph Wormeley I, about 1649. His Majesty’s Council) had guests at his house (not a furlong dis- tance from Mr. Ludlow’s) feasting and carousing that were lately come from England, and most of them my intimate acquaintance. I took a sudden leave of Mr. Ludlow, thanking him for his good intentions towards me; and using the common freedom of the coun- try, I thrust myself amongst Capt. Wormeley’s guests in crossing the creek and had a kind reception from them all which answered (if not exceeded) my expectations.” From this, one finds without doubt that there was a dwelling at Rosegill shortly after the settle- ment of Jamestown. The handiwork of the builder of Ralph Wormeley’s great house faithfully carries out the aggregate of the contemporary phase of do- mestic architecture in the country from whence he came. Until after the Revolution there was no line of any consequence drawn between builder and architect, and as the owner of Rosegill was, like William [ 126 ]ROSEGILL Byrd later, a cultivated amateur, his Knowledge of construction, though superficial, united to an academic understanding of the neces- sary principles of architecture, enabled him to play a very important part in the house he built. Then, as now, Rosegill crowned a steep hill above the village of Urbanna, overlooking from the water front on the northern flow of the river, the opposite shore five miles away. On Halkuyt’s map, the Rappahannock is called “Toppahannock or Queen’s River.” In a description of this very large house given many years ago one may read: “The house was built of red brick. It had_a chapel, a picture gallery—a noble library and thirty guest chambers. It stood overlooking the mouth of the river and a high wall at the water's edge protected the lawn.” This sketch does not apply to the Rosegill of today, so must be treated more as tradition than his- tory. At present, though it still remains a “superb building of early Virginia,” the walls are part brick, part siding, and all are painted white. Nor does the lawn run direct to the water’s edge, for a beau- tiful grain field waves between the two. Today one sees no build- ing capable of entertaining a great number of guests, the third storey of the house being the only large space and this can accommodate fourteen beds. These, however, are but minor criticisms, for Rosegill is still a “greate house” just as the plantation, although smaller in acreage, is a splendid modern farm. Full eighty feet long and half as wide, with a height of three storeys protected by an unbroken gable roof, the three-part composition, consisting of the main dwelling, the kitchen and the dairy, although all stand independently of each other, presents a view of Colonial magnificence. In the erection of these three buildings to serve as one there is no loss of the correct sense of form as that sustained in the utilitarian era of the nineteenth century. The distance between the dairy and kitchen from the dwelling is much greater than between the unattached wing and the main house at Carter’s Grove, but the balance is perfect and the effect even better than if covered ways had tied the three together. The Master’s House and the service buildings are double fronted, which is of great advantage to the lawn. The formal entrance front of Rosegill is on the river, for when the plantation was founded the gentry used altogether the water highways, each family possessing one or more galleys manned by [ 127 ] Ca eed eed ee Fy pb ae sr m Se at =a . * : > . aa ce SN eee ee oe pel ce Se eee Coed |Fa ee ee ne Ee SS ee ee ore = i A i oe ; a eA A ORR a, pr ma st Pe INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HouSES OF COLONIAL TIMES negro oarsmen. The first storey is built of brick covered with a white cement wash, but the other two are of siding which may still have brick underneath. The gable roof appears to be of very low pitch owing to the extraordinary width of the central dwelling, and the most important exterior feature is the chimney line where, hold- ing their caps high up towards the clouds, the four chimneys on the main house with two upon each of the lesser, gives from a distance be- tween foliage broken lines, the effect of a tiny village. Forty win- LIVING ROOM DINING ROOM First floor plan of Rosegill. dows, the majority of twelve-light proportion, cut into the walls lon both fronts and the two set in the gable ends, having such a large space to make light, were given sixteen panes of glass. re _ The “Home House” stands in the centre of the lawn and to reach it one must pass through a gateway marked by ivy-hung locusts and a long line of cherries which, should one arrive upon a warm April day, are tumbling masses of cloud-like bloom, making Rosegill ethereally lovely. There are gnarled mulberry trees—beloved of the Colonists—on the lawn; there are maples, too, which, with the spruce and holly, give the pleasaunce, even in winter, a virile note. A small portico covered with vines is the landward entrance and here the ancient flagstone floor is given sincere admiration. [ 128 ]The narrow entrance hall where it opens into the main river hall. Double doors of three panels each give into a secondary hall, the latter leading to the spacious hall of great length which parallels the house from end to end, and is very uncommon regarding a num- ber of features. The narrow passageway in the centre of the house has shallow pediments above the doorways, but its main mis- sion is to connect the two fronts of the house without attempting beauty, but in a perfectly practical way. There is no door between the two halls, simply an opening, very tall, but not wide, with a leaded glass transom within the frame. The long hall is most impressive. The walls are plastered and papered in a monotone, and there is a chair rail extending around them which is almost twice the height of those popularly used. The plain sides of the door frames are absorbed at the foot by the deep baseboard, and inside windows in curious fashion penetrate the inner wall between the hall and the room beyond. The rest of the windows overlook the river and between them is a doorway through [ 129 ] pest” es pase i i a Ee an ra ete eee ee Set aaa et ran es ae Se es bey Oe oo > \ t ‘ae a Sad dea aa a en a Oe LEST — INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES o ee s ees which a charming vista can be obtained. The inner blinds of the windows are plainly panelled while the jambs and cap pieces show the same treatment. The window and door heads maintain in the hall the same pediment shape crudely executed. Two Wind- sor benches quite properly are all needed as furnishing. The long, wide hall presents the unusual spectacle of two stair- ways rising within a few feet of each other—as Colonial measure- ments were counted. Everywhere Rosegill was planned for ease and comfort and never more so than here, where Ralph Worme- ley justified them in the consideration shown to his guests and em- ployees. The great length of the hall was the unique excuse for the two stairways, both of walnut in its natural colour and both follow- ing the same design. Plain round hand rails begin at the turned newels which appear to have been made at a later day, and two square spindles stand triangularly on each step. The stringer runs below the stair brackets which are carved with a Vitruvian scroll. The hall cornice is partly moulded and partly plain. The music room is crossed in reaching the parlour, which has beautifully panelled walls, supposedly of black walnut, grained. The panels are remarkably broad, the stiles very narrow and, in the space formed by the chimney breast, low seats are below the wain- scot where the dado cap is carried along, not continuously, but is mitred against the wall, door and window casings. The firebreast attains an effect of formality by the pilasters fluted of shaft be- neath provincial Ionic capitals. The plain frieze between the moulding above the fluting and the cap is seldom seen in the Co- lonial architecture of Virginia. The cornice of the parlour is one of the best to be found in the Colonies of any date, and the dentils with which it is decorated are of the best workmanship. The lower part dropping to stand upon the pilaster caps makes the cornice very high where it breaks out, but where it extends around the ceiling its depth is only from the denticulated course to the ceiling. One wide rectangular panel fills the area between the pilasters. Unfor- tunately, both the hearth and the fireplace facing are modern, the first being large, contrasting tiles, and the other brick laid in headers and stretchers. The architrave is white Italian marble and a vivid note of colour is added to the rather sombre room by two blocks of orange Sienna marble set into the white marble frieze below the shelf. [ 130 ]ROSEGILL Three windows on the landward front have, below cap pieces, inner blinds and panelled jambs, delightfully comfortable seats, which are twenty inches deep and seem very near the floor. The drawing room measures twenty-four by twenty-seven feet, and the ceilings, like those of all the first storey, are eleven feet high. The smoking or “Little Room” across the hall is rendered unique by two inside windows which open into the long hall and here one finds again deeply recessed seats and inner window blinds. Here, too, is an open fireplace, upon the modern mantel of which stand serried rows of silver loving cups which would have delighted the heart of any Wormeley of Rosegill. The dining room corresponds on the left of the lawn entrance to the parlour on the right both in finish and size. The same beautiful panelling, the same dentilled cornice wainscot and chair rail awaken in the appreciative observer deep admiration again. The plaster ceiling has a Victorian frescoed ornamentation. Although the en- trance door is plain, the inside door is worthy of the keenest study. The alternating narrow, rectangular panelling and the same arrange- ment of four that are oblong and of larger size, are so deeply bevelled on each edge that some of their size is taken away, giving to the panels, in consequence, the effect of standing out in relief. The second storey is very much like the first, with a long hall between the stairways. The floor is finished with the same thought and care as that below. The treatment of the walls and the high ceilings produce, in common with the entire house, an effect of lux. urious and comfortable ease. After reaching this floor the stair- way continues in cruder fashion to the attic which, without any par- titions, is said to be or to have been reserved for bachelor guests. Following the best Colonial standards, the main dwelling stands between the two smaller buildings which have much the appearance of English cottages. Though one may have been school house or office, it is now used as the dairy, but the other until recently has probably always been a kitchen, though the latter-day cookery de- partment was some time ago removed to the east end of the main house. These little buildings are charming in every line. Each has, like the great house, a shingled gable roof, but each has also on both sides dormers with hipped roofs, and chimneys rise from the two ends of each. The dairy has two arch-headed windows con- taining twenty small panes of glass and arched shutters; on the side [ 131 ] 4 Bi Ses Sat a a Te a a er ae eee ee ee dete eho ee rn ee Ss iaschastl-amineetetdiiimatinirciet terse tater ee 3 4 i i H 4 a a ein he 4 x \ i ed" ROTH MMO Brea la AA Sb DARMOLae thes AP eT] ae Fe Sete UO HORC Ss Sans by RAL ok BW ii pi a tk Ur La CS hori WA, fe ‘ H { H anise eT aa a 7 i ‘ if from each end. wway rising 8S ~~ oS 8 ~ Ss & ss & S ~_ S S nN ) 2 = Ss = > Ss S 2 = = x aw ~ a ~ = & a S SN a ~ = 8 = ~ & 2 > x > = Ss —= LX eSabv a Z A ROSEGILL round topped windows are used. The original kitchen—forty-eight feet long and twenty-one feet wide—has arched windows, small river porticowand quaint dormers, the chief difference in the two outbuildings being the vines which cover the kitchen. The curvi- form opening is fifteen feet wide and five deep. The antique crane swings as it always did, and into the bricks of the fireplace, which appear rather new, there 1S set in one corner a stone much worn from sharpening many knives. The mantelshelf and side framing, of course, were not there in Colonial times. Queerly enough, in a building supposed to be devoted to supplying the great house with food, there is a very interesting staircase be- tween the two rooms which leads to the loft. It is said that when Senator Cochran owned Rosegill he used the old kitchen for oyster roasts as fa- mous as any ever held by Ralph Wormeley. The broad lawn, where grace- ful vase-shaped elms have sup- planted more ancient trees and maples have been used for their Detail of step ends showing a carved deco- quick growth in the place of dy- ration of the Vitruvian scroll. ing paulonias, ends ina river walk thirty feet wide where great knots of boxwood, old shrubs and the over-lapping branches of trees not old, form a veritable pleached allée. Honeysuckle wraps with affection the bole of an ancient tree: ivy gives the age of locust trunks to which it clings and rose bushes, scattered first here, then there, make of the lawn a beautiful informal garden. It is said that once two lines of giant roses outlined the river walk and that from this the name of Rosegill was given to the place. But this sounds a bit too modern, for roses were not thought of as place names in Sixteen-forty nine. The name evidently recalled to ergs") a a i eS eee ee eee ee ee rere ee liners ahammar nied aa arte tes pen beeen ee estes DSR AT a, nan oe eeEa ee eS _— = - INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF CoLoNiIAL TIMES The panelled drawing room is notable for a superb cornice and Sienna marble mantel decoration. Ralph Wormeley I, or to some of his descendants, one that was loved by him in another country. Ralph Wormeley II was a student at Oriel College, Oxford, in Sixteen-sixty five, and upon his return to Virginia became the most powerful man in the Colony. Although in appearance he was a modest country squire, a mighty fox hunter and connoisseur in horses, he was Secretary of State, Collector and Naval Officer of the Rappahannock River, President of the King’s Council and a member of the House of Burgesses. His Inventory, dated Seventeen-one, shows the value of his library, one of the best in Virginia, then names of the rooms at Rosegill. “Parlour, chamber, chamber over saloon chamber, chamber over the parlour, nursery, old nursery, room over the Ladyes Chamber, Entry.”’ The Inventory speaks of the “Home House’’ to which were attached eight English servants, among them a shoemaker, a tailor and a miller. Ralph II left a personal estate valued at three thousand pounds. [ 134 ]RoSsEGILL eee Fee The dining room follows the design of the parlour in its panelling. _ Here the Wormeleys lived in princely splendour on their planta- tion, their house filled with a fortune in silver plate and china and cut glass which was constantly in use in the hospitable domicile. This happy Colonial life continued until it was rudely interrupted by the Revolution, for Ralph Wormeley V was one of the last members of the Royal Council in Virginia. While he did not leave America, he was a staunch Royalist and became obnoxious to the new spirit of Virginia. He was so careless as to what he said or wrote that the Colonial government banished him to his father’s shooting box in Berkeley County under bond for ten thousand pounds for good be- haviour. He lived, however, to outgrow his love for the English Court and to become a member of the General Assembly of the new Virginia. After his death in Eighteen-six his plantation was sold and one of the most picturesque régimés of the Colonial-era came quietly to an end. The reign of the Wormeley family. at Rosegill lacked but twenty-three years of having existed through the entire [135] 4 , \ ce (s Soe cee ae ee aaa ne oe TS Nee meee ers: Sa 7 eee Pte 4 i t % a Ry eS %, OF ¥ aaaa at a er in C = el % INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES = : SR SaaS The river front of the original kitchen which duplicates the school house now used as a dairy. Colonial period. They also were for another quarter of a century brave in their allegiance to the new Republic—a record second to none in America. _ In connection with subsequent ownerships, there is a pretty story tinged with pathos regarding the struggles of Captain Bailey who lived at Rosegill for some years. As an orphan lad, with no home but the great wide world, he sought fortune from this same wide world, and his career began on merchant vessels. Born in Lancaster County, every time he returned from a voyage he cast envious glances at Rosegill, declaring that if his life were spared he would spend his last dollar to get possession of that famous house. He visited many countries and sailed over all the seas; he was shipwrecked but stood the hardship manfully, declaring to those with him that he would be saved to become the master of Rosegill. He stood any and every- thing with the hope of winning the fortune necessary to give him the wonderful plantation. At last his fortune was gathered; he had [ 136]ROSEGILL te 2 eps Rented es = The interior of the kitchen whose arched fireplace opening has a width of fifteen feet. money that would bring Ralph Wormeley’s homestead into his pos- session, and at the first opportunity, almost like a fairy tale, the estate was his to command and his boyhood dream had come true. Captain Bailey is said to have removed some parts of the dwelling and changed others, but unfortunately there is no authentic record of the changes made by him. He loved the place as he did few other things and the fact of possessing it, instead of lessening its value, made Rosegill all the more worthwhile to him. The same lavish hospitality was dispensed by him as by the founders. In Nineteen-one the estate, which had lost many acres with the passing of years, was bought by Senator J. H. Cochran, from whom, a few years ago, it became the property of Mr. and Mrs. Norwood Browning Smith. The house, the lawn, the outbuildings and waving grain fields are in beautiful condition. Throughout its many years the old homestead has been happy, not feeling the pangs acutely suffered by so many of Virginia’s Colonial estates. [ 137 ] aera! ¢ \ ee inet raters pan fan en San penejnnebussuowiinwere ere SN a ee haath peas di isirabdtia meats nin ante ae aden Ee I Fj if i i H ca # i ie \ aae LN ie BEN aA TL whe INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES The golden age of Rosegill was, however, in the days of Ralph W ormeley II, who was considered the “most powerful man in the Colonies.” Cultured—witty capable—a man of great learning, fashioned in the friendship of the highest English nobility, with boundless wealth and a vast acreage of land, he was a Cavalier among the many notable Cavaliers of his country. E { t 7 ry } i i F i ] iM ' a } ' 4 ; ; rf cz 4 ' Me af Se a bf i NN F h 3BCHELSEA { SLOPING lawn, a bit of crescent beach, the scant shade of cedar trees, and Chelsea has been found—Chelsea with a water front extending for two miles along the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Rivers. The house, however, is more frequently reached from the landward side. To find this main entrance, one turns from the ———- hard surfaced highway into a woodland road which continues for some miles in the midst of picturesque glade and greenery. At the end of this, old tree trunks with caps of lead mount guard upon the outskirts of the lawn shaded by paulonia and catalpa trees, the hallmark of horticultural antiquity. Upon this lawn crepe myrtles grow to the size of trees; great knots of boxwood screen the porticos of the Dutch wings about which roses climb, and with an occasional elm or an ancient linden to accentuate the outline, the esplanade is worthy of the estate. The house faces the river, and from the rear centre a wing with gambrel roof extends at right angles giving it the appearance of an architectural T. The rectangular front building of but one room in depth was what was known in Colonial days as a “single house’’ in contradistinction to the “double house” of two rooms depth. The builder was Augustine Moore, who came to Virginia during the first century of its existence and erected his dwelling in Seventeen-nine. Augustine Moore, the progenitor of the American family of that name, left England in Seventeen-hundred with a grant of eighty-six hundred acres of land between the Pamunkey and Mattaponi. He gave his Virginia plantation in what is now King William County the name of his ancestral English seat whose founder, Sir Thomas Moore, was Lord High Chancellor under King Henry VIII, and was beheaded by that monarch for refusing to sanction his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. [ 139] *s ee SRS Pe SS ie ae ee ae eee rere ieee eet aD re er ee a ae ee TT . oa a ad ae a St ee ee ee Saielisabtindirtat tates inte teen ee ee ea ¢ k eter ce a erfob G51 yg haa cs INTERIORS OF ViRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES —- Ss Z . es) “ti , re The river front of Chelsea, built by Augustine Moore in 1709. _ It is thought that the first house at Chelsea was the little Dutch wing of the present, which shows peculiarities of Seventeen-hundred in its gambrel roof, size of one and a half storeys and the five dormers which break the Dutch roof upon both sides. It is built of brick with dark vitreous headers and is almost as long as the main building. What might be called the head of the T is a narrow rectangular mass, and like the older wing is of brick laid in Flemish bond. A porch of two storeys overlooks the river front and this, although of more recent date than the house, affords a very wonderful view of the picturesque Pamunkey. These double porticos, though much smaller, are quite like those at Shirley, and one wonders if the friend- ship of the daughter of the house with the master of Shirley brought about the addition. Very tall chimneys rise from the ends of the shallow hipped roof and a characteristic cornice finishes the eaves. Four windows with eighteen divisions of glass spread across the front, and the two in each end, while just as high, are only two lights { 140] aa ea Pin A SloeCHELSEA ascends from the left side of the hall which extends through the head of the T formed building. The splendid stairway wide. The outside shutters are painted green, the rest of the wood- work 1s white, and the measurement of the frontage is sixty feet. The open door upon the front reveals the characteristic Colonial hall twelve feet wide and twice as long, with panelled walls. On the left side is the stairway with twist-carved balusters and plain stair brackets. The column-like newel projects some distance beyond the balustrade. The steps are finished in natural wood and the mahogany newel, hand rail and half hand rail against the wall give an agreeable relief to the otherwise white wood finish. The dado cap is also dark and the splendid six-panelled doors are walnut, hung on H-and-L hinges. At the ceiling height the stairs break to form two sets of steps, one giving access to the riverward rooms, the other going into the Dutch wing. The door leading from the hall into the library has a plain frame, but that of the drawing room is elaborated by pilasters on both [ 141 ] ar ee a an ear ee eee ee eee ee ead tater ekedRATT tn ht a LOL: i! x Sa % e a + a eee The library, of good proportions, has splendid architectural detail.CHELSEA sides. The library is of fine proportion and architectural detail. In size, eighteen by twenty-one, the room is panelled and has two win- dows on each front with deep seats. The marble mantel is painted white and above the arched fireplace opening hangs a good portrait. On the mantel shelf are two original glass hurricane candle shades, said to have been at Chelsea for many years. In line with these the panels take on great interest. The rather small walnut doors on either side lead to convenient spots where undoubtedly Colonial maidens labouriously powdered their hair. Across the hall is the drawing room—the ball room of early days—where Governor Spotswood’s daughter danced the minuet when George II was king. Here the practiced eye will recognize some of the best woodwork in Virginia. The panelled walls are in- terrupted at intervals by pilasters one-half reeded, and the remainder fluted, which completely surround the room. A characteristic Co- lonial touch is, that although the intervals are regular in effect, they are not perfectly equal. The jambs of the windows in deep reveal are ornamented with sunk panels with raised centres, and Ionic pilasters flank them all. Arched alcoves at the chimney breast have on one side built-in bookshelves which curve in the manner of old shell cupboards. Narrow windows light each alcove, in front of which the classic treatment of the archways is pronounced. Here again a Victorian marble mantel is painted white and the distin- guished portrait above it is lighted by the flame from candles in old brass holders. The drawing room is twenty-four by thirty-six. When the Colonial Moores lived at Chelsea the walls of the parlour wére hung with a fine collection of family portraits—some by Sir Godfrey Kneller, one by Peale, but the majority from the brush of Bridges who visited Chelsea for the purpose of pain ting them. These portraits, now in the possession of Mr. Bernard Jones, a direct descendant, have been defaced by the cuts of sabres inflicted when Chelsea was raided during the Revolutionary War. That of Sir Alexander Spotswood shows a high bred Royalist dressed in crimson velvet made somewhat frivolous by gold waistcoat and lace sleeve frills. A suggestion of Blenheim Castle appears in the background. History records that in Seventeen-sixteen Governor Spots- wood and his venturesome Knights “came to Mr. Austin Moore’s house upon the Pamunkey River, where we were well entertained. We had good wine and victuals.” This was their first night out, [ 143 ] nn SSS Sa Ng sg 5 tee Ce —_ ———— a ~Wn BUR OR hie INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES es One of the drawing room windows in deep reveal and flanked by pilasters. but on their return these Knights of the Golden Horseshoe were again entertained at the plantation. Some years ago a piece of coloured glass was dug up at Chelsea which appeared to be the stopper of some bottle, and on it was stamped a tiny horseshoe as if In memory of the picturesque expedition. The entire first floor of the old residence is panelled and [ 144] a ea a 1+ oo ng = et eT oer , if eCHELSEA a ee : eae The drawing room where the panelled walls are interrupted at intervals by pilasters. painted white and all of the rooms have four windows of the same size. The house shows in the refinement of its interior detail that it was modelled after a certain English prototype, for the ideal of the Colonial builder was to have his dwelling conform to those in current use abroad. The dining room and kitchen are in the Dutch wing, and here the earlier date of this building is again emphasized by the simple wain- scot which outlines the wall. The second storey of the wing is almost entirely occupied by the hall which extends the entire width and most of the length, being rendered very light by the dormers, beneath whose broad seats—now posing as cupboards—a secret passage is said to have run. The walls are finished with rough “plaister” above the wainscot, and like those of the river chambers the wing has ceilings much lower than the first floor. In one of the front or river rooms the panelling is held to the chimney end and this like the other speaks of the old time belle when one reaches the tiny [145 ] a at ce gd chai te Se eee ee een eea eS ee en Cree Sec ia a = So : oe Se ne Sa eee i INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES powdering room. In one secluded spot, perhaps a powdering room upstairs, Madame Kate Spotswood Moore drank her dish of pro- hibited tea after it had been banned by loyal ladies. This haughty dame and Colonial belle was also une enfant gaté owing to the adu- lation that had always been hers. But long before the war her atti- tude had changed, for both her husband and son fought right through the Revolution, and Alexander Moore the latter was aide-de-camp tomlva Hiayiette: DINING ROOM KITCHEN DRAWING ROOM First floor plan of Chelsea. Colonel Bernard Moore was not only a member of the House ot Burgesses for years but was prominent in Virginia in many other ways. His mother, who died just four years after the manour house was built, was survived by his father for twenty years. Upon the death of Augustine Moore he was laid to rest by his wife in the garden at Chelsea, and their son Bernard became master of the estate—his wife, who was the daughter of Governor Spotswood, thus becoming the hostess. : Before and after the year Seventy-six, George Washington fre- quently visited the rare old plantation, and in his Diary were many such records as “dined” or “‘stayd at Colo. Bd. Moore’s.”’ Being in the very centre of a group of handsome country seats such as Eltham [ 146]CHELSEA and Elsing Green, not far from Yorktown and near Williamsburg, life at Chelsea was very gay during the brightest period of the Vir. ginia Colony. Colonel Moore was the guardian of Alexander and John Spots- wood, the nephews of his wife. The boys were sent to Eton in Sey- enteen-sixty by Colonel Moore who agreed that each was to pay a year “25 lbs. for board, 1 lb. for fire, 1 lb. for candles, 1 lb. for mend-_ ing.” That they developed into splendid men is proven by the fact that during the Revolution Alexander became a general and John a colonel in the Continental army. The third master of the historic estate was Bernard Moore II, and the tenure of the original owners lasted until the extinction of the male line, when it became the property of the Robinson family. London, the body-servant of Colonel Bernard Moore, was living at Chelsea in Fighteen-thirty one, so less than a century has passed since it left the possession of the founders: The present owner of the beautiful plantation is Mr. P. L. Reed, who with deep sympathy has preserved the old landmark and left the original lines unchanged. Standing before the venerable building watching the river flow- ing past on its way to the sea, one’s thoughts linger on those who first loved the ancient messuage and watched the same river flow. There is a rare aura about Chelsea, an intangible atmosphere which brings back the spirit of the Colonial days, although they are forever irrecoverable. It has been said that in no country are there fewer old dwellings than in this new America of ours. As this fact becomes appreciated, all who care for the permanent and the traditionary things of life will turn more and more with delight to such homesteads as time- honoured Chelsea. Serenata eaten ee . eeeh Errcresy PRL on MOS Neu A A Ga PL . eet tegen ohare cas toe APN One Oe ee ene sa Kata xae er the wsMOUNT AIRY (S the Colony grew and spread fruitful arms be- yond James River into the salty lowlands of other water highways, John Tayloe, first of his name emigrated to Virginia in Sixteen-fifty and took up extensive lands in the valley of the Rappa- hannock. Four thousand of these fertile acres he reserved for the “Home Plantation,” and the site chosen by him as the best was a broad ridge, which, though one mile away, gave from its summit a sweeping view over woodland and meadow to the distant river, It was, however, left to his grandson, Colonel John Tayloe II, to erect the manour-house considered by his grandsire, and this he did on a monumental scale in Seventeen-fifty eight. It is presumed that he called his great inheritance Mount Airy because the beautiful spot seemed so high up among the clouds. The first view of the magnificent house and its immediate sur- roundings works like an intoxicating perfume, such as must have been wafted in the old days from the orangery when the trees were bloom- ing. The formal approach is on the landward front, and after the motor circles about a large mound it comes to a standstill where broad stone steps lead over the terrace to the forecourt and superb holly trees of age beyond the ken of man give both winter and sum- mer a strong note of colour. At the top of the steps two large stone urns carved most beautifully in classic style give a distinctive deco- rative tone to the composition. A wide walkway extends from here to the house which stands on a second terrace, and presents to the greatest advantage the Palladian scheme of advanced outbuildings connected with the main dwelling by curved and covered ways almost hidden by a rare growth of vines and enormous trees. Upon the river front, Mount Airy is in the midst of spacious ter- [149] etches onicestatainetadeciet-tereoe eterna ee ce pe i oe Pa Ca ve al ¥ \sreceniemnteiel ms dic Sa a ee TE : Sena = a a a rn ‘ we pias: Nota tgt hy eae PUPAE ih LA CRU Rey oF CoLoNIAL [TIMES a BS eee eee Roe EO ae ee : Kai Gs 3 Sia ES a ES nS ETE OREN eo ie Se Mount Airy. Built by Colonel John Tayloe II in 1758 and one of the most famous Colonial seats in America. raced gardens which follow punctiliously the lines of the house. Bound by a stone retaining wall upon each side, this magnificent garden when filled with bloom seems flung like a basket of flowers against the hillside—lilacs in hedges against a background of Irish yew; tall spikes of Vanhoutte’s spiraea grown through the flaming bloom of cydonia japonica. Every colour of spring flowering bulbs, every shrub, and quantities of the legendary and rare saffron crocus in the fall. Upon one side are the picturesque ruins of the ancient orangery—five moss grown arches of most classic line, ivy clad and creeper fringed, recalling the monastic ruins of ancient English es- tates. Within one cloistered angle grows an enchanting weeping willow, the spread of whose branches makes shelter for a wondrous bed of lilies. Mount Airy is justly thought by many architects to be the most ambitious house built during the Colonial period in Virginia. The [ 150 ]Mount Airy house is also thought to have been inspired by a design of Palladios’ which is illustrated in his Book No. 9. Upon a brown sandstone base about four feet in height, the three- foot walls of the building are reared, a course of light-coloured stone from Acquia Quarry appearing at the first floor level. The central pavilion on both fronts is of the lighter coloured stone laid in regular courses, and quoins of the Acquia output carry this decoration past a band course on the brown wall, where the second storey begins. Upon the sides, the belt course doubles. Four sturdy chimneys with ornamental caps rise near the centre of the shallow hipped roof, their grouping from the side view of the house appearing very imposing. Three small, frameless windows pierce the front of each projecting portion of the house above the loggias and have, in common with the other windows of the second floor, twelve small panes of glass. Upon the sides, between single windows, the central portion achieves success by the Palladian windows. All of the windows have an enframement of stone and most of them are embellished with light stone architraves. The basement, which appears well above ground, receives light from very small windows, and gives the building the right to be classed as three storied. With roof upon a level with the sills of the first storey windows, the long, covered ways in semi-circular style, upon the land front, draw towards the imposing manour-house—at a convenient distance —wings of two low storeys upon each end. The corridors have on each side two narrow windows and one door, but the large square wings have their brown stone walls punctured by three lower and three upper windows on the sides. One wing is still true in furnish- ings to its original use, and once a year 1s said to resume its Colonial occupation. The other wing, with original wainscot was, before the Revolution, the office, school house, nursery, or guest house. Both fronts of the dwelling have much the same appearance; only in the delightful loggias does one note a difference in treatment. That overlooking the forecourt is notable for four square stone columns with cut corners and heavy bases. The floor of tesselated marble is in harmony with the niches on each side, and these also are of marble, their pediments of classic style supported by carved consols. The ceiling, too, is ornamented, its coved outline bringing to mind a choice Italian feature. This northwest front is very beautiful. The southwest facade of the house looks down upon its terrace to [ 151] ‘ ; f : i t | | SeaS a ee eat oe INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF CoLoNnIAL TIMES the old Bowling Green where, half hidden in a branch of red berried yew, is an ancient bowl of lignum vitae which, put there perhaps for a moment, has remained year after year until now it has become a part of the tree which has grown about it. Two of the arches of the en- trance here are entirely screened by flowering vines—clematis, star jasmine and wistaria. One foreground is all boxwood. The intimate connection of the house and garden is one of Mount Airy’s greatest charms, for as Colonel Tayloe built he wove his house First floor plan of Mount Airy showing forecourt into his garden, meaning the one to depend upon the other in the making of a perfect whole. That he succeeded need not be men- tioned, for now one steps from the garden into the spacious hall which extends through the house from one front to the other. This is said to be the first example known of the hall of any great house being without a stairway. In Eighteen-forty four the dwelling was the victim of fire which left the exterior intact; upon the interior, how- ever, the loss was great. The damage was repaired by William Tayloe, who owned the plantation at the time, but certain archi- tectural details were not replaced—for the taste of the world had changed! Both in the building of the house and its later restora- tion the attention of the first artisans of England and Virginia were engaged. [ 152 ]Mount AIry The classic loggia overlooking the forecourt has marble niches at each end and a tesselated marble floor. Old mahogany furnishes this “greate” hall—an antique music box, tables, chairs of the best construction, and a rare old English clock which has counted the hours for the Tayloe family until they numbered nearly two hundred years. On the walls hangs a famous set of Boydell’s Shakespearean prints. A narrow passageway extends from the larger hall to the east end of the house, and this gives en- trance to the drawing room and library. [ 153 ] Tat | | a + if H Rg i z ] ys ¥ne ie eke v Lib katie ea ew ESE : a0 rh ete Oe. vee kel! Pod The drawing room walls are lined with portraits. Heirlooms in the form of Intaglios, choice Sévres china and miniatures are seen everywhere.Mount Atry The drawing room is charming with its walls presenting a family portrait gallery and innumerable interesting heirlooms which escaped the fire. A beautiful portrait in a rococo gilt frame is said to have come from Sir Joshua Reynold’s magic brush and represents Anne Tasker, the wife of Governor Ogle of Maryland. This was evidently made when she went over with her handsome husband. In her court costume of shimmering satin, with her lovely child upon her knee, she is a radiant creature, even upon cold, lifeless canvas. On the mantel below there are bits of choice Sevres, Intaglios and minia- tures, while the marble itself is carved with two of the most popular Colonial motifs—the egg and dart and the Wall of Troy. A brass frieze beaten into an intricate design is set within the architrave above the fireplace opening, and this strikes a very different note from any other Colonial Virginia house. A frieze takes the place of a cornice where wall and ceiling meet, and has between two wider mouldings a line of rope moulding. Very narrow mouldings placed equidistant from each other and the frieze give the ceiling a coved effect, and here another unusual note is struck. The two windows on the front and one on the side are in deep reveal, their frames being, like those of the doors, of black walnut or pine. Across the narrow hall is a most delightful library where an open fireplace brings a glow when needed beneath a very fine old mantel. A collection of very small pictures of the members of the first Amer- ican Congress show the,work of St. Memin, and this, of course, is among the greatest trea€ures of the house. Still other relics are the old prints of famous race horses that hang about the room. The bookshelves are filled with the choicest books, and a quietly colourful family portrait accentuates the charm of the room whose east end and intimate old window with deep seat are loved by all who know them. ste The dining room is on the opposite side of the house, and this is a never-to-be-forgotten room. The doors are walnut with deeply bevelled panels; the windows have inner blinds. of three parts, and these with the door frames are painted white. In the dining room one sees in many particulars the antique at its best, for every: piece of furniture, each bit of silver plate or glass aré of great age. Upon the otherwise plain walls hang the pictured notabilia of the Tayloe family, the portrait of Colonel John Tayloe II, the builder—dashing, handsome,, and looking very much alive—peering down from. its [155 ]— ee Et el Sreaeineeiienendsiestaeiiimemiants San tea Ee Fa a LoL al ae i ie INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs oF COLONIAL TIMES aaa 5 3 es ees The never-to-be-forgotten dining room enriched with the pictured notabilia of the Tayloes. Sheraton, Chippendale and Heppelwhite supplied the design for the antique mahogany. The array of silver and cut glass is bewildering. place of honour above the mantel upon the work of his time. Some were limned by Sir Godfrey Kneller and other Court painters, others by Hudson, Sully, and still more artists of international reputation. The Mount Airy gallery is said to be unequaled among any collection of family portraits in Virginia. The very large door opening on the north of the room discloses, in a hall of its own, the only stairway in the house, which, though not put in until after the fire, is worthy of great admiration. It is a charming winding stairway of true Colonial lines and deserves a more important situation. That the owner of Mount Airy was strongly under the influence of the classic when he erected his dwelling is very evident. He must have had a thorough knowledge of the details of orders, for his house shows the fine academic spirit which swept into England in Seventeen hundred. As it was customary for skilled craftsmen [ 156]Mount Arry and master-builders to come out from England at-the bidding of the gentry of the Rappahannock, it was not at all difficult for Colonel Tayloe to obtain exactly what he desired. The brown sandstone was quarried on his own land; that of Acquia came from Virginia also. But the Chippendale and Sheraton mahogany; the store of silver, mostly of Georgian pattern; the cut glass Hurricane candle shades and other accoutrements of the dining room; the interesting Tinsel Pictures hanging on the chimney breast, with still other heir. looms, were imported. All of these happy reminders of Colonial life and living still remain in the house. Life at Mount Airy was very beautiful when the Old Dominion was young. Philip Fithian, tutor at Nominy Hall, who preserved so much of the social history of the Rappahannock River section, wrote in his Journal April seventh Seventeen-seventy four: “We set out about three; Mr. Carter travels in a small, neat Chair, with two waiting Men—we rode across the country which is now in full Bloom; in every field we saw negroes planting corn, or plowing, or hoeing; we arrived at the Colonel’s about five, Distance twelve miles. Here is an elegant seat!—The house is about the size of Mr. Carters, built with stone—& finished curiously—and ornamented with various paintings—and rich Pictures. This Gentleman owns Yorick, who won the prize of 1500 last November—In the dining room, besides many other fine Pieces, are twenty four of the most cele- brated among the English Race-Horses, Drawn masterly and set in elegant gilt frames.” Beyond the portals one turns to gaze through vine-like shadows at the superb old house—at a corner of the terraced garden. The symmetry of the composition is breath-taking, and the visitor keenly appreciates that the continuous tenure of the original family is absolutely necessary if any plantation is to retain its rare atmos- phere of Colonial days. In architectural style, Mount Airy is most imposing and, happily, its environment has changed but little since the house was built. Here, as the very heart of his little principality, Colonel Tayloe set a bit of old England with his race track and bowling green; his garden and orangery. The race track is no longer used; the oran- gery is in ruins, and the bowling green a lawn. But the house he built as the centre of his paradise is even more impressive today than when the Colonial master-builder completed it in Seventeen-fifty ens77l a ee ano eer a a eee ee te en Pi ‘ \ ‘SaSe ee po LR ~ ee a ta ey — . nin ion, INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES eight. Happier in fortune than most of their contemporaries, and most appreciative of their splendid inheritance, the family who have continuously occupied the manour-house since their grandsire’s time are by direct descent in both name and line the great-great-great- ereat-great-grandchildren of the founder of Mount Airy.SAN, EAE HE house which Colonel Landon Carter caused to be built for his family in the year Seventeen- thirty stands in Lancaster County, high above the sparkling Rappahannock, and is one of the handsomest in Virginia. Captain John Smith, on his visit to this sec- tion in the very first days of the Colony, wrote of the locality chosen by Colonel Carter: “Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation.” Not only is the river hallowed throughout its tidal length with match- less characters of history, but its head is near Fredericksburg, one of the most historic towns in the country. All of this combined gives Sabine Hall many natural charms which in the colonization period invited families of position and wealth from old England to build here a home. The plantation, consisting of thousands of acres, was cut from the vast domain of Robert, called ““King Carter,” for his son Landon, and the care given it by the latter showed how deep was his appre- ciation of the gift. The main mass of the house measures forty by sixty feet, and attached to this on the west side is a long, low wing which has the appearance of being of greater age. The walls of both parts are brick and though a cement wash has covered them for many years, they still permit the headers and stretchers of the original Flemish bonding to be seen. The formal entrance is on the landward front where a columnar porch is a latter day addition. The hand-hewn cypress columns of the Tuscan order rear upward to the frieze of the classical pediment and in them one sees the transference of stone to wood. The background of the columns is the north fagade of the dwelling, and the floor of the portico supported by them is [ 159 ] ete) Se a nena re = tatty” rea ar Pate ee ed a a a ea ea oe ee Peta etatteae inthe inee arti dooicen ee ae = Pa a a a ey St ee ¥Lo ea eee Bet a ed ee ~ nae be iw ~ ox=2, INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES at Sabine Hall, built by Colonel Landon Carter in 1730. given character by well laid flag-stones. A gable spans the frontage of the portico in forming the pediment, whose apex is on a line with the centre of the hipped roof. The four chimneys are incidental, as they rise but a few feet above the roof ends. Thirteen small paned windows stretch across the front, six on the lower floor with eighteen panes of glass each, while the seven on the second storey have only fifteen panes. The base course of slight projection is in a line with the porch floor, and below this two small glassless windows prove the basement to be a little above ground. A flight of stone steps—the lowest being on each side one foot wider than the rest—takes one to the flagged portico, at the rear of which are the formal entrance doors. The enframement of the doorway is very unusual in Virginia and is worthy of great consideration. The cut stones are about twice the size of a brick where they form the frame, which may be considered an adaptation of the Greek or Roman order. Above the door the stones assume the form of [ 160 ]SABINE Hatt crossettes, between which and the doors a square transom is trans- formed by a fanlight with leaded glass which has spandrel decora- tions of lead. Narrow flat stone arches with projecting voussoirs cap every window, and the central window on the second storey has also an enframement of stone. But for a broad verandah which runs the length of the river front, the garden front would duplicate in detail the other. Here, eight columns sustain the roof bordered by a balustrade of nine- teenth century lines. On the river front of the one storey wing, a porch also follows its length and there two windows on the sides have only twelve lights. Green slat shutters correspond with those of the house, but the dentil cornice is much more interesting than the plain cornice of the main building. This gable wing over which ivy climbs with abandon has two chimneys—one at the north end and one in the centre. It is of brick construction, but has for years worn a coat of cement. The two portions of Sabine Hall are whit- ened to give a note of tidy domesticity. Within the pretentious entrance of the eastern front of the dwell- ing is a hall ten feet wide, its length pursuing a line at right angles to the facade, for which light is obtained from windows on each side of the two doorways. There is an ancient Grecian legend which tells that all those who have two loaves of bread should sell one and buy “hyacinths” to feed the soul. In the wording the reference is not to the delicate flower of spring but to things of permanence—the effect of proportion— the relation of height to the width and length of houses—the placing of a window, or door—the effect of spaciousnesss. It is in the “hyacinths” just described that Sabine Hall is rich, and as soon as the hall is entered the charm of the consistent Co- lonial architectural detail is fully appreciated. The effect given by the panelled walls and the rare furniture is entrancing. Heart pine from the Virginia woodlands is used for the panelling, which mounts from baseboard to cornice, and is painted in two shades of the same colour. The portion known as the wainscot is made of square bev- elled edge panels, while those above the dado cap are very slender. A transverse hall is entered beneath an arch supported on pan- elled pilasters standing against others of fluted design which are as high as the wall. The square bases of the latter are panelled and their capitals, which melt into the cornice, show provincial work- [ 161 ] TRY = a [cee ee Se a Ee EEE eee eee ea at eee eae ot 1 i i H am Ni a i i j As \ beFa Soa Tada ca ea et ne an ha ee H Lam Wa Yb Mi ‘ The hall ten feet wide which pursues its length straight through the house provides an archway from which the stairway ascends. manship in all of their parts. The fluted keystone from the bottom of the arch to the top of the cornice slips around the panelled soffit. The deep moulding across the spandrel top and between the pilasters makes the cornice appear much lower at this point. Priceless por- traits under the patronage of “King Carter,” father of the builder of the house, look with disdain upon the present century and its desire for nothing but ease. King Carter’s likeness was from the brush of Sir Joshua Reynolds; that of his son, the Councillor of Nominy Hall, being also credited to Sir Joshua. Other portraits which are very beautiful are the work of artists of lesser note. The furniture is antique mahogany. The cornice, the archway and the pilasters are painted white, and the dark baseboard has a narrow white mould above it. Great beauty is found in the same spirit of form which prevails in the fur- niture, the woodwork and the portraits that hang in the hall. [ 162 ]SABINE HALL The stairway presents the uncommon spectacle of rising in a hall of its own from the foot of the archway between the main and trans- verse halls, and the latter connects with the wing. The smaller passageway is panelled and painted like the larger, but the stair is of natural pine and is neither panelled on the side nor beneath, The balustrade of twisted spindles, guided by the hand rail, curves out gracefully to the very slim newel post which stands at the end of the projecting lower step. The plain, deep frieze falls below the upper hall where the banisters end, to the level of the first floor ceil- ing, and fluted, applied newels are on the wall side of the stairs, The balustrade and wall stringer show the natural colour of the wood, but the steps and risers are, curiously, painted white. On the right of the small hall, doors open into the drawing room and library, while the dining room occupies the space between the outer brick wall and the stair hall. The drawing room, panelled and painted, has as its chief archi- tectural embellishment a ¥éry*feautiful cornice, and most elaborate Joinery is found here. The'péffect condition in which the woodwork still is proves the integrity of the Colonial handiwork. ‘The room is stacked with a bewildering array of antique furniture—the tables, chairs, mirrors and other pieces being extremely handsome. Por- traits also adorn the walls of the parlour, and double doors, panelled in rather an original manner, lead to the library. In these, two square panels alternate with two that are rectangular, the rails and stiles varying in width. None but a Colonial carpenter would have built such doors with jambs and cap pieces panelled in rectangles in an extraordinary way. The library is by far the most interesting spot at Sabine Hall. The treatment of the walls here corresponds to that of the rest of the storey, but the cornice with its well made moulding and delicate dentil course is considered by many the finest in the dwelling. Fluted pilasters, above which the cornice breaks out, flank the black mantel with a plain frieze; this has slender colonettes with well carved Corinthian caps. The library is the most historic room in the house, for here are treasured autograph letters with the signatures of Washington, La Fayette, Richard Henry Lee and others of Co- lonial and Revolutionary fame. Here also is the table—worn by the years and hallowed by association—around which sat Royal governors and American generals, members of His Majesty’s Coun- [ 163 ] Sn ee Sleecienbdl-eahacicheentadeehe teen ee to eee oe t iN i H ca ‘2 FE rd i | ae 5 q a 4 ‘he C hepor fs CAN Ba rer De S at aE MRT a aE hs PUL BU LChs Wy Ae _———————————————EEEEEElElElllIaEeeee_e__ ee INTERIORS OF VirGINIA Houses or CoLoNnIAL TIMES The arch between the halls. The stairway of natural pine is neither panelled on the side nor underneath. cil and, later, Presidents of the United States. When Colonel Lan- don Carter held council with George Washington regarding the [ 164)]LAs rey ein \ yy SABINE HA.Lt Morristown campaign, it is said that this same old table was a silent witness to the conference. The library is suggestive of every kind of warmth and comfort. In the dining room a bewitching sideboard holds a wondrous store of family plate treasured by the descendants of the founder of the plantation, whose descendants now assemble about the Colonial table in the centre of the room. Again one finds walls panelled in the heavy type of heart pine which is always effective. It is above stairs that one feels the atmosphere of the olden time. The hall panelling, although painted and maintaining two shades of one colour as below, has a dado with oblong panels and stiles the size of those above the dado cap. The deep cornice is denticu- lated and on the walls beneath it hang still more family portraits which add a human quality and awaken in the least sentimental the legends heard of the long ago. The splendid upper hall is now used as a billiard room and from it the spacious bedrooms open. A quaint brick lodge is the first Interesting glimpse of the old plantation, and from this a tree-studded park of twenty-five acres Stretches toward the manour-house. A stately avenue of forest trees winds through the pleasaunce, giving at unexpected moments charming glimpses of the Rappahannock River. The driveway upon reaching the lawn forms a circle in front of the house. Standing as it does at the rear of the vast lawn and between two €normous trees, Sabine Hall, with a background of smaller trees and flowering shrubs, is restful and filled with charm. It is, however, on the river front that one lingers, for here right at the porch steps begins the garden—a garden of almost every old and many new flowers; a garden of rare beauty and joy. Beyond the gigantic oak tree that is the major note among the flowers, are the orchards, then the fields and meadow lands which slope to the river edge. This west view is very lovely. Life at Sabine Hall was very merry in the Colony’s Colonial days and the Diary of Colonel Carter bears testimony to this fact. But the Journal of Philip Fithian, tutor of the Colonel’s nieces and nephews at Nominy Hall, gives the most vivid glimpses of this pic- turesque day at first hand. Writing of the daughters of Sabine Hall, the tutor observes, “Toward evening Miss Betsy Carter, Miss Polly Carter, and Mrs. Turberville came over to see our girls. Miss Betsy plays the harpsichord extremely well, better than any young [ 165 ] aa a a eect ee eer ae a ea eed eel aaa oe eeeif & | Bs 44 SSS & 4 SS Armen eu The stairway has three twisted balusters on each step. A deep, plain frieze falls below the upper balustrade. lady I have seen in Virginia.” On another date, Fithian writes: “Col. Carter gave an entertainment yesterday to celebrate his Birthday and had a numerous and gay company.” In considering the manner in which the Virginians lived in Co- lonial times, the same Journal records in regard to the Carter family: “Half after eight we were rung into supper. The room looked lumin- [ 166 ] SM ry ee eee ? ° YP hn Sa ae ee nO eSUSCA ray We to 2 es Se i ad eed _ a a a a nS SABINE HALL ous and splendid; four very large candles burning on the table where we supped; three others in different parts of the Room; a gay, soci- able assembly and four well instructed waiters,” Such was the life at Sabine Hall, a life fraught with danger but filled with pleasure; a life of dignity and culture. It is highly agree- —— TERRACE | The first floor plan of Sabine Hall. able to know that this Colonial homestead has not yet left the occu- pation of the family that founded it, and that children of the eighth generation still play happily about their ancestral plantation. Sa- bine Hall is now the property of the Wellford family, direct descend- ants on the maternal side of Colonel Landon Carter. The history of the past and the present are united and exempli- fied in this splendid old dwelling whose walls have witnessed the coming of the Cavalier, the passing of the Indian—the rise of our great Republic, the trials which arose when it was torn. asunder by war, and its boundless expansion in modern times. SA deena eaters ee aaa ca a ct ay are on -8 X 4Ht CHP ate eerbto LAC no { H i i } ! I Sa a ed ee er : aa a en ne tr aga nedMENOKIN OMING down the King’s Highway from Wash- ington, not far from Stratford, the road swerves sharply to the right to reach a very narrow bridge leading across a shimmering sheet of water. Down to the very water’s edge great trees grow like those about Alpine lakes, and a roadside sign an- nounces to all the world that the place is ““Meno- kin Mills.” The Indian name at once awakens the memory of the home of Francis Lightfoot Lee, and investigation proves that the sleeping pond was once part of his Colonial property. Born at Stratford in Seventeen-thirty four, this brother of Rich- ard Henry Lee was educated by a tutor who instilled into him the many necessary things to be known by a man of fortune. Although he spent much time abroad, it was to Mount Airy that Francis Light- foot Lee went for his bride, Rebecca Tayloe, whom he married April twenty-eighth, Seventeen-sixty nine, and whose father, Colonel John Tayloe, gave her a thousand acres crowned with a house. The young Lees pitched their home in the centre of a great, broad field, and chose for its design the modified type of the smaller Eng- lish manour-houses of the Tudor period. Colonel Tayloe, having been so very successful in the erection of his own house at Mount Airy, it is possible that he had in mind some such arrangement for the future of his daughter’s dwelling. He chose for her home the same brown stone for which Mount Airy is famed, and he had the outbuildings so placed in respect to the main house that with little effort they could be connected by arched ways. The house at Menokin is of massive masonry and impressive pro- portions. The hipped roof has level eaves with two tall chimneys in the centre; the walls are thick and the cornice plain. The band courses at the second floor level, which are double across the front of [ 169 ] = Sw 4 i eee ame eee a Clee el ace = a ee ene eee eee ee =rNi Sa a al ee nl a SE ee “ aon om er Ae ma er ES Vircinta Housts oF COLONIAL TIMES INTERIORS OF Menokin, built by Francis Lightfoot Lee about 1770, is a house of massive masonry. the house, are, with the lintels, of dressed sandstone. The lintels of the second storey and the basement, incised in imitation of flat arches, span the openings whose broad frames, like all the rest in the house, are also of brown stone. Sandstone quoins carry out the contrast with the white lime mortar with which the exterior walls are covered. With the exception of one corner which has peeled, Menokin shows a white surface. The house is almost square, as it measures forty-five by fifty, and like all country seats of its period, is double fronted. Wide and greatly worn stone steps lead to a tumbling porch which bears the evidence of a date much later than the dwelling. Two cement washed pilas- ters—which might be called architectural gaucheries—stand_ on each side of the entrance and mark, upon the exterior, the walls of the house within. The charming fan light above the door seems out of keeping with the heavy pilasters. Double doors opening beneath an arch with deeply panelled jambs lead right into the stair hall. [ 170 ]MENOKIN Measuring ten by fifteen feet, this hall js notable for a panelled staircase which, at a very steep angle, rises direct from the front door. The moulded hand rail is thrust into a square newel below a crude cap, and the balustrade is formed of four square spindles on each step, this being the only one of the kind in Colonial Virginia. Instead of fitting gracefully into the angle post where the stair changes direction in its hasty upward flight, the hand rail adjoins the post at the bottom, leaving the rail of the second flight to stand almost the height of the post above it. The risers are orna- mented with hand-tooled scrolls which follow the Greek wave motif, and the stairway has a correspond- ing half hand rail against the wall where the joints of the wainscot par- allel those of the stair flight and landing. An uncommon feature of this hall is the nine-inch board which defines the level of the first floor ceiling along the wall. The large room on the right is now used for the kitchen, but, judging from the spot where the original kitchen stood, this must have been the din- ing room. A pine wainscot is its ae distinctive feature now. On the The charming fan light above the entrance opposite side of the hall a door at doarlss aotakee SCR OICRe the stair foot opens into the present heavy pilasters. small dining room. But small as it i is, 1t has built-in cupboards, a panelled firebreast and wainscot. The wall is broken where two windows in front and one on the side have comfortable seats, and the room is almost square. At the end of the stair hall a door with simple enframement leads into the “‘greate hall,” about twenty-two feet square, which still fills certain customs of a more ancient day. Wine large room is sur- rounded by a wainscot with projecting chair rail and baseboard of grained pine. The hall is large and dim, and it is furnished in last [171 ] J) é t~ 4 “" I \, Pa Seater ear me A fa a Sted gore epost ee ee nn Se al ere ea i ae at eae eee eee ee yet OEEat Pee Pros tee wes SE ee In the entrance hall, at a steep angle, the noteworthy stair rises direct from the front door. SS ee eeMENOKIN century fashion. The white plaster walls permit space for two windows with wide seats and inner blinds; above each of the three doors—one of which opens on the south front— are plain, heavy door heads. But the most important detail of the whole interior is the broad chimney piece, which is panelled in front but plastered on the sides. The mantelshelf has at the bottom a dentilled fret, below which a. richly carved frieze of intricate design de- mands attention. The panelling Detail of stairway showing risers with applied scrolls and the four spindles on each step. The door of simple enframement which leads into the “greate hall.” above the mantel is of great inter- est. The customary sleeping cham- ber opens off the right, and this, too, has a panelled chimney piece. The deep, splayed jambs of the first storey doors and windows are pan- elled; all of the walls have wain- scots, and at the ceiling there is a denticulated cornice. On the second storey four rooms and a hall repeat the plan of the first floor, and here the windows are most interesting, showing as they do only nine small panes of glass, with muntins of extraordinary width. a7e%l —— 74 ae é apaaara 2 a ata ee SR eT eae Settee etcdeereadeee eeeend mere eee Se SS ee oa \ 2 ee Pi \Td at et te ESS rere INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES if re) The chimney piece which is the most important interior feature. The first-floor windows have twice as many panes. The rubble-stone office building, also coated white, is enlivened upon the lower floor by brown stone trim. Eight lights of glass form windows of this storey, and only four appear in those above. The long gone kitchen which stood among apple trees, exactly opposite the office, must have duplicated the lines and material of the building that remains. The architectural details at Menokin were [ 174 ]MENOKIN evidently worked out from some book on the subject, and executed by provincial carpenters. Colonel Francis Lee had a very deep love for this house and his tree-girt plantation. Whether he named it because the Indian trans- lation of it meant good growing land, we are destined never to know, but we must question the statement of some antiquarians that the name was originally Monocan. In Menokin, the o carries the ac_ cent; in the other name the accent is on the Mon. < The mantelshelf with dentilled fret and richly carved frieze below. In the days of Colonel and Mrs. Lee the plantation was the scene of much gayety and Colonial entertaining. Francis Lightfoot Lee was a member of the House of Burgesses, of the first Congress, and affixed his signature to the Declaration of Independence. Known as a distinguished statesman and orator, this man, who out in the world was diffident, showed at his best among his friends in his home. In Seventeen-seventy nine he withdrew from Congress and retired to Menokin—‘‘to which both his temper and his inclination led him with delight.” For the rest of his years he led a quiet country life— reading, farming, and enjoying the companionship of his many friends. ee In the Journal of Philip Fithian there is more than one line in regard to this old homestead. ‘‘Mrs. Carter,’ he writes, “and Miss Corbin, after breakfast rode to Colonel Frank Lees.” Again one 75 | = ae See as ae eee le OE eT orrte ce ete eeneeeeee ett ed teen 4 A t iY ‘ i a et ff , Ay ¥ = aa ea aoe ev INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES may-read, ““Dined with us Colonel-Frank Lee and his lady.” And in the gossipy Journal of a Young Lady in Virginia, written in Sev- enteen-eighty two, the gadabout wrote with envy, “Cousin Molly and Mr. Pikard go to Menokin today.” The steps from the garden porch are extremely high, and the view from them is enchanting. Standing on the topmost of the CHAMBER GREAT (aAyVAWL ISRCTN DINING ROOM The first floor plan of Menokin. steep terraces, smothered with the fragrance of the jasmine and the Tose, 1t 1s not very hard to give fancy free rein to race back to the days of charming Rebecca Lee. It is easy to picture her there in hooped petticoat and quaint Watteau walking among the sweet old shrubs or the flowers upon the terraces. In its day of decadence the old garden is lovely still; and though the pear trees have passed their fruiting time, and the fig trees refuse to bear, the black walnuts still do their part along with the damask and musk cluster roses. [ 176 ]MENOKIN Francis Lightfoot Lee, the fourth son of President Thomas ieee and his charming wife, died in Seventeen-ninety seven within a few hours of each other, and Menokin reverted to the family of Colonel John Tayloe. For many years the old place has been the property of those un- related to the Lees, and its successive owners have borne the names of Booten, Howard, and Bellfield. Early in the last century an Episcopal Academy was conducted at Menokin, and the present owner, Mr. A. H. Bellfield, was a pupil in what for forty-six years has been his own house. Regardless of a certain dilapidation, the old dwelling has charm as well as distinction, and domesticity is the note which permeates it. For all of the faded glory that surrounds it, the old house upon its hill top stands splendid and solitary. In the midst of the space upon all sides, its stateliness and past grandeur are still apparent. Although sorrows and cares have multiplied about the venerable homestead in latter years, the hospitality characteristic of the first owners is still extended to strangerand friend. Before the old hall hearth-stone sit kindliness and good will, while the spirit of charity —gracious and generous—abides within the walls like a visible bene- diction upon the inmates and the guests. Be x — 4 Sere — Sites Sr dere aeCane i i oaCounty, recent- ly made accessible by the thoroughfare known as the King’s Highway, there has stood for one hundred and ninety-seven years a sturdy brick house which has sheltered more men of historic and political distinction than any other in Vir- ginia. This old dwelling in plain view from the coun- try road looms against a tree-fringed background and is unlike any residence in America. The massive solidity of the early eighteenth century homestead captures one even before it is known to be Strat- ford Hall, the home of the Virginia Lees. The dwelling stands true to its builder who had known and loved such houses in “Merrie Eng- land,” and though the walls seem to rise from the ground of a low situation, the structure in reality crowns the summit of a high bluff some distance from the Potomac River. The estate was founded by Richard Lee who came to Virginia from Stratford-Langton in Essex, England, in Sixteen-forty four and bestowed upon his new home in the wilder country the name of his earlier surroundings. The property was inherited by his son, Thomas, who became one of the most brilliant men in the Virginia Colony. When Sir William Gooch, Governor of Virginia, was re- called, it was Thomas Lee who was appointed President and Com- mander-in-Chief of the Colony until the King thought proper to appoint him Governor of Virginia. Unfortunately, he died before his honourable Commission reached him. Thomas Lee was the builder of Stratford Hall and, though the present residence was not the first he had erected on his property, it was built upon a much grander scale when the earlier dwelling was burned by convict servants whom Colonel Lee, sitting as Magis- te dante teat oc eee ee [ 179 | \ Rn eeINTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HOUSES OF CoLoniIAL TIMES d RO ron a ee EES € ; Ree aS See nm e Leas ate ao ass sane Stratford Hall, built by President Thomas Lee after his first house had been burned by convict servants. trate, had sentenced to be punished. The loss by this fire of Seven- teen-twenty nine was fifty thousand pounds and included cash, family plate and valuable furniture. Three hundred pounds were given Thomas Lee by the English Crown in appreciation of the loss sustained by its agent in the faithful discharge of duty. The great house that succeeded the more primitive residence stands in the centre of a quadrangle at the corners of which are the outbuildings. Although Stratford has been called a building of a storey and a half, this is misleading, as the high basement forms the first storey, and the floor above, the second. The walls are built of brick, which in the remarkably high basement are larger than the rest, and are laid in Flemish bond. The remainder of the dwelling shows English bonding. Another curious fact about Stratford 1s that in the basement the window panes are eight by ten inches while those of the second storey are much larger. The latter contain [ 180 ] a ea eS I a ae eS on =a eRe PsSTRATFORD HALL eighteen panes each and the former has sixteen. Each window is spanned by a flat arch of bricks of pinkish tone and all have slat shutters of faded green. The early Colonists seem to have had a penchant for houses in the shape of letters. In Virginia, T, E, L and H are represented and the Lee homestead portrays the lines of an H. A central building, twen ty- five by thirty feet, has a gable roof and upon each end wings of the same height which measure thirty by sixty feet are placed at right an- $ ae ie ; gles and have hipped roofs. From | | the centre of each wing roof, four sturdy chimneys, united by the same number of brick arches, pre- sent an individual effect. The ar- rangement of these quadruple chim- neys permitted space for a secret room eight feet square whose walls are discoloured by the flame of lamp or candle. Hidden by a plank to which a spring was attached, the tiny chamber, evidently known in the days of Indians, was unknown by later generations until a carpenter inadvertently touched the spring releasing the board. A long flight of greatly worn stone steps with wrought iron rail- eat ees eee ‘ ing leads directly to the south ened long flight of stone steps leads to the = : eee classic doorway with brick enframement. trance, which is the most formal of the three in the house. This outside stairway rises from a very small paved forecourt where the old bricks are almost smothered under violets and periwinkle. The door one enters above the little court has a classical enframement of brick, being one of the three in Virginia, and when slightly open gives an enchanting glimpse of the interior, a glimpse whose prophecy is more than realized when one stands within the great hall, which still maintains the traditions of the old English hall and is here, in the second storey of the house. This splendid saloon has great distinction. The walls are covered [ 181 ] ! So re —— Sem eee ar tlc raat ee EN aS ES ee dale eee ae ee eee te ne eee etc ae oe oer ee Sas ada ea entedee a bd et eee ts bIUCION ie BP See i) fi cei LALA ie irae eT nes ae | a ee a en reel One end of the great hall showing built-in book shelves, pine panels and Corinthian pilasters of walnut. Shaheen ee eee Se a Gt ol a he ee i aeSTRATFORD HALL with very wide panels of natural colour pine cut to fit each space. Every panel.is flanked by Corinthian pilasters of black walnut, the doors, cornice, hand rail and baseboard being also of the rich dark wood. The great height of the room is ameliorated by a coved ceil- ing which curves up from the cornice below—a very happy use of perspective. At both ends of the hall, bookcases are built into the wall between the pilasters, and these have very small antique brass locks with pulls, and brass H hinges of two parts which can be snapped or unsnapped at will. The cornice is very deep and breaks out above each pilaster, with which the course of dentils is in perfect accord. The hand-rail protrudes and the wainscot panels follow in width the same lines as those above. The four windows are set in deep reveal and have delightfully comfortable seats. The furniture is stylistic. The large mahogany sofa is said to have been at Stratford ever since the house was built, and all of the rest—which is cane—is reputed to have been in the hall beyond the memory of many generations of the original family. The wood detail is characteristic of Seventeen-thirty. The eight-panelled doors at either end of the saloon open into cross halls each of which extends through a wing to end at the east and west porticos. In the west hallway a door on the right takes one into the drawing room where the floor is covered in Victorian fashion. The panelled dado, however, is true to type, and this, like the mantel of a later day, is enriched with gouging. The cross against “witches” stands out in relief against the two upper panels of the door and gives every evidence of having been the work of some- one unskilled. The door frame, too, is rather crude, but the manner in which the moulding is fitted to form the “dog’s ears” is admirable. A modern brick facing proves that some space was taken from the original fireplace opening, and the mantel although of very good lines shows the mark of post-Revolutionary days. Across from the parlour is a charming chamber, all white and old fashioned blue with the exception of the splendid mantel of natural wood embellished with simulated pilasters on each side: 2 he four poster bed is draped with blue, and the delightful little arch headed cupboard between the mantel and the wall is worthy of the best modern architect. The walls and dado cap are painted white, the baseboard black, and the space between chair rail and baseboard is of a very soft light colour. At the rear of this is the Green Room, also a sleeping chamber. [ 183 ]pe tea coe rm Se eS INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES The hall showing one of the narrow halls that lead through each wing. _The absence of a stairway on the main floor is noted at once, but this is explained when it is understood that the original is in the base- ment of the west wing. And a charming stairway itis. Occupying the space opposite the alcove leading to the Green Room, this deli- cate stair, in an uncommon way, descends between the walls to a landing with just three steps below. The balustrade has plain spindles, but the mahogany hand rail is very beautiful and frail in size and design. From the landing it swings out gradually, then sud- denly turns swiftly to cap the newel but little larger than the balus- ters. Although the brackets are uncarved, they are of beautiful outline, and these with balustrade and _ risers are painted white. A wide, low window lights the stairway, and another just below the steps of natural finish affords light for the small square hall from which access 1s had to the dining room. The east wing duplicates the arrangement of the other. This also has a stair basement, though of nineteenth century date. Across [ 184 ]STRATFORD Hatt the hall from the stairway are two chambers—one of which was once the dining room, but the room of greatest interest and human quality is in the southeast corner of the house. This room is not notable for architectural detail or for any par- ticular decoration. It is just a plain, simple room such as any Amer- ican family might have, and yet—its walls are hallowed, for within them came into. being three of the nation’s greatest men—Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee and General Robert Edward Lee. The modest chamber has walls of white plaster surrounded with a pine dado painted dark brown and with a gouged dado cap. The mantel is also delicately gouged, and above the shelf, in the oval gold frames of long gone generations, are pictures of some charming women of the Stratford family. The dark cornice is puritanically plain and the walls are discoloured by the smoke of many years. Still another likeness, although hung high upon the wall, catches the eye of the visitor, and this, from the brush of Sully, is of Anna McCarty Lee, the second wife of Light Horse Harry Lee and the last of his name to live at the old plantation. The portrait represents her in the prime of life, a haughty personage with head tossed proudly to the side as if disdainful of all the world. The thought of the human beings this room has sheltered—still and pulseless long ago—awakens in one a growing pain that cannot be defined. A door on the inner side leads into the old-time nursery where the baby Lees, doomed to be famous, romped and played as other children do. Stratford Hall shows certain architectural styles of Queen Anne’s reign interpreted—with the exception of the carved capitals in the saloon—by Virginia house-wrights. The woodwork is of the type that had been in use for fifty years when the house was built, and it suits perfectly its purpose and place. Steep stone steps with an iron railing climb up against the wall to the small eastern portico like that on the west side, although the latter has no outside entrance. The east steps mount from a flag- stone pavement and were, judging from their nearness to the outside kitchen, evidently the service entrance. In dutiful fashion, ferns and mosses cover the well worn niches in the steps, and over the bal- cony above, a clematis paniculata throws its blossoms like a mantel of white lace. The four outbuildings centred by the great house are stable, office, milk house and kitchen, each about thirty by forty-five feet, and all [ 185 ] ey & eed Sapte) oe RNa a pan ne a nye ee mn ln eS Ne oe Soe tenet eaten edeeteceneeaditemememettiaiatiar ier ee ate eet ete eemner ee eee eae Se tener ametenie, (tae eee DEER AR tied mtn ee ete * eaBT er Sd aaa ee eee aieay or InTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES Detail of the parlour showing good mantel and gouged wainscot. with quaint curb roofs. All but one have two tall chimneys which rise from the roof centre and are held together at the top some- what like those of the main building. Stone walls eight feet high link one of these to the stable on the west side while a twelve foot crumbling brick wall encloses the kitchen square. The latter has an enormous fireplace where, tradition relates, a whole ox could be roasted. The broad-throated fireplace opening is twelve feet wide [ 186 ]STRATFORD Hatt One of the bed rooms, which is charming in wiiite and old-fashioned blue. and has at each end a swinging crane. The arched top is eight feet high in the centre, and here there is an oaken lintel as black as ebony and as hard as lignum vitae. This gives an idea of the amount of entertaining done at the plantation when the Virginia Colony was in its youth. These quaint outbuildings seem to stretch friendly arms out to the rolling grain fields. Where the Colonial garden once gayly bloomed, one sees occa- sionally a stray shrub or flower, but the trees that were but saplings when the dwelling was erected amply compensate for the loss of all colour but green. An enormous linden throws out its arms between the dwelling and the kitchen; a leaning hemlock stands very near the house; and a pear tree has been so bent and warped by storm that an artist would delight to make use of it in a landscape composition. Beyond this there is nothing left of the garden but crepe myrtles and old fig trees. : The fig trees were quite noted in the early days of the Republic, [ 187 ] 4 \ ‘ hf i ) b s Senile Nz — iio a earciadla aa deetia ntannctmbe menmnenmainetntt eon te Pee eT eee lacisieromea ocean Ieee ee eee Oe oe een a te “d ¥ ,a a ne oe ood The original stairway which descends from the main floor in the west wing. for one reads in ““The Journal of a Young Lady in Virginia,” an entry of October, Seventeen-ninety two: “Cousin Nancy and myself have just returned from taking an airing in the Chariot. We went to Stratford, walked in the garden, sat about two hours under a beau- tiful shade tree and ate as many figs as we could.” The brick wall that surrounded the cemetery is rapidly falling away and the vault that was once within the burial plot was in such a crumbling state that the owner of Stratford had it pulled to the ground, placing in its stead a large mound with the stone from the grave of President Lee upon the top. Thomas Lee was buried at Pope’s Creek Church, five miles away, in Seventeen-fifty six. Old Stratford has been the setting of striking bits of Colonial life. Notwithstanding the many miles between the estate and the nearest plantation, the family of President-Governor Lee never felt the pangs of isolation, for they were either entertaining their neighbors and friends or the latter were playing host to them. For the older [ 188 ]— — — — —=IG¥5 afi y This room is not notable for architectural detail, but as the birthplace of Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee and General Robert Edward Lee. people there were cards, and chess and light wines for amusement. For the younger generation besides “Button” and charmony there were weekly dancing classes held at the various plantations. Con- sidering the class at Stratford the observant Fithian wrote in his Journal, “About six in the evening the Chariot returned with Bob, Miss Prissy and Nancy from the dance at Stratford—Miss Prissy told us that they had an elegant dance on the whole—that Mr. Christian, the Master, danced several Minuets prodigiously beau- tiful, that Captain Grigg danced a Minuet with her, that he hobbled most dolefully, and that the whole assembly laughed.” This Gaps tain Grigg receives frequent mention in the diaries of the Rappahan- nock and Potomac River gentry; he must have been quite an original and amusing character. The rapidly increasing wealth of the Colonial families brought about new luxuries and there is a record of a foreign order sent by [ 189 ] a “ey x p Seer aD ee ee aed Ce a ee ae ee ae a Ee a eS ee ae ee ee ee re ee ere nae a See 5 ay a i 4 } + rt eu is EY | if oOe en Bene Oe EE a Le —— ian lial Hee INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF CoLoniaL TIMES General Henry Lee for a new style lamp to be shipped to Stratford. “You will very much oblige me,” he wrote, “by getting for me one of the most improved modern lamps of polished tin, such as Doctor Franklin brought over with him for giving greater splendour of light to a Parlour where we sit. If, in order to use the lamp, any explana- tion is necessary, let such expla- nation accompany it.” The old forecourt has been the scene of fascinating bits of eighteenth century life. It was here that President*Lee would en- ter his coach and drive to Wil- liamsburg with six outriders as protection. Again, the hunt would meet before the great house—the baying of the long eared hounds, the pink coated huntsmen, the dancing horses ready to be off, making a picture which has never been equalled in the modern day. Here the guests would leave their Chariots for a ball to be held at Stratford Hall—beautiful maids with powdered hair and stiff pan- niers, pompous dignitaries con- scious of their prominence, gay - — gallants whose manners were the A doorway with “ears” frames a door latest in evidence at the English panelled in Queen Anne style. = ; Court. Such was the life at Stratford Hall—amusement, leisure, and great display. As some one has said, “Just such a life as by all the rules would produce a race devoid of any solidity of mind or of char- acter.” And yet—this was the life that in reality produced more than one generation of famous men, not only of Virginia, but of America. Stratford was the home of twelve members of the House of Burgesses, four of the King’s Council, four of the Convention of Seventy-six, two Signers of the Declaration of Independence, members of the Continental Congress, and Governors of Virginia. Not only has the plantation been called the birthplace of genius Wie « = [ 190 ]STRATFORD HALL and headquarters of fashion, but it has achieved a place in history beyond that of any other Colonial Virginia estate. Stratford Hall has neither been restored nor afflicted with addi- tions. The worst that can be said is that a verandah was once torn away. This must have been from the north front, for at present there is no entrance at that point, though a door is there. SALOON The second or main floor plan of Stratford Hall. The life of Stratford has been long—its importance has been monumental, and though it does not now boast the acreage of former days, more than twelve hundred acres are still attached to the manour-house. The last of the Lees to live at Stratford was Charles Carter Lee, and from him the estate went to Mrs. Starke, the sister-in-law of Major Henry Lee, who lived there until after the War between the States. Upon her death, the house and one thousand acres was left to her nephew, Dr. Richard Stewart, whose son, Charles Edward Stewart, now controls the splendid property. The old dwelling is a history in itself and a rare illustration of the life and customs of the period at which it was built. Since its walls were reared, the glorious history of America has been made, and many of those prominent in the making were born under its very roof. [ 191 ] a ee de a gt Pr eee iene teatctine ete e oT Pt ee ee ie Le oeOa ee eT Pa - aa a ee rd fe ed Ge aeMARMION HEN the Northern Neck of Virginia was granted to Lord Culpeper in Sixteen-eighty one it became the abode of many families of America’s early days. In this section George Washington, James Madison and James Monroe were born within a short distance of each other among other dis- tinguished settlers who followed the course of the beautiful Rappahannock. Among those who took from the primeval forest their Virginia home was William Fitzhugh, son of a barrister of Bedford, England, who came to the new country in Sixteen-seventy. Four years later this émigré married Sarah Tucker, who was so young that he is said to have sent her to England after the ceremony in order to perfect her education. Upon his death in Seventeen-one his splendid estate of fifty-four thousand acres, in three counties, was divided among his sons, John the fifth receiving as his portion the plantation his father had named Marmion, in memory of Lord Marmion, the last to bear the title. It has often been erroneously stated that the name was suggested by the poem of Sir Walter Scott. On the other hand, Scott says, “I have not created a new family but have only revived the title of an old one in an imaginary personage.” A saffron coloured roadway climbs up the hill and through a woodland meadow burnished in St. Martin’s summer with the tawny colour of goldenrod and purpled with daisies. The end of the drive marks the beginning of the pleasaunce studded with ancient pines and walnuts; with locust trees over-run with ivy, with maples and old pecans. Walks paved with large, square bricks burnt upon the plantation, lead to the entrances on both fronts, and embedded in that of the west are cannon balls of three grave wars—the Revolu- tion, the War of Eighteen-twelve, and that of the Sixties. [ 193 ] a, ® a ‘i dosha f me) ys ys H : i a ee oo ise o> shsatea teases ateee rateate ones ae ner OO : / ; i} % Ry ww i 4 q | i Ldfa a te ee en eae hae = == ree ae ene Sa aa a SS Sl a eee stp edict eae erate er aie aeons \ « .SR ARAN ath rut ets een nwa coen — — a A Mla x INTERIORS OF VirGINIA Houses oF CoLoniAL TIMES walls at the ceiling and this, in common with most of the other wood in the house, is heart pine lightly grained in the natural tone. Mid- way, and from beneath, the splendid walnut stairway rises to the landing dignified by a grandfather’s clock, and a beautifully panelled dado follows with precision the ascent of the stair on the opposite wall. The stairs leap from a spiral newel concealed by surrounding balusters which support the hand rail, ending in a horizontal scroll ry e e ° e e ° e bid KITCHEN DINING RM. PARLOR. HALL ° e e First floor plan of Marmion. like that at Westover. Each balustrade shows a different style of turning and two stand on each step. On the right of the entrance is the quaint old “sitting room”’ where an old fashioned bell rope hanging at convenient height re- calls the happy days when there were many to respond to its slightest jangle. But the most delightful feature of the room is the corner fireplace panelled in natural wood, with two snug little cupboards— one above and one below—built into the left side. One feels here that the subtle delicacy of treatment given by the early American architect-builder is rendered more interesting by his measurements. The room is perfectly symmetrical in no way, and that is a great part of its attractiveness. One corner is cut off diagonally by the [ 196 ]MARMION The corner fireplace of the sitting room has bewitching cupboards built in the left side. chimney piece, which thus effectively conceals the secret chamber, and the simplicity of the fireplace is carried out in design, construc- tion and finish. The harmonious relation of the moulding and the unbalanced panels form a happy composition. Two windows, each with twelve panes of glass, bring in the light which shines on a painted chair, originally the property of Uriah Forest of Revolu- tionary fame. There is a small chair, too, and one that quickens the pulse when the thought is born that by its aid the children of seven generations of the Lewis family took their first steps. The chair back has been worn perfectly smooth. Across the hall is the library which repeats the general design ot corner fireplace, panelled end and built-in cupboards. The panelling of the chimney piece, although irregular, is bold in scale. The library has tiny secret places which spring up on all sides, each hiding treasures of Colonial days. A family portrait looks down on the present generation from its ancient place on the wall, and a [ 197 ] or 4. =a sta, RTS Ce ee — saith ieabaaitinen tiara tet pera eeeet rede a 1 \ i i } ff : MN 2 Ly A Li ta“4% cana eS S Parner De apo) cena ES 7 ~ = = a Ss 2 ~ x & S = oS) a a 3 2 3 38 = a ms} 3s S & ~ ce S S = ~ S ~< x Ss 3S SS S o 8 SS ~ ag 3 = & = |MARMION The dining room, entered from the library, has the corner chimney characteristic of Marmion. well built wainscot, like that of the sitting room, was there long before the panelling came. The colour of the natural wood and the moulding, delicate and graceful, give a refreshing variation to the unconventional library. e dining room is the one next entered, and here there is a priceless store of old family plate and cut glass. This has the char- acteristic corner firebreast and panelling into which serviceable cup- boards are built. The furniture denotes the different periods of American craftsmanship and the dado corresponds to those in the other rooms. The majority of the window panes show opalescent glass, and some have “‘bull’s-eyes.”” One window in particular is pointed out with particular pride, for in this most of the glass is original. It was probably brought from abroad in sheets and then cut into twelve panes for each window. The sturdy muntins are ample proof of a very early period. One piece of the silver belonged to George Washington; some [ 199] “ae 4 Se pe eer a ee erie A> alli a aaa en ea wa a el et et a he ra Sl ae = Ss LS S en eee INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES The chimney end of the “Marmion Room” showing the Chippendale mirror, said to have g hung in the same situation since Marmion was built. With the exception of the stairway, the woodwork of the first storey is pine finished in natural colour faintly grained, and has a soft mellowness about it now. In this as in other things, Mar- mion expresses certain changes which took place within the Colonial period regarding style. In this respect too, the hinges and locks are important features adding greatly to the distinctive results. There has been no attempt, apparently, to space the windows and doors symmetrically on the river front, but uniform green shutters protect them, and these have upper and lower parts, both panelled. The old kitchen which stands on the southeast side of the quad- rangle has the cavernous fireplace of Colonial days with blackened lintel and massive crane, bespeaking great feasts in the past. What can be more convincing than an old time kitchen in whose fireplace still hangs the crane and trammels, and whose culinary parapher- nalia in the art of open fire cookery has been preserved? At Mar- [ 202 ]e et Sirsihenienebiaaaionammmer-saeman uae: sacs corer Le EET eerie MarMION or $4 vt. z - ners, ag : Sy ety 2 2 Se pee . ‘ eet ces vie os 2 : ee The room from which the woodwork was taken by the Metropolitan Museum. Mrs. Carter Grymes, the owner of Marmion, sits by the bed of Chief Justice Marshall. mion there is an old “tin Kitchen” with roasting spit and pewter hot water plates, with hooks to attach it to the fire irons; there is a waffle iron which represents a deck of cards and which came from Eagles Nest, four miles away. The throat of the fireplace is eight feet seven by ten anda half feet, and the outer measurements of the chim- ney are eleven feet six inches. A more convenient kitchen now serves the house. The other three corners are occupied by the school house, the wash house and the dairy; the ice house is between two of these. Although this white frame house, which stands a mile and a half from the river, is not so imposing as some of the dwellings along the Potomac, its exterior air of hospitality and comfort lends to it a delight and charm never attained by cold structural magnificence. Being near Fredericksburg, fancy can easily picture the distinguished men and women entertained within its generous walls. Here were [ 203 ] Sa end ee ee Sioa dieahth Seabed einai eee os Ste eta a is 7 a y ¥ yGN ee a a et d ~~ mag San ereUse ee sagt eb eg SS SN A See OO a Qu INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HOUSES OF CoLoniaAL TIMES ES Pay rary The wide-throated fireplace of the Colonial kitchen. wont to gather first Colonial governors, then Signers of the Decla- ration; Presidents and cabinet members. As courts assembled, or horse races or weddings—any festivities—called the inhabitants from the town, they found en route beneath the roof tree of Marmion an ever open door and a wondrous hospitality. This spirit of wel- come still stands at the gate, a rare spirit which appears very re- markable to those of newer generations. The house, the garden, everything about the plantation, tells of the chevalier family who brought their cultured European tastes and habits of living with them from overseas. The historic plantation is now the property of Mrs. Carter Grymes, the charming great-granddaughter of Major George Lewis, who acquired the place about Seventeen-eighty five. Mrs. Grymes, whose maiden name was Mary Lewis, is the nearest living relative O the immortal Washington, and in this connection there is a story of interest that may be told. [ 204 ]MarMION When Mrs. Grymes was visiting the Sesqui-Centennial Exposi- tion in Philadelphia she was called upon with pomp and ceremony by the Indian chief, Black Hawk. The Chief was accompanied by his braves—all in picturesque native regalia—and the object of the call was to: present to her a beaded bag sent by the Indian wife to “the nearest relative of the Great White Chief.”’ Needless to say, it was not an easy task to locate the proper person, but Black Hawk did not end his search until he found her. It was also at this Exposition that the owner of Marmion was presented with the spectacles of Mildred Washington which had been carefully kept for a number of years in another search for the “nearest relative of George Wash- ington.” Marmion is a picturesque bit of family history, and to the histor- lan, the antiquarian, the romanti- cist, every look about the planta- tion is replete with delight. The beauty of two hundred and twenty- seven springs has bloomed about the rare old house; the blue of the hyacinth and gold of the daffodil are scattered throughout lawn and garden with a prodigality born only |) sBi of time. Roses and lilies ; prim- Detail of an lonic pilaster originally roses and canterbury bells, em- at Marmion. broider the garden with gay colour as if in contrast to the sombre shade above the Fitzhugh burial ground at the rear. The neighborhood has greatly changed since the old house was built. The progresses and journeys from plantation to plantation belong to a far-away past, but, happily, the daily routine at old Marmion still tells the tale of the life that was enjoyed there when Good Queen Anne ruled the new Colony of Virginia. [ 205 ] f 4 | Bere ter icres raves ae ee a meee ec ec. eel Te aoa SA an eee Seiten ineabeteieitentindrnte arene tenateen erie ee oa GENIE Ebi ae * ,Le ie Petitewest section of Fredericksburg, there stands a hospitable old dwelling which was once the manour-house on the eight-hundred-acre plan- tation of Colonel Fielding Lewis. This house, Kenmore, was first known in history in Seventeen-fifty five as a rendezvous S® for recruits and headquarters of Colonel George Washington of the English Army. Twenty years later very differ- ent history was recorded within its walls. Indissolubly connected with the early structure is the name of Fielding Lewis, who built it in Seventeen-fifty two to fulfill a prom- ise to his youthful bride, Betty Washington, “a mannerly young maid.” Colonel Lewis was a man of great distinction in the Virginia Colony. He was a member of the House of Burgesses, Colonel of the State Militia and held other important offices. In Seventeen-seventy five, Fielding Lewis was made a member of the Commission of five to establish a “Manufactory of Small Arms,” and gave seven hundred pounds to carry on the vital enterprise. Too old for active service he also equipped and maintained three regiments. As a result of this patriotism, Colonel Lewis died a very poor man the very day that the battle of Yorktown was fought with his guns. His estate was so greatly involved that his widow, the sister of America’s commanding general, was forced to open a boarding school for girls-at Kenmore in order to educate her chil- dren. In Seventeen-ninety four Mrs. Lewis was compelled to part with the house that had been her home for nearly half a century. The park surrounding Kenmore is partly enclosed by an ivy- hung brick wall and partly by an iron fence, broken on one side by two granite posts between which hangs a plain iron gate [ 207 ] PAT AOU 1 ey £ 1A a : er a ee ae ETS Pee B Te Se Sree 5 ae ree a oe canbe teeanteetemtateeent ine teenes ote ca i a A an ee npedtnentiechdio-tetcienateeee eee eee Sere Fe es Se te oe Pra ie y %a Na La a i ae et ae (ox ~ INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs oF COLONIAL TIMES seem erated een a EE ae nate ae ee Kenmore, built by Fielding Lewis in 1752. marked “Kenmore.” Huge trees—lindens, hollies, elms, cedars, among others of lesser size—some planted by George Washington, have survived heroically both war and storm to shade the hallowed spot. The brick house with walls two feet thick could tell a tale of his- tory and romance blended, could it but speak. The nine windows that penetrate the front have seen the joys of great prosperity and the sorrows of broken fortunes. The colour is more drab than buff, and the trim is white as are the delicate stone arches above each window. The same arches surmount the basement-windows which peer out just above the ground, and all of the sills seem inadequately narrow in contrast to the thick walls. The quaint little wing on one side of the house demonstrates the charm of simple lines and the arcade on the opposite side proves a decorative relief from the pro- saic kitchen. Two chimneys stand above the curb roof at each end, but no elaborate cornice follows the eaves. The band course is merely a double line of bricks. [ 208 ]KENMORE The situation seems logical for the homestead, where passing life along the old highway proved the diversion of the occupants. The stone steps that lead to its entrance have borne the footsteps of many years of joys and sorrows, of peace and war. Double doors with large brass handles open immediately into the hall which js sur- prisingly small, and the stairway rises from the right of the front door just across from the dining room. Other doors lead into the SALOON DINING RM First floor plan of Kenmore. drawing room and saloon, that of the latter showing an enframement of beauty with the caps of its fluted pilasters supporting the arched frame of a fanlight. At the rear of the hall a transverse passage four feet wide crosses the house. The ceiling here is the introduction to those for which Kenmore is famed, and the hand-modelled quality of the mouldings harmo- nizes them with the leaves and garlands in relief. The door with plain frame points the way to the library, but the one leading into the saloon is the most important in the house. The spandrel deco- ration over the fanlight of the latter is particularly interesting. The enframement of the double door leading from saloon ‘to drawing room assumes very classical lines with two slender pilasters standing upon each side to support as many arches carved with what appears to be a provincial rendering of the twisted guilloche motif so popular in the early eighteenth century. [ 209 ] £ | Soma an scan RNR dicdemimniiapie hice race ae nae eee ee SE OEE le gd ee) ee ee eee eee? ei: eeFi i er orate * AL BUTTS Ce Sa hy A ha a rk Ck) (yee ts u ru INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF CoLoniaL TIMES The hall, which appears small for the size of the house. The ceilings at Kenmore are unsurpassed for richness. Their story tells of Hessian prisoners who were captured at the first battle of Trenton and sent by General Washington to his sister’s house to complete the over-mantels which Washington is said to have suggested. These captives are supposed to have been the same that later did the ceilings at Mount Vernon. Architects believe the Ken- more plaster work to be that of an earlier date, so the truth seems to be that the work was begun before the Revolution and finished afterwards. A certain delicacy of line and form characterizes the ceiling of the saloon. The graceful garlands and mouldings are typical of the time as well as the carefully designed cornice, enriched with the egg and dart and with five other distinct motifs. The white plaster walls are dignified by the portraits of noble men and women. On one side there hangs the original portrait of Colonel Fielding Lewis painted by John Wollaston about Seventeen-seventy, which shows a frail, slender man of great dignity, the only flippant fea- ture about the portrait being delicate sleeve ruffles of lace. Be- neath the portrait, placed much as they were in Colonial times, are [ 210]KENMORE a desk and a fireside chair that belonged to the bright-eyed Betty Washington. This room, twenty by thirty, has only two windows, but these have low, deep seats, panelled jambs and inner blinds of in- terest because of very small H hinges. It also claims the distinction of being the only room in the house which is panelled throughout. After the arbitrary removal of the gunpowder by Lord Dunmore, April twentieth, Seventeen-seven- ty five, prominent colonists met in the saloon to formulate what was virtually a declaration of indepen- dence, which closed with the words, ‘God save the liberties of America.”’ In the library one finds the most ornate ceiling in the house. The putty mantel decoration is a pic- torial fable of Asop’s “‘The Fox, the Crow, and the Cheese,”’ which was designed by George Washington to illustrate to his small nephews and nieces the frailty of flattery and vanity, and of allowing mere oppor- tunity to take an unfair advantage. The permanent enframement of this over-mantel embellishment is typical of the Georgian style; this Detail of ornate fanlight and cornice 1s also true of the marble fireplace vnincwa opening. Alcoves arch finely in Gothic style, on both sides of the mantel; a door at the rear of one of these leads to a cupboard, and the other opens outside. Although the space was there the alcoves were not originally in the house, having been cut after the removal of two doors by a nineteenth cen- tury owner. The baseboard is wide and the chair rail projects both above and below. The drawing room has a delicately wrought over-mantel showing a naturalistic treatment. The frieze of wood is deeply carved along the same lines, below a very narrow moulding of the Greek key. The plaster facing of the fireplace opening again displays the egg and dart motif. [201] i los bee aeatcinte oat et ee a ee ee y EI Se sense a a a a aunneanemtneemmenneemtine ete ete cnet ee Pe tana Ser ee \ %a ALR i aT ek EEN » ee a hee SS - ne a ae OE pe feos i oaKENMORE Sa NT ORS as as A corner of the saloon. The portrait of Fielding Lewis hangs above the desk of his wife, who was Betty Washington. Soe ee) DeSean oe BN Like the library, the drawing room has wide alcoves at the chim- ney end of the room, but these have no doors in the rear. The win- dow treatment corresponds to that of the saloon with the exception of small butterfly hinges on the panelled blinds and bars placed within heavy iron staples as protection from without. The drawing room is eighteen by twenty, and the floor boards are of random width. The decoration is symbolic. Amidst flowers and leaves, fruits and garlands, the four seasons of the year are represented as corner [213] 4 ia caters ere ii Pee ee Se mrees ered he nee ae ea ee SERRE AS Pere Se SSA eS isannenAndanin akan tee ime tate te anaes rons eee Fe ee ny cs i a> maar ney Seep Bae (hg GF ae : o's) ’ Ua Behe PI | INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES decorations: the palm for spring, the grape for summer, the acorn for autumn, and mistletoe for the months of winter. In another room the ceiling is adorned by plaster circles and-spandrels formed of beading of varied size made to fit each angle or space. The design is conventional but in the centre a sunburst radiates from the plastic Head of King Louis XIV of France. The name of the artist who deco- GEO AT BP ato ae rated this particular ceiling is un- hp ok ieee TI known, but it is known that he was called by General Washington ““The Frenchman.” The floor of the dining room ae ‘ | still shows the very wide boards SP Sara originally put there. Another or- Ba nate ceiling here, another carven mantel, this with a frieze very deeply incised in a foliated design. The woodwork around the fireplace opening is also well carved. The cornice is much plainer than that of the other rooms, but the dining room with its panelled chimney piece would lead one to believe it to be the oldest room in the house in point of woodwork. The door frames have “‘ears’’ and besides that leading into the room there is one at the chimney end which opens into the pantry; another leads into the service wing. The H hinges on the inner window blinds are very tiny and the windows with seats have in common with those of the first storey eighteen small panes of glass. The woodwork on this loos pines With the exception of the baseboard, which encircles each room and the hall in a practical manner, the woodwork is all painted white, the darker baseboard giving a strong line at a point needed to define the proportions. The mahogany staircase has turned balusters with an unusually heavy rail and the step ends are delicately carved with a conventional thistle. After the rise of a few steps the stair turns [ 214] The drawing room mantel and overmantel are treated in a naturalist style,SEE eee Ss ROT : . SES PR SRE SE SS RS SC a EN A library window. The tiny H hinges on which the blinds swing are noteworthy. at right angles on the window landing and continues along the wall where a half hand rail distinguishes the wainscot. Breaking once more, the balustrade extends upon the second floor in circular fash- ion to form an open well, making the distance between ceiling and floor twenty-three feet. The plaster cornice of the second storey carries out the egg and dart motif, and doors on each side lead to oD [215] a Dt b a ; i s \ SER DER ee Yo ah pa (INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES f Fis The mahogany staircase which, with the exception of the hand rail, is painted white. the four bedrooms. Each of these has an interesting mantel and space for an open fireplace. A narrow arch at the rear of the wall brings one into the upstairs sitting room, and the three windows which light the hall overlook the park. The kitchen wing is original and this still has its old bake oven and much used crane. The por- tico on the garden front is the most attractive feature of the exterior. [ 216] Sa Ia Pee ee Dee ae (Aa allaKENMORE This quiet old house of such dignity and charm has not always known happy days. From the Lewis family it was purchased by the Gordons who gave it the name which in Scotch is “Kenmuir.” This family also cared beautifully for the historic house for sixty years. Kenmore suffered during the war of the Sixties, and after this there came the pathetic time when it was not occupied at all. The next owner, W. Key Howard, lovingly restored the old house and replanted the trees that had been levelled on the lawn. But the tenure of this illustrious family was all too short to give permanent relief to the bat- tle-scarred walls, and after another sale the historic dwelling within whose walls George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de La Fayette, and scores of other men whose names have added an his- toric and aristocratic flavour, was bought for purposes of commerce. The park was to be divided into small lots and the house to be ruth- ™ . lessly razed or become the wing of a SAS, a modern apartment. Detail of stairway showing carved Happily for Kenmore, the dese- conventional thistle. cration did not materialize. Al- though the original acreage has dwindled to the park with the years, through the influence of the Daughters of the American Revolution all that was left was put in the hands of those who will carefully watch over the rare old house and its surroundings. Under the direction of the Washington-Lewis Chapter, and after heroic effort, the Kenmore Association was formed and possession of the place was obtained by that organization in Nineteen-twenty two. After all of its vicissitudes, its disappointments, emphasized by the glory of former days, the uncertainty of happiness or hardship, the old house is at peace. No longer are its walls sombre, its win- [217] Sie ee eT See Remind SeSan any en ee i t t } 4 H ) 4 , Ny t ‘ ’ if i J y ' | 4 t a Lf A iA a i Ss med iat ee aoe a eee INTERIORS OF VirGINIA Houses or CoLoniat TIMES dows closed, for it is now a place of historic pilgrimage and hundreds daily take advantage of the opportunity to see just what the Colonial dwelling is like. The lawn, brutally abused during the days of Re- construction, is now thickly turfed. New trees replace those that have gone; a few of the shrubs recall the days of Betty and Fielding Lewis—and old Kenmore has been saved for future generations to contemplate. The great lock and door “pull” with heavy iron key which protects the entrance.GAY MONT Ae HE splendid plantation now known as Gay Mont originally contained two thousand acres and was founded by a pioneer Virginia settler by the name of Miller, who controlled a large grant along the Rappahannock River. Known first as Rose Hill, the estate became later the property of the Catletts, and one of these early owners erected the original house about Seventeen-twenty five. Unfortunately, the War of the Sixties played havoc in Caroline County and records necessary to establish the history of the prop- erty from its Colonial beginning were, with many others, wilfully destroyed by Federal soldiers. It is only possible to trace the com- plete history of Gay Mont from the time it was purchased from the Catlett estate in Seventeen-ninety by John Hipkins. By marriage of the latter’s daughter to William Bernard the estate fell'to their son, John Hipkins Bernard, who, upon his marriage to Jane Gay Robertson, changed the name to Gay Mont in honour of his bride. Upon the highest point of the country around, Gay Mont, through a screen of ancient trees looks down on far-reaching views and river vistas which cut through unbroken stretches of fertile meadow and valley lands, forming a continuous panorama of great beauty. The view is enchanting as seen from the portico, which is reached after the motor sweeps around a box-hedged bed of roses. Three terraces, each three hundred feet in length, fall from the shrubbery outline of the driveway and tumble down the steep hillside, a small and formal garden ornamenting the space between the second and third. This small bit of floral beauty is round and has four fan-shaped beds of roses watered by a fountain in the centre, and a family legend tells that the glistening walks between the flowers are made of pebbles [219]Fla ad ee ee eee oe ood ee Acs INTERIORS OF Vircin1A Houses or CoLoniaL TIMES Ne? Gay Mont. The original or central portion is said to have been built about 1725. The wings were an addition of 1790. brought from Bermuda in response to a charming bride’s whim. The last terrace—twice as wide as the other three—swings into a semi-circle, with a border of roses following its curve. Where the dwelling ends, and on each side, are circles of Boxwood once kept in low and formal lines, but forced by Time to throw shaggy crowns ten feet into the skyline. Each has a gorgeous centre-piece of roses of old-fashioned name. _ The central portion of the house is original, but the pentagonal wings and portico were added by Mr. Bernard in Seventeen-ninety eight. A second architectural change was made in Eighteen-thirty, when the octagonal music room was built on the garden front. The dwelling is of frame construction, with the wings and the first storey of the main building covered with stucco. ‘This is thought rather remarkable by architects, who wonder what prompted the owner to cover the wooden walls with cement—an unusual departure [f220_]1Gay Mont The hall is notable for a crescentic arch, scenic wall paper and moulded cornice. from the strict lines of Colonial architecture. The walls of the sec- ond storey and the attic show in an excellent state of preservation the original pine siding. Tall, thin chimneys rise high above the comb of the gable roof at each end, and a cornice of square blocks gives a denticulated effect. Wheel windows light the low-browed attic and five narrow windows with green shutters look out from the second floor upon the fair valley of the Rappahannock, the same number overlooking the garden. Six columns with balustrade between uphold the portico recessed within the walls of the two adjoining wings. The most unique fea- ture of the house is found here where, between the windows at the rear and on the sides, plaster busts of Washington, Franklin, La Fayette, Napoleon, Milton, Byron and Scott are placed. The wings have hipped roofs, and four windows with eighteen panes of glass pierce their walls. Chimneys, very broad of base, throw their caps [ 221 ] pl ieee eee J f a ee ee Si leestceeth cr eateaieieeetedeeet teem eaee re ne )Se ce wena mtn nf arene Sa eee s seers epee ne ee Ee ene ea ee ae os ee ate eee pe ane te TS ae er ee a ee en ee oad x INTERIORS oF Vircin1A Houses or CoLoniat TimMEs above the ridge pole of the main roof, standing almost in line with those of the older building. Although there are five other flights of steps which lead into the residence, the formal entrance is from those leading to the portico. Doors of eight panels swing between the little porch and hall, and, when open, reveal walls covered with scenic paper which assumes impor- tance by becoming a decorative feature. This paper adds both life and colour to the hall, and carries the design of the Bay of Naples and Neapolitan scenes in an unbroken panorama which is delightful. Prop- erly used above the dado from which it is separated by a broad hand rail, the blues and greens and rose colours of the antique paper are as bright as when they were brought from France by Mr. Bernard. Upon each side of the entrance doors are win- dows, and a moulded cornice with a course of dentils with a neo-classic frieze defines the line between wall and ceiling. The hall, twelve feet wide, is broken in the centre by an arch supported on reeded pilasters | | with carved caps. The dominant Detail of arch in hall showing carving of note 1s an original Empire sofa, Grecian inspiration, an early importation, in a perfect state of preservation. The dining room on the right and the chamber on the left complete, with the floor above, the house of Colonial days. The dining room, with dimensions approximately eighteen by twenty-seven feet, is a room of great charm. The chimney breast is beautifully panelled with pine along the lines of early eighteenth century work, which fact seems to prove that the Colonial part of the house antedates Seventeen-twenty five. Flanked by rather wide pilasters—partly reeded, partly fluted—the over-mantel pre- sents a series of panels of various sizes so placed as to follow a design [ 222 ]Gay Mont drawn for this space only. Upon the central panel hangs, in superb- ly silent dignity, the portrait of Captain Robert Gilchrist Robb, in the blue and gold uniform worn by him as Commander of the United States naval forces at Old Point Comfort. When the War Between the States broke with fury over the country, Captain Robb resigned from the Federal navy to join that of the Confederacy, of which he also became Commander. The mantel in the dining room is supported on marble columns, which, like the shelf above, were once pure white marble, but have taken on with the passing of years the deep, creamy tone of a gar- denia rose. Ornamented on both frieze and cornice by arabesques of brass, the mantel is of the Empire period, but the original open fireplace has shrunk to a small grate. The hearth, however, appears to be of field stone slabs. The walls are covered with antique paper representing the Bay of Naples in a gray monotone with the excep- tion of one panel which portrays a mythological scene in sepia, and this decorates the entrance alcove. The soft gray of the walls is in perfect accord with the old mahogany furniture, among which a ponderous sideboard—with shelves above and drawers below—stands pre-eminent. The array of family heirlooms in the form of glass and silver is dazzling, and one can but wonder how they escaped the van- dalism of the war that split the country when Gay Mont was many times surrounded by the enemy. Two windows break through the walls upon each side, and over them fall draperies from beautiful and novel cornices. Having the appearance of very large split spin- dles, such as appear in miniature upon rare old desks and chests, these cornices are enriched in the centre and along their length with brass ornaments which correspond to those on the marble mantel. The Master’s chamber, like the dining room, occupies a complete side of the house. This also has a panelled firebreast and mantel of good design. The wall paper is of the type that brought distinction to rooms of an early period and is highly individual in design. A huge four-poster and other furnishings of four-poster days make the room wonderfully comfortable and cheerful and bring keenly before the visitor the beauties of the olden time. In size and the spacing of doors and windows this conforms to the dining room. The stairway, which ascends from the rear of the hall on the left side, is typical of the early years of the eighteenth century, and its climb to the second storey seems a trifle steep, owing to the unusual [ 223 ] et te ee a ee Se ee eee _ an oer ee ae abel adit sheetete mae taene ence EE ee ore Sees Le Sn P Pa ¥ %Sy WU PLAC od mst PN CUR ES weettiy wmney prece. t interesting. lly well made ch 1ona tone and an except has scenic paper in a gray mono The array of family silver on the antique sideboard is mos ming room The dGay Monr height of the ceilings. The second floor of the original house is much like that below, and the bedrooms are furnished with rare walnut and mahogany. The doors are all panelled to show crosses. The wing on the dining room end of the house contains a chamber, a small hall and storeroom, with the cheery library at the extreme end, and this shares its chimney with the bedroom. The wing on the opposite end of the house also has a chamber. Beyond the latter, the conservatory occupies its full depth, and steps lead from here out of doors. The servant bells, which still hang on cords suspended from each window, are among the most interesting features of Gay Mont, and though they are essential in all true Colonial houses, now they are seldom seen. The octagonal projection at the rear of the hall is the music room, which was added in Eighteen-thirty on a level a foot lower than the main house. Gay Mont obtains variety by this splendid room, which has an unhackneyed spatial form. Measuring eighteen by twenty- two feet, the room has, below the windows on the garden front, built-in cupboards, which give an air of permanence and home-like comfort — never obtained by movable furniture. The ceil- eiae See ee ing 1s very high, and the field of the wall is with that of hall. covered with paper of the Directoire period, which gives an appearance of sand-coloured satin draped in graceful, shadowy folds, caught by ruby cabochons. The room itself, its out- look and its treatment is a delight. Gay Mont was the stage upon which both gayety and sorrow were enacted during the War Between the States, and the door was always open for Confederate officers, whose commands were many times in the neighborhood. As Mr. Bernard’s daughters insisted upon remaining at home throughout the war, and at their solicita- tion General Abercrombie, the Federal commander, with headquar- ters at Port Royal, sent a special guard for their protection, so Gay Mont was saved. In the midst of the cruel drama of war, romances were begun, and, while nearby towns were being demolished, gayety reigned superficially at Gay Mont, where beneath was endurance and [ 225 ] ~~ aN ,! J oS ae Fiiecsien Sap Sone? a a ee em rs ~ eae “ oe ene a oe cee eae ere = i Se einer straw sateen =~ Feats disneartiedaiat=tearron tee ome ren deeae Lea ra er eee ne i \ INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES An interesting panel of landscape wall paper in the dining room. unrest. The present owners have preserved among others, a story of these stirring days, a story typical of the actors and the times. On a certain romantic evening Major Pelham, Major Duncan McKim and other Confederate officers were dining at the plantation, the girls charming in be-ruffled frocks garlanded with roses to match those in their chignons, their guests keen and alert, knowing that it was well to make merry, “for tomorrow.... .” The beat of hoofs on the entrance drive, the stumble of hurried feet across the portico, and a capless courier stood in the room, where the diners had risen from their chairs, and summoned the officers to their posts. The battle of Fredericksburg had begun. So fierce was the cannon- ading that the bells attached to the rooms kept up an incessant jangle. In its fairest days, roses grown to the size of trees hedged the garden entirely, but Time and a war so cruel as to force neglect, denied their care and nourishment, and with the cause of the family that had cherished them they drooped their heads and folded their leaves, then died. Although their place can never be taken, the hedge [ 226 ]Gay Monr of altheas which supplanted them has proved a happy choice. Gay Mont suffered as did most Virginia estates as the result of the War Be- tween the States, and the damage done in Caroline County was reflected in the plantation. It was then that the gay little fountain in the rose garden on the terrace was robbed of its pipes in order that the huntsmen of the family might make them into home-made “slugs” to take the place of unobtainable shot. In every. way con- ditions had so changed that the property was divided, and the house, Music Room c Portico 1 a a ay — a 2 : CONSERVATORY First floor plan of Gay Mont. including lawn and garden, was bought by the youngest daughter of John Hipkins Bernard, Helen Struan Bernard. Upon the marriage of Miss Bernard to Philip Lightfoot Robb, the long tenure of one name was broken, although one of the original line and blood continued in ownership. Gay Mont is now the property of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Lightfoot Robb. In every way Gay Mont recalls the old manner of living, which has unfortunately disappeared with the changes of Time. It recalls the day when the Virginia gentry showed the English preference for country life, for dogs and horses; for the real sport of shooting and fox hunting. Into the descendants of John Hipkins the spirit of courtesy and hospitality which marked their ancestor is being car- [ 227 ] ry . es 4, > eee eo ae jaa if -: 4 t Ht ae re ‘ ‘ i ‘ ‘ by 4 iH s az n , ee | i iy f Ih 0 i i \ 4 H i, } ; H Sc a eee oe INTERIORS OF VirGINIA Houses or CoLoniAL TIMES ried on, and friend or stranger who now visits the old home will re- ceive the warm welcome of Colonial days. Miss Fannie Robb, the gracious chatelaine of Gay Mont, is surrounded many times each year by the other children of her parents, who are drawn back to the ancestral hearth because the green fields and wooded valleys and happy memories of their country life are a great relief from brick and mortar cities.ELMWOOD HERE stands not far from the Tidewater Trail, between Tappahannock and Fredericksburg, a grim old house hidden away in the midst of trees that have overgrown the hilltop chosen by the Colonial builder for charm of situation and beauty of river view. The twentieth century unfortu- nately has obliterated all of this, for a tangle of woodland vines has shut out the view as they slowly and mercilessly closed the house in from the world outside. Once bright with newly-made bricks, the dwelling has faded to the colour of eyes that weep, then close with the pain of still more tears that can never be shed. The road through the plantation that once contained thousands of thrifty acres is now little travelled. The barn, the barnyard fami- lies, and tenant houses—passed midway between highway and house—are ominously still and quiet. Everything seems deserted, and yet, one knows that there must be life and motion somewhere, for the meadows still yield their yearly quota of grain. Dense wood- land stretches between the dependent buildings and the manour- house, and as the motor slowly makes its way over the narrow, up- ward trail, every weird tale that has been told about Elmwood seems more than true. A sudden curve around mighty trees and the wheels crunch into a bed of sand which ends the woodland road but gives a glimpse of the old home of the Garnett family standing on a bit of rising ground—silent, dejected and apart. The park of many acres has been deserted for fifty years, for Elmwood seems to want silence as the controlling note of the symphony of life. A small brick building with high-pitched gable roof has upon its old-time walls a wash of vivid red cement, and is the first house reached. Small as it is, it has served the purpose of [ 229] i % yy ¢ ‘ \ \ ; 4 Ds a a F Jf H at Re os rT a if ay j eS ae aN Se er en ler ieeeINTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES | . pas - hat oy A - ae t. so S & SI The garden front of Elmwood, bualt before the War of Independence by Muscoe Garnett, and which though unoccupied since 1870 is still filled with rare furniture. office, guest and school-house. The low-browed structure of wood nearer the main dwelling, and with an outside chimney of massive size, was the original kitchen, but neither of these important out- buildings appear to have been considered in regard to their architec- tural harmony with the home house, and both have distinctly dif- ferent lines. The manager’s house on the outskirts of the tree-girt lawn is the only sign of the present century about the old messuage. One does not speak. The ponderous silence is overwhelming, for Elmwood, isolated in its green frame of trees, holds out no welcom- ing hand. With the bricks laid in haphazard fashion, owing to changes made from time to time, Elmwood presents on the east a facade of varied architecture and colour. Some time in the dim past the structure was dressed with a coat of white plaster, but the rains of years have washed this almost all away, leaving bricks of delicious brown and [ 230 ] Fa ac aha et ee fee a ot oot Se odELmMwoop greenish tone to show the walls. Two chimneys, wide but very tall and slim, have caps made of three rows of bricks, and rise from the highest roof line near each end. Both the belt and the base courses are merely double lines of bricks. The eaves are not finished with a cornice of consequence, leaving the stair tower to present the most distinctive feature of the exterior, and this has below its independent hipped roof a deep, plain frieze. Each end of the house, though of different heights, appears to be original, and the composition is sturdy. All of the additions and changes were evidently confined to the central portion of the building, where the tower projects fourteen feet beyond the main walls and a Palladian window forces part of the otherwise hipped roof to become a gable. The five windows of the second storey of the tower have splendidly arched heads and no outer blinds, but those of the first foor have simulated flat brick arches in which the mason achieved a rather original effect. The basement windows on this front are wholly above ground and are still guarded by wrought-iron grills, while the piercing of the remain- ing windows on the east was guided by circumstance. Most of the windows are narrow and have eight panes of glass. The ends are penetrated by two windows above stairs and one on each side of a doorway on the first floor. The porches on the east front and the south are very modern, but the west or garden front has every ap- pearance of dignity—and age. Though the original portico has been torn away, the only feature that prevents Elmwood from appearing upon this front a “‘greate House” in every sense of the word is ob- served in the two inconsequential dormers, which are in plain view from the garden, while those on the opposite front have been hidden by architectural changes. On the west the great rectangular mass of the house becomes an imposing country seat more like the small manour-houses of the period in England than the majority of Colonial dwellings in Virginia. Twenty windows and two doorways stretch across a frontage one hun- dred feet in length, and no longer does Elmwood appear silent and de- serted. Each window pane is in its place, each shutter folds back properly, and one feels here what charm the structure must have had when the family who created it lived within its spacious walls. A flight of steps between flat brick boundary lines nearly two feet wide and patterned in an octagonal design, climbs to the en- trance upon the east, where a ruined brick terrace is brocaded with [ 231] oo x 5 asta seers ; ren Penn S a a a i Se decom eaters ch en deci atta eather tadeeiae eer ee a eee ee oe nes ’ 2) at 4 i ~Vad DALNOPGAL ks is unusual and mice wm many Ways The cor he rest of the rooms, has remained the same regardless of the many vears the house has been closed. Ss ~ = 8 = ss} ve) x S » & 3 s S 8 3 8 Sy = 46 L = S&S x Ss = S ‘= = 2 ~ like in t ne the furniture here, The splendid main hall, from the east end of ee BIDAR OP eRe ey ee ~ ACsELMwoop emerald moss. Like all doors into the locks of which keys are seldom thrust, more than a trifling moment passes before the front doors at Elmwood swing apart, their hinges sobbing. The hall within can Justly be called superb—and yet—one is but dimly conscious of its beauty or its interest, for the torrent of damp, mouldy air that rushes to be free leaves one stand- ing upon the threshold conscious only of the uncanny atmosphere that permeates the lifeless struc- ture. The air is heavy with the ghost of memories of happy living— of the end of many lives, for it is said that here, as Time takes its toll of the members of the builder’s family, each one is brought to lie in state before the sadness of the gar- den burial ground. When all of the windows and doors are thrown open, however, Elmwood casts off its air of gloom and again the hall becomes merry as sunlight dances about the floor. By happy arrangement the main hall, which has a width of twleve feet, runs through the very centre of the house from door to door and spreads broad arms into transverse = : halls twenty-one feet long upon each Detail of hall cornice. The panelled soffit side. The east and west doorways of arch is noteworthy. are alike in treatment, as each has a plain frame and stands between two recessed windows. Transoms and panels of translucent glass enrich each door, through which the sun throws kaleidoscopic colouring about the walls and floor. The hall, where in the olden time the stately minuet was danced, is furnished as an entrance hall should be, and one of the most in- teresting features about the house is that though silent and unoccu- pied it still retains the furniture used by the Garnetts in the days of the English Georges. The plaster walls and ceiling, once immacu- lately white, are now dusky with¥mould, and upon the top of rare [ 233 ] +e a 4 Fy iecsesank re Soaring! aan RII Act eae ce oe “= Se tea oceans ee Bad aaa edtiet earn tate ede ee OE WA eee ne ee CH ¥ , edCEM Way Pe INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES Heppelwhite card tables standing near each door the dark gray mould has thrown a pall one eighth of an inch in thickness. Lift the closed half and there lies beneath the eyes the most beautifully polished mahogany. A cane seat maple settee of three parts and some chairs complete the necessary furnishings of today as well as of yesteryear. Regardless of not having been used for more than half a century, the hall is now as it was in its happiest days—ready to receive stranger and friend. The neo-classic cornice is said to be painted in heraldic colours, the triglyphs are white, and the metopes are centred by a contrasting Tudor rose in bold relief on backgrounds alternately red or blue. Below the brightly coloured frieze is a walnut moulding. The arches through which one passes to reach the cross halls are splendid specimens of architecture. Both are supported on reeded pilasters, their soffits panelled in perfect squares. Suspended from each keyblock are antique Chinese ‘“‘lanthorns,” reminders of the oriental craze which swept over England and touched America in the eighteenth century. Each transverse hall measures nine by twenty-one feet, and a] of the woodwork in the three halls is black walnut in natural finish. On the left side of the northeast passage is the Blue Room, which is entered through an unique doorway. This answers the purpose of a door when slat shutters are dropped over it from above and insure privacy and ventilation. At other times it is merely an opening above the wainscot, which is here cut and hinged to the frame. The mould that accumulates in any unused house has destroyed the col- our of the painted plaster walls, but the glorious rose colour of the marble mantel will last until its end. The chimney piece here 1s thought to show the best architecture of the interior, for its well de- signed lines are slender and the work upon it well done. The fireplace opening has a white facing, and the ears which adorn the architrave betray its period. The over-mantel creates the idea that it might have been patterned as it is to show to the best advantage some par- ticular portrait. The square central panel is outlined with a carved moulding which seems to be a combination of guilloche motifs, and above this the cornice and frieze of a broken pediment are in accord with the treatment of the mantel. The base and sides of the pedi- ment have—above in one and below in the other—a course of dentils of infinitesimal size, and the finial is either a thistle or a flame. L 234 ] Da are i al ae nt ee at eS Pet Sun ee aThe chimney piece in the Blue Room is delicately carved and the mantel is of rich pink marble. Equidistant from the centre upon both sides are two narrow panels bordered with ovolo moulding and picked out criss-cross fashion in faded silver. The cornice of the room is very lovely with its soft colouring of white and blue, also touched with silver. A very nar- row chair rail finishes the top of the panelled dado, and a doorway with deep splayed jambs is cut through the walls in the recess formed in the left side of the room by the firebreast. pa 235 f cos ciieliemeeiemeiens eacmanenc meen aneeraeete te ee St cn ee Sansa eaten eet alan tones een eR pe re 4Te Ra ed ed i LAO eae LeU nea tT oar ke Se E oF CoLonIAL TIMES INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HousEs seetpcsroneniace 8B. A)iacaod 5) 9) } Stair landing between first and second storeys showing scroll frieze. At the rear the bricks of the wall are exposed. Madonna looks down upon the Bible of the Garnetts, which, fastened by a clasp of heavy gold, rests calmly on the mantelshelf below. What a commentary! In closing this house of their forbears, the existing members of the family left for their spiritual ancestors this sacred relic of life and death. The library is interesting, romantic and sad. ___ The tower room or stair hall is six by eighteen feet, but, small as it is, four doors open in and out of it. The staircase is panelled in grained walnut and the two stair windows have frames of the same treatment. A ponderous newel with curious ornamentation stands upon a blunt lower step and halts the hand rail which rests upon its head. The balusters are misleading. Though there are two on each step, which is indicative of a previous period, they are undoubtedly the work of carpenters of the middle of the nineteenth century. A Stringpiece runs below the machine-carved scrolls that decorate the ends of the steps, but the wall stringer is merely a board with a mould- [ 240 ]EL_mMwoop ing at the top. The angle posts in an extraordinary way appear to swing between the balustrade where it breaks to permit the landings. ‘These posts have bands of wood around them like the newel, but are much more ornate upon the ends which stand above and fall below. The stair winds on to the second storey, forming on its way a narrow balcony, below which a frieze of machine-made scroll-work corresponds with that of the risers. Deeply revealed doors are at both ends, and between these the bricks of the exterior walls of the house are exposed as a result of the remodelling. The stair leads upward to the fourth storey, where hand-hewn beams and rafters are much in evidence. This attic is unfinished, and thrown into one corner are black walnut boards very thick and wide which were not needed in the erection of the house. These boards, with the rest of the timber in the dwelling, are said to have been cut from trees on the estate. The five bedrooms of the second floor are placed at the rear, and one end of a long, wide hall, in the centre of which the Palladian window, observed before entering the house, gives in the midst of Victorian architecture a classic note. The changes made in the dwelling seem to have been centred on this floor, for with a few ex- ceptions it has lost the Colonial atmosphere. The rooms’ at the rear Open one into another and are about eighteen feet square, but the end chamber is the size of the drawing room below. The ceiling is high for an upper storey, and the Colonial exceptions are the chimney pieces, which, though not elaborate, are of delightful lines. The firebreast in each room is flanked by doors on either side, which may have provided space for powdering rooms, but now open into closets. In one of the latter a long-skirted riding habit hangs, a habit made to wear when graceful plumes swept from the riding hats of women. It recalls poignantly those picture people, and seems so helpless hanging there that one hesitates to touch it, fear- ing what might happen. Every room is completely furnished—and such furniture! May it never leave old Elmwood or its owners, having been true to them for so many generations. Four-posters, with legs uncut, tower to the ceiling, and half-high four-post beds, called sometimes “Jenny Lind.” Tent beds and canopy beds: ailan thus-leaf carving and hand- turned legs; broken scroll headpieces or plain footboards. Chairs of almost every type, and all good. Dressing glasses of rosewood and [ 241 ] cee a ae aE OTe eT Se ne ee ane a a ee ee a les tne aie ee t a r teabetctictenracdvee ete ee SNA esoo oa Sa ar nT ee vane boo r Se eee INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF CoLoNnIAL TIMES et ee ARE ry ie a Ee pe OT co a ee ed * y OS" ied ie + 4 : ~tt a4 : . pS he ged AR The river front of Brooke’s Bank, built in 1732 by Mrs. Sarah Taliaferro Brooke on land presented her by the English Crown. tall, square chimneys are the only ones to be found with such em- bellishment among the houses of Colonial Virginia. The cornice is very deep for a building the height of Brooke’s Bank and has be- tween wide mouldings a denticulatéd course. The same type cor- nice follows the eaves of the two wings, but instead of the dentils being of average size, they are delicately reduced. The protruding base course is formed of concave and convex moulded bricks and the belt course is extremely interesting. For three rows, the bricks are laid double on the field of the wall between the two storeys; below these there is one line showing the sides only while the finish above 1s one concave course. In a curious and most original fashion the band course on all four walls stops within one foot of the ends. Nine windows with very small panes of glass are so placed in the walls of the south front of the house that within they are deeply re- cessed. The sills are thin, very thin, but gain attention for the [ 248 ]BROoKE’s Bank manner in which they extend beyond the walls. Each window is enriched with a flat brick arch, including those of the basement which peer out just a bit above the level of the lawn. The sides have only two windows in the upper and one in the lower storey. Those on the river front present a very different appearance, being fitted with four ugly, oblong panes of glass as a reminder of a deadly and un- necessary war. The walls of the house, a fine specimen of Flemish bonding, have been washed in the past with both red and white cement, but the trained eye will see in certain areas, above the scars of war, deliciously green masses of moss. The once bright shutters are now a mouldy green and the rest of the wooden trim is dusty white. The wings have upon each side tiny windows with narrow outside blinds and in each end doors open on the lawn. On both fronts of the house porticos, built since the first days of Brooke’s Bank, are gradually falling away and the steps of all four entrances— in sad contrast to the ancient walls —are made of concrete. eR : The south door of panel and rail Tihelweryaligh bricks chimney erate is double and is opposed upon the _ trasting headers laid in diamond effect are the only ones of the kind to be found in northern front by the same style. = Go iean eee When all are open one sees from beneath the old linden trees an enchanting vista through the house and across the river. The four-pane transoms above the doors have as a lower finish a very narrow moulding carved in a conventional design. oo The interior of Brooke’s Bank is delightful and antiquity is strongly marked upon each wall and room. The hall, which makes possible the charming vista, is twelve feet wide and thirty-three feet long and is spanned midway by an arch fifteen inches deep with [ 249 ] = goeiee tanita og P net =F : =e Peas Sm ep pree i a a Pe i ieeenaatene ee a eel a a ete eg oA i a RS f Z a \} \ , > ad vo VFSee ra eaare a — : ee = Se Ne ee EE om - RS ——— ed baler INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES The fall is broken mid-way by a massive arch. The walnut stairway ascends from a small cross hall on the south front. ‘panelled soffit. This arch rises from low pilasters with heavy bases, and. the jambs are decorated with narrow sunk panels placed just below the frieze enriched with carving derived from the Wall-of-Troy motif. The wainscot sheathing which surrrounds the walls bespeaks the early architecture of Virginia, and the deep walnut cornice 1n natural finish contrasts well with the plain plaster walls. All of the woodwork is b'ack walnut showing neither paint nor stain. _ AAs was customary in the well built houses of the Colonial period in Virginia, the stairway is the most distinctive feature of the in- terior. Beginning upon the westward side, in a hall of its own, the first few steps parallel the main hall, and where the steps broaden and begin to wind the balustrade at intervals leaps upward as it crosses the space below. This feature is very different from other Virginia stairs. Two turned balusters stand on each step and three circling upon the lower step stop where the newel, but a fraction [ 250 ]Brooke’s Bank larger, rises. With easy tread and graceful sweep the stairway at Brooke’s Bank is one of the finest in the South. Not one, but two windows are needed to light it as it climbs. It will be observed that the manner in which this staircase is panelled is worthy of admira- tion and attention, and how, with the-crude tools of the time, the builders could have achieved such a remarkable effect must always remain a mystery. Not panelled but sheathed in such a way that after nearly two hundred years it is almost impossible to detect where the edges of the boards were placed together, the staircase does away with the stringer by permitting the sheathing to follow perfectly the line of each step.’ The result is an incurvate line leading from newel post to the basement door immedi- ately below the stair. The two rooms on the east side of the hall are filled with interest. That on the north is said to have been the original parlour and has held that position ever since, judg- ing from the ornate character of its finish. Beneath cobwebs and grime the room is very lovely, though it shows the marks of the unskilled woodworker. The wainscot, like that of the hall, is sheathed, but the base board projects beyond the sur- face of the wall and is crowned with | a convex moulding. The room measures twenty by twenty-four feet and the chimney cuts diagonally across it giving an octagonal effect at that end. The latter is panelled and is quite interesting in the way of carving, for the intermingling of interlace and dentil motifs shows the originality of the craftsman who executed the over_-mantel decoration. The Tudor roses in each corner must have been an importation, but the gouging below the mantelshelf was a Virginia product. An extraordinary piece of craftsmanship is seen in fluted pilasters of [ 251 ] | err eno Seucie (32 (in, Pisin He , Marck Rite & Detail of hand rail and balustrade showing vigor of the stair. toed a Snes ia A ee ena ete are meee ate ae eS Se a tae encore ee eresDie OUR r KOCH) poe Deron a . ue e fealures. istinctiv sS Rae Ss S 2 = S o S = = S ~ = 8 = x 2 ~ > Ss x = a ~ 4 S xX ps8) = ~ S ~ ~ 4 ~ 3 & = ds from t win z walnut stairway 2 graceju The 5 aN a OE ia aia SARSBy ie Sy i 3 te rot == Sasnin sete : ene a ue mean eee mee eee BrooKke’s Bank The symmetrically panelled chimney breast in the drawing room is of mterest. The slant of the cornice between the pilasters was caused by a shell that struck the house in the war of r86r. average width but little more than twelve inches high which extend from the “ears” of the central ornature to the cornice. A most. un- usual and not altogether pleasing effect. From the drawing room two windows look across the terraces to the river and the ducking shore beyond; the third shows the orchard where old and toppling [ 253 ] saeiainieitee feaenneideonine een Ce ee Ee ET ee ea ee eae. QA ys 4 7 .PN By ESE eR es a ee nes aed ON nL a> InreRIorS OF VirGINIA Houses oF CoLoniaAL TIMES apple trees still bravely share their fruit. Each window has a deep, comfortable seat and inner blinds of three parts—two hinged together on one side with just one on the other. Another unique feature of Brooke’s Bank is found in the treatment above the windows where rectangular panelling covers the space beneath projections of the cornice. One fancies that the en- tire field of the wall was once pan- “” elled, and after hearing the war tales in connection with the house, con- viction comes. The room is white in woodwork and plaster and when freshly finished must have had very great charm. The old custom of English build- ers to give a room but one way of entrance is strictly followed at Brooke’s Bank, where all of the rooms on the first oor must be en- tered directly from the hall. The doors are rather small and have in- stead of the usual “witch crosses,” four square sunk panels with evenly crossed stiles just above the centre. Rectangular panels occupy the space below. The room at the rear of the drawing room or on the southeast A drawing room window notable for the front of | the house Wits evidently panelling and the cornice which the original dining room, for the breaks out above. outside kitchen stands not far from here. The chimney piece is pan- elled with ability and also gives an octagonal effect on one side. The window seats are deeply recessed, the jambs and inner blinds are panelled and the cornice follows those of the other rooms of this storey. A quaint and charming touch is given by a cupboard built into the deep brick walls, a cupboard with three drawers and two doors beneath a pediment with broken arch. Though but a crude rendering of a graceful English prototype the eyes of the visitor follow each line with delight—the narrow fluted pilasters from the [ 254 ]Brooke’s BANK floor capped by the chair rail; two more from dado cap to the top of the doors; the rudely carved scrolls of the volutes which, instead of logically ending the arches on both sides, fall independently below. All of the woodwork is black walnut in natural tone. It was in one of these charming old rooms that a secret wainscot panel was forced open when Brooke’s Bank was shelled by the Federals during the War Between the States. So violent was the concussion that old wills and other valuable family papers which had been secreted there for many years were scattered about the floor or destroyed, thereby losing important records and information. Across the hall, the library and a Colonial chamber with practi- cally the same architectural treatment complete the first floor. The wings of one room each have in modern times been used as kitchen or for storage, although when built they may have been schoolroom and nursery. One opens from the dining room, the other from the library. The second storey duplicates the plan below with the exception of a bedroom cut from the north front of the hall. The four remain- ing sleeping rooms have corner fireplaces and prove that the lower floor was not considered at the expense of that above. Across the southern end of the spacious hall extends the balustrade of the stair, and a rude flight of steps with a wide and curving board as rail leads from the hall chamber to the unlit attic. All of the woodwork in the house appears to be black walnut, ’ though some may be pine, and in all rooms but the parlour it is shown in natural finish. The walls, too, are all white plaster greatly stained by Time. The original H hinges and brass locks of the doors were so carelessly removed when those of the cheapest modern type were installed that the imprint of their predecessors was left to tell the tale. : The old plantation has been the scene of dastardly vandalism— some by war, but much by the hand of man. When the Federal gunboat, Pawnee, fired on Brooke’s Bank in Eighteen-sixty one, much glass on the river front was shattered. One shell crashed through the north window, then the east wall, leaving in its wake a ghastly wound, which, though repaired, can never be obliterated. So ter- rific was the impact of this shell upon the wall that the parlour below was thrown completely out of line as the illustration will show. For forty years the staunch old structure has been in the hands [255] Sd tenet ee =INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES ae ee = F The original dining room with corner fireplace and built-in cupboard with secret panel. of tenants, all of whom have left destruction in their wake. Today, it stands lifeless and deserted. But Brooke’s Bank does not weep, for the lawn is still green and broad, and the rich memories with which its walls are interwoven can never be taken away. here is a rare quality in the construction of the house that makes for joy instead of tears. The house still stands in the midst of numerous outbuildings, all of which are frame. On one side is the old kitchen with high pitched roof, old world chimney and original round-edged shingles. What is now called the laundry must once have been the master’s office, and both small houses follow exactly the same lines and are equi- distant from the dwelling. Brooke’s Bank won its place in history when Robert Brooke, the first of his name in Virginia, settled in Essex County in Sixteen-ninety two. His son of the same name had the distinction of riding with Sir Alexander Spotswood across the mountains. On his inherited lands [ 256 ] a ee enna a a a eT hoea » i \ O oe 4; rf ch Se aaa Se ee Se ae ee Seed BRooKe’s Bank Robert Brooke II established Farmer’s Hall, to which he moved after his marriage to Phoebe (Sale?). Upon the marriage of their daughter, Mary, to Humphrey Sale, Farmer’s Hall passed into the possession of the latter family and has since been known as the Sale es- tate. From the union of Humphrey Sale and Mary Brooke sprang the Virginia Sales, descendants of Eng- lish landed gentry since the time of Edward I. The old house at Farm- ex's Hall has long since disappeared and no visible traces remain upon the lands of the occupancy of the Golden Horseshoe Knight. His name, however, will always be as- sociated with the plantation, just as his fame will forever be inter- linked with old Brooke’s Bank. Although the Brookes owned ex- tensive lands in Virginia at a much earlier date, Sarah Taliaferro Brooke was presented with a large grant adjoining this property by King George II after the death of her husband in a naval engagement, and owing to the services he had rendered the English Crown. She ha ne was who erected the dwelling my Detail of pilaster showing carving derived Seventeen-thirty two. In the build- from the Wall-of-Troy motif. ing, however, she was guided by directions left in the will of her husband, William Brooke, the brother of Spotswood’s Knight. Only once in its aged existence has the estate changed masters, for the Brooke seisin lasted until Eighteen-eighty, when the estate was bought by Dr. Walton Saunders. The widow of the latter, / et, now Mrs. St. George Hopkins, is still the possessor. During the major part of its existence the fine old house was the centre of lavish entertaining and hospitality; it was filled with rare furnishings and usually overflowed with guests. The dining room was stacked with family silver and glass, and one of the prides of the [ 257 ] eet ee eae ene NONI NY aT RET RANTS eee ed ee eee eter ee ee Shee eee een ee ee ‘ \ i ; H 4 RG a 2 J BH 5 7 5 7a a Ee SC Le i ae Qa - % INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF CoLoNIAL TIMES place was a silver ship with cut glass rigging which hung from an antique hook in the centre of the hall archway. This whale oil lamp with many other lares and penates were taken by the enemy during the War of the Sixties. Scattered about the country relics of Brooke’s Bank will still be found in the possession of the descendants of the founder. At Fairfield, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Latane Sale in Essex County, and which is but a short distance from Brooke’s Bank, may be seen as many—perhaps more—silver and glass heirlooms First floor plan of Brooke’s Bank. than in any other house, as Mrs. Sale was Miss Mary Brooke. Here are cut glass decanters of delicate design with matching glasses; a beautiful bowl with Colonial tinkle; old toddy cups so seldom seen and the small silver font from which generations of Brookes and Sales have been christened. The original grant to the plantation is now owned by Mrs. E. J. Anderson, a sister of Mrs. Sale. Few Colonial houses are so happy in their situation as Brooke’s Bank. It stands upon a deep, broad terrace down which whole families of narcissi and Star of Bethlehem ramp in prodigal profusion beneath locust trees which envelop the ancient structure with clouds of white bloom in May. Torn limb from limb in the war of Sixty-one, the locusts on the second terrace, though much disfigured, [ 258]rs > int bf , ‘ A my Brooke’s Bank stand in brave array along its farthest boundary below which the slope—once turfed—now presents a charming confusion of tree and vine and flower. At the foot of this the Rappahannock River ebbs and flows along the beach. Though the channel is deep enough for steam and sailing craft, the river here is but a crescent cove on the other side of which stretch the famous ducking shores of Virginia. Hoary old age is marked at Brooke’s Bank in the denseness of the creepers which hide boles and boughs of trees shivered by bullets during the War Between the States; in the locusts tall though of tardy growth; in the breadth of the orange hedges. Memories cluster thickly about the historic plantation and happy memories of it will always remain with those so fortunate as to visit it. The rare old dwelling has steadfastly refused to succumb to the stress of Time or war or vandals, preferring to live on peacefully as a family me- morial of him whose father was its plantation founder, whose ances- tral acres were cut from the broader lands, whose picturesque fame is cherished by his descendants—Robert Brooke the Second, the Golden Horseshoe Knight. a a ee Se a , 4 =: emeaeetemmmtenen. a aoe eee eeSCA Me Un i Uilararks | Ries ier itt ait en aA orca | te ne TL SP a aa ea wesorBLANDFIELD N the Tidewater Trail ten miles above Tappa- hannock, in Essex County, the Blandfield road breaks through a dense woodland which marks the plantation boundary. Masses of ferns and running cedar, banks of kalmia beneath hard wood and evergreen trees, make of this private roadway an enchanting place at all seasons of the year. The drive leads out of the shadows of the trees at the foot of a knoll, right into the open where, on ahead, and back of a row of ancient cedars, stands the house with foliage broken lines. A sheer drop from one level to another on the pleasaunce in front of the house gives rise to the belief that the boundary line of the original lawn was once a Ha Ha wall. When the latter was enlarged some years ago by Colonel Beverley, the present owner, there seemed no other explanation of the deep cut along one side. Spruce trees and white pine; catalpas and paulonias with bloom of white or flowers of purple, tall poplars and ghostly sycamores lend beauty and shade to the park of many acres. oe The lawn ends where the garden begins in a picturesquely inti- mate fashion immediately in front of the house. Bordered by climb- ing roses, the gate, guarded by two conical cedar trees rich with the gold of the yellow jessamine, leads into the garden where roses of fifty-seven names which were planted as slips by Colonel Beverley, have grown to the size of trees. There is a profusion of gladsome spring lilacs, and there is an old guelder-rose, while huge crepe myrtles stand in the shadow of the walls. The bole of an ancient arbor vitae is swathed with English ivy; cedars which must once have marked certain formal lines are now crested with Virginia creeper. “And in the springtime, over the flowering bulbs hangs the provocative fragrance of the yellow jessamine, which ties the garden to the world outside. Peon PA aT ay ee ts need pages e eee eee SPREE Serer Oe eee - . oa ee ES Ae tamer ee: A tan ene Geshe a eanbeinaiehmenatiadireteetertroemntes ran otra lene gS ee PP } ) ¥ .ete 8 i INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES A wre a . ham Beverley in 1760 and still in the possession of his family. Blandfield, built by Wil Mellowed with age and covered with clinging vines, the Bland- field house proves that the record of building that took. form in America contemporaneously with its development was a_ perfect expression of the mode of life that is called Colonial. Built in Seventeen-sixty by Colonel William Beverley upon his marriage to Elizabeth Bland, the great house shows a main mass with two con- necting wings. It is what is known as a five-part composition with a central building, two connecting arcades, two end wings, and has long, generous lines. The elements of reserved simplicity per- vade the whole delightful plan. The main dwelling is almost square, the corridors are ten by thirty-nine feet, and the “wing rooms,” as the ends are locally called, are about twenty-five feet square. The house follows the classic method of building upon a certain axis, the parts on either side of the plan thus balancing those on the other. In it one can see the transference from stone to wood of such details as the tall porch columns, the elaborate cornice which follows the [ 262 ]BLANDFIELD Structure, and the superimposed pediment. A range of seven windows extends across the front, the central portion of which, em- bracing three windows, stands forth beyond the rest of the front wall and is surmounted by a pediment whose summit rises to the ridge pole. Tall chimneys break into the skyline, four from the hip-roofed central building and one from each wing room. The windows are adorned with flat arches, the shutters are green and the rest of the exterior trim is white. The steps of both porticos are of stone and that on the riverward front has a flagstone floor. The house has a largeness of conception and seems of perfect adjustment. With its great length, its simplicity and the beauti- fully scaled windows with their twelve cheerful divisions of glass— the perfectly detailed doors—it is a soul-satisfying domicile. It has a compelling beauty of mass obtained by the pitch of the roof and the six very tall chimneys. On seeing the dwelling one is thrilled with the purity of the lines. A great hall thirty by seventy feet occupies the centre of the main dwelling, and narrow halls opening out of this at its central point Sanction, upon each side, the uprise of the two stairways. In the hall the fireplace strikes the keynote of genuine hospitality and, al- though the mantel is not old, fire utensils hang ready as they did in the days of the first owner. Scattered about the hearth, many relics of the Indians picked up on the plantation remind today’s visitor of a more grewsome time. A worn spinning wheel stands at the hearthstone, an old clock still marks the hour and a clawfoot sofa with Chippendale chairs must have been overlooked during the War Between the States. A dark baseboard has a lighter mould above it; the door and window frames, too, are dark, and on the painted plaster walls a frescoed frieze is where the cornice was. An acorn lantern with large shade hangs above a gateleg table upon which stands an old blue punch bowl suggestive of the days when Colonial belles were toasted. On the land front is the drawing room, and like the dining room across the hall, it is large and square, and entered through doorways with two-foot panelled jambs between which hang the panelled doors. The deeply embrasured windows attest the substantial walls still dignified by family portraits. Notwithstanding the lamentable depredations of two grave wars, Blandfield has yet a wealth of old walnut and mahogany. There hangs upon the wall of the drawing [ 263 ] al A cae ee bc aspehleihdienctetl_eateaietmindrdae~tereeen neta ee Ee a Se y \Pn Ce hae TAT ee ; 5 Ce Se : a JP AMORA ANU CARA s length. g from front to front, has wellin y u t d mn 3 > = = 3 SES = Sw oo wm sn = 2 a) 9 dD © = a aS) oy OG 8&4 =a SS 8 os XS SS on x Ss 2S & aa °83 3 = 9 oO, ~ 3 = i reat hall, wh J The g ce rm re Se Cinna . aot ees a a eee Rs ed neBLANDFIELD room an old letter, a document of such a creamy tone that the fading ink can scarcely be seen. It calls attention to the fact that no Co- lonial gentleman’s education was complete until he had spent some years abroad, and was written by an unknown kinsman when Robert Beverley was about to take his son to England. It is dated Nor- wich, September the sixteenth, Seventeen-fifty one, and in the stilted language of the period reads: ote My Cousin Phebe Beverley hath done me the favour to acquaint me of you and your Lady and your Son and one of your Daughters Arriving in England and Residing at Wakefield. Reflecting on the Dangers that are sure to arrive in crossing such an Extent of Sea, It Gives me the greatest Pleasure to hear that you and so an inestimable part of your Family are arrived Safe. I Beg, Leave, Sr., to joyn to me and Wife and three Little Boys (the Eldest turned Six) in Saluting and Wishing Health and Happiness to you and your Lady, to Master Beverley, to Miss that is with you. And to the other part of your Family you left behind. Also to Subscribe myself Sr. Your Affectionate Cousin and Most Humble Servant WILLIAM BEVERLEY.” In Eighteen-fifty four Blandfield suffered when remodelled by Van Ness. Colonel William Beverley, who was then the owner, lived in the unfortunate Victorian era and, not liking the panelling for certain domestic reasons, had it ripped from the house, preferring the austerity of plaster walls. It was also at that date that the partition was put in which makes of the one hall two. Just a decade later, this house of large and spcaious rooms, of gracious lines, was preyed upon by Federal troops.’ Not'content with the infliction of external scars, these vandals took from the dwelling fifteen wagon loads of fine furniture and all of the family portraits they could find. A gunboat waited in the Rappahannock for the soldiers, and on arriving north the lares and penates of six generations of Beverleys were scattered to the east and west. There is a family tradition that all of the portraits found their way into a well-known Philadel- phia house and ever since have looked down upon an alien line. [ 265 ] q my Di 4 a \ \ : ie é o p Ne ee aes tea aa eT ET ec ee aa et a nt eer em ee soe ee a ee Pa yINTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES One of the transverse halls with stairway finished im natural wood. Among famous pieces in the dining room at that time, according to an old inventory, were ‘“‘an oval and folding table, a small table, a leather couch, two chests, a chest of drawers, fifteen chairs.” There were also in this room flagons, tankards and beakers of silver; lignum vitae cups, and dram, eer or syllabub cups, mostly pewter. Many of these must have been empty in Seventeen-ninety four, judg- [ 266 ] ao aan a ee nt eS a eee om =BLANDFIELD ing from a letter written from Blandfield, in which the Master of Blandfield begs: “Will you enquire of Mr. John Page why his brother has not sent my annual pipe of red port—it is a disappointment, for Madeira is now so dutied as to suit very few purses in this country.” With the hall, dining and drawing rooms, two chambers complete the first storey. The frames of the doors between the central and the stair halls, while plain, are high and wide. These narrow halls are unusually long and the staircase of each is panelled in a rather curious way below five steps only. There is just one triangular panel, the bev- elled edge of which is picked out in yellow. The finish of the stairs is of natural wood, the only attempted ornament being applied scroll motifs on the risers. A plain newel stands right at the foot of the steps, and the two balusters on each step are small and round. The remarkably high ceiling gives occasion to interrupt the stair flight by landings midway where windows flood both landings and halls below with light. Above stairs there is another spacious central hall, and this has three sleeping rooms on the river front and three more overlooking the lawn. The romantic point of interest centres on this floor in an opalescent window pane upon which a philosophical Colonial maiden scratched the epigram: ‘Contentment alone is true happi- ness. Anna Munford Beverley. Jan. 20, 1790.” Through all of its trials the historic upholstery of Blandfield has remained untouched. Under the soft light of wood fires and many candles, this old house which boasts an ownership of two hundred and twenty-three years by those of the original name, shows the pride of family and of home with a love of country indelibly stamped upon it. Since the time of its erection it has passed in direct suc- cession from father to son or nephew, and the owner has always been a Robert or a William Beverley. Throughout its existence the plantation has remained in the possession of the line of the first of the name who settled in Virginia in Sixteen-sixty three, This fact is gratifying, for in only too many of the Colonial Virginia home- steads “some stranger fills the Stuart’s throne.” The kitchen wing is on the right of the river front, the school house or office on the opposite side, each at the end of the lateral passages ten feet long and four feet wide which are now used for storage purposes. Huge fireplaces afford great warmth to these [ 267 ] ry | ee a cn ant tee ee Re Se Aa enone aN re oe eee ees i a a i a eee 2) \ - BY ie to ry 3 SieesiecesSe Ay a ee a> Se or ee ee en tn RN * ee et Ge ee ns ia ‘ Se eS wee aN ee A INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES wing rooms and in the kitchen there is still a Dutch oven and Co- lonial crane. The lawn, shaded by enormous tulip poplars, stretches toward the river on this side of the house. Robert Beverley, the first of the name, emigrated to Virginia about Sixteen-sixty three. Seven years later he became Clerk of the House of Burgesses, and as a Major in the King’s troops rendered important service during Bacon’s Rebellion. When he died in Six- teen-eighty seven, he left fifty thousand acres of land to be divided among his eight children, of whom Robert II was the most promi- nent. It was the latter who was the historian of Seventeen-five; was i First floor plan of Blandfield. the father of the builder of Blandfield, and who sleeps the sleep of deep peace at Brandon, another Rappahannock family seat. He was also with Governor Spotswood on the historic transmontane expedition. There is a pretty family tradition that back of a mantel at Blandfield the precious little horseshoe pin presented by Sir Alex- ander to his companion on the mountain trip has lain for years since it was accidentally dropped there by a descendant of the Horse- shoe Knight. The old dwelling is wearing its age splendidly, and one feels very humble while studying this early American home. To see it is to appreciate in singular vividness the spirit which made the country and those who founded the Republic. Built upon the site of the provincial wilderness, this grand old house is a masterpiece of Co- lonial art. Nor is it alone the value of the structural plan that gives the characteristic trend—it is the consideration of the life of the English gentry which has always been led within its walls. [ 268 ]THE RITCHIE HOUSE Including the Gray House ITN Sixteen-forty five the land upon which Tap- pahannock has grown was granted by Charles I to Bartholomew Hoskins, who sold it to the House of Burgesses for ten thousand pounds of tobacco to found the village known in Sixteen- eighty as New Plymouth. Later the name be- came Hobbe’s Hole, presumably for some promi- nent merchant or ship owner. The present name, Tappahannock, of Indian derivation, was not securely at- tached to the place until Seventeen-forty five. The quaint little town skirts the south shore of the Rappahannock River, and most streets as originally laid off have royal names— Queen, Prince, Duke. Many of the old houses are delightful; some are of whitewashed rubblestone, each has a history and all are domina- ted by the great Brokenborough house built in the early days of the Republic. Although this late Georgian structure is considered the most important of the town, there is another—perhaps a century younger—that quickens one’s fancy by the quaintness of its long, low lines and its similarity to an English cottage of the olden time. This small building known as the Ritchie House, erected exactly when neither history nor tradition will say, appears from certain architectural features to have been in existence prior to Sixteen- ninety. Although the date of its building has been placed by some about Seventeen-twenty five, the T chimneys alone would place it in the century before. With its western facade overlooking from a short distance the town’s most popular thoroughfare and tied to the ground between ancient trees whose branches blow about the three-tiered chimneys, [ 269 ] o. ick sehen iasalanamie ntl hese tichientasimrae ioe oe ee ee leGa La a a ne et aS Sam ee ee a aac ee D The Ritchie House, of age unknown, is a splendid specimen of the long, low Colonial dwelling. the old brick house now painted a soft gray catches the eye and holds the attention of those who admire the cottage architecture of the seventeenth century. The building is seventy feet long and thirty feet wide and has hand-hewn girders and floor joists. An incongruous iron fence bars the small lawn from the street, but the five perfect dormers with twelve tiny panes of glass, the splendid chimneys with receding caps that stand at each end of the steep mediaeval gables amply compensate for the fence which is incidental. Every line about the exterior of the house seems to prove its identity with the seventeenth century—the inaccurate spacing of the win- dows—the entrance far to one side—the depth at which the windows are set within the brick walls, with the T-shaped chimneys and steep gables, betray the hand of the housewright who learned his trade be- fore the year Seventeen hundred. Five small and shutterless windows pierce the front walls and [ 270 ]Tue Ritrcuit House The hall panelled on three sides is crudely plastered on the fourth, at the end of which the stair ascends between the walls. each has four panes of glass, though built for muntins between panes no larger than eight by ten. There is no cornice, the eaves being covered by a very slight projection of the unpardonable roof. Not content with tin as a necessary substitute for the original split cypress shingles or slate, some owner re-covered the steep space with tin pat- terned to represent tiles and painted green. Unfortunately the jarring roof remains longer in one’s memory than the heavy-trunked Bon Silene rose which blooms above the eaves, or the creamy Saf- frano that has grown tree-like at another point. Two shallow steps lead to the portico enclosed by the walls of the house, and, but for its roof, which though independent of the larger one above, also cherishes tile-shaped tin, the small porch would be a comfort and delight. Panelled double doors at the rear, with recessed windows upon each side, admit visitors to unexpected beauties within. These doors panelled in cruciform style show the main entrance of the [ 271 ] Pe ey & Sere a pee RNs ee oe ee a a a etree ee re eeea ee en So ate Ca ila a ta nt > ed InTERIORS OF Vircinia Houses or CoLoniaL TIMES house, the outside door beyond, which is of much less height, being used for commercial purposes. The hall which cuts through the house far from the centre is twelve feet eight inches wide and twenty feet two and a half inches long. It is beautifully panelled on three sides, the remaining side being roughly plastered and displaying large, unsightly cracks. There is a chance of this having been added after the house was built as a necessary partition, for it seems never to have been panelled and hides the stair which once may have been exposed. The pan- elled walls are interesting though greatly worn in places. They are typical of Sixteen-sixty-Seventeen hundred, with very narrow stiles be- tween panels of uncommon width. The rails are rather wide, and all rules are broken for the proper procedure regarding walls of wood. This, however, gives them all the more interest. Nor does there appear to have been any desire on the part of the builder to maintain the panels of any particular size, for some are of one piece of pine, and others of two or three. The dado follows the line of the panels above and small rectangular panels are just below the narrow moulded cornice which links the wall to the ceiling. The vertical panels with horizontal accent form a beautiful composition. The raised-panels are painted green, their mouldings picked out in white, and the doors show the natural finish of the pine. The jambs are also of the warm, brown colour, but the recessed frames in a curious fashion are white. H hinges attach the doors to the wall. A nar- row transverse hallway extends from a point opposite the first window on the right and leads to a flight of steps at the end of which is the north end of the house on a lower level. The windows are very high and have narrow sills. _ The treatment of the stairway in every way is unusaul. Ascend- ing from the northwest side of the house, or the rear of the hall, the steps are unseen until one passes through a door frame which shows the work of an inexperienced hand in the mitreing. "The workman, with wooden pegs and dowels, attempted to force the sides and top together with a result that is very crude. He also fashioned an un- usual doorhead in the form of one wide panel the length of the door’s width and bevelled the edges nicely only to find that a space was left between the panel and cornice. Undaunted as all Colonial builders had to be, he found a board that would fill the space and slipped it in. All of this woodwork with the cornice, hand rail and baseboard on [ 272]Tue Rircuit House The chimney end of the parlour. The entire room is panelled, but the work is particularly well done above the narrow mantelshelf. The vertical panels with horizontal accent form a beautiful composition. the plastered wall is of natural pine. The narrow stair winds up between two walls with stringers on each side and a window for light. The steps are greatly worn and the stair climbs gently with easy tread regardless of the narrow steps. The panelled parlour spreads a length of twenty feet four inches, with a width of sixteen feet ten, and like the hall has a ceiling about nine feet high. Beautiful as it undoubtedly was in its youth, the room, in its old age is tragic. The surface of the wall is covered with paint the colour of lead, which is not offensive, but—the fireplace facing, the mantelshelf, the frieze and baseboard are painted vivid marine blue. Not content with this glaring embellishment, the moulded edges of the door panels and the panelling of the window frames are picked out with red the colour of wine! One stifles an audible feeling of pain to see such beauty so abused. The panelling follows the style of the hall, and the manner in which that above the [ 273] a ees ee foe a ome tae eel eer eect pe nt re te ee Saeed Seed gee ee See Sr eee ae \Sa Oe i a Se ti rc ee Nae Pe ne tt eee a = - ed Se INTERIORS OF VirRGINIA HousEs oF COLONIAL TIMES mantelshelf is executed is very charming. The indifference shown in panel and wainscot between the chimney piece and south window is amazing, and it does not seem possible that the craftsman who so carefully installed the panels of the rest of the room could have had a hand in the former even though most Colonial work was done by the rule of thumb. Not only is the dado panel wider than panel and stile above, but it encroaches upon the width of the windows for some inches. The window treatment is another unusual characteristic of Father Ritchie’s house, and the nat- ural pine inner blinds are charm- ing. Each consists of two panelled sections that fold into the jambs on the most delicate H-and-L hinges; the sills are nearly four feet above the floor level, too high and narrow for seats but much too wide for the average sill. Both mopboard and floor are dark wood and in the latter may be discovered many original boards. The north end of the dwelling, more spacious than the southern, is entered directly from the street by a door cut evidently since the house A parlour window which has broad sills wes built, and from within by the too high for seat, The panelled blinds and Narrow transverse hall ending at the miniature H hinges are of interest. steps. Here, the floor level is some he distance below the remainder of the building, a feature very common in the Colonial architecture of Virginia. Regardless of the desecration of the finely panelled walls, meat blocks and cleavers have superseded the silver and mahogany of the Colonial dining room, for today this part of the Ritchie House is nothing but a butcher’s shop! The great fireplace whose flame once fell upon brilliant scenes of the long ago has been Squeezed into one small opening where a pipe connects it with a hideous cast-iron stove. The utter disregard for historic memories, [ 274 ]Tue Rircuie House the complete indifference about architectural beauties; the emptiness where once was charm; the sordidness where once was gayety, bring to the least appreciative being fierce anger and unspeakable regret. Among the ancient houses of Virginia with architectural pretense, none has been so outraged. The second storey rooms are very large for dormers and of course are flooded with light. Five bedrooms take the place of the two larger rooms below, and the narrow hall stretches across the centre of the house with chambers at each end and the rear. It is not surprising that a house so greatly abused should have upon the rear an unsightly modern addition. This is the house so notable in the social annals of the Virginia of Colonial days. This was the home of the charming Ritchie girls, one of whom is aptly described by Philip Fithian as “‘a tall, slim girl, dances nimble and graceful—she appeared in a blue silk gown, her hair was done up neat without powder, it is very black and set her off to good advantage.”’ Perhaps the most important family in Tappahannock in the mid- dle of the eighteenth century, the Ritchies lived in the luxurious and hospitable manner of that brilliant period. Archibald Ritchie gained the sobriquet of “Father” because of his interest in each of his townspeople and his consequent influence over them—not by reason of his wealth alone. Ifa dinner was planned aboard some ship riding at anchor in the beautiful harbour, Archibald Ritchie was sure to play an important part in the entertainment. If his friends “made a ball’ he was not only present but it was very apt to have been under his management. Fithian describes him as ‘“‘stalking about the room” on such an occasion because he was the Director and tells us that the revelry continued until nearly dawn. Thomas was another of the Ritchie family who won renown as editor of the celebrated “Richmond Enquirer.’ Still another was William Fou- shee Ritchie, who married the beautiful Anna Cora Mowatt, a great belle of two hemispheres. These names seem very far away from the house one sees and loves today, and the stranger is glad, so very glad, that they can not know its fate. Time, in certain ways, can sometimes be very kind. What a tremendous pity that the old structure could not have fallen when Archibald Ritchie died! They both belonged to another period, and why should one have remained to be so brutally dishonoured? [275] — FN BL — ae Seema Lee oe eae ee or aes s oeeo INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HOUSES OF COLONIAL [TIMES The pictures of the two should always live in the memories of the river village where from generation to generation the story of the house and time have been told. The building today is the property of W. R. Passagaluppi, whose family has owned it about forty years, but even a chance visit to Tappahannock brings to the thoughtful visitor a vivid sense of acquaintance with Archibald Ritchie. A few blocks above the melancholy home of Father Ritchie, but on the opposite side of Prince Street, is the old house now owned by ee PARLOUR WINDING STAIR First floor plan of the Ritchie House. Miss Eva and Miss Jennie Gresham. Although the accurate date of its erection can not be obtained, the dwelling is thought to be next to the oldest house in Tappahannock. For some years it has been called the Gray House, for the simple reason that a very clever woman by the name of Mrs. Gray maintained a boarding school for girls in the building. A very small part of this long, irregularly shaped house is original and that is so embedded in the additions made necessary by the passing of years that it is only discovered upon the interior, where the house has a charming, home-like character. One room in particular is delightful and this is on the left side of the en- trance hall. Upon the front two windows have eighteen panes of glass, while one window lights the side, all in very deep reveal with comfortable seats less.than two feet above the foor. The muntins are very heavy. A corner chimney breast is the piéce de résistance of the room and [ 276 ]Tue Ritrcuit House | | Mine hong] | | said to be next to the oldest A corner fireplace in the Gray House, dwelling in Tappahannoc k. this is enriched with a mantel and over-mantel of distinction. The fireplace opening is four feet ten and a half inches by four feet two and is faced with a narrow moulding within a second mould elabo- rately carved with the egg and dart design. Pilasters with shaft plain for one foot below the fluting are topped by very unique capi- tals which, but a few inches wide, carry on the classic tradition of [ 277 ] BA enero Ce her ot ee pain nee eet 7 i Hy { A t ta Ry rs a ¥ ‘|ent pacar Pilonos terete aetna Se a ee a tt Sat a nt OEE a Cte ee ed INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES carved volutes below the frieze incised with embryonic fern leaves. The mantel frieze is embellished with alternate groups of fluting in relief upon the otherwise plain surface. The mantelshelf is seven feet, eight inches long, its length entirely covering the width of the chimney piece and its cornice is most elaborate. A course of minia- ture dentils runs below the shelf 3 above an ovolo moulding, at the bottom of which a line of gouging extends above a very narrow mould- ing showing carving of the egg and tongue motif. The three panels of the over- mantel which once appeared as one have been cracked by Time, al- though their delicately carved bor- der displaying both the Wall-of- Troy and egg and dart is in perfect condition. The border breaks out into ears at each corner, in the cen- tre of which is a provincial render- ing of the Tudor rose. A curious note is struck where a band of goug- ing extends above the mantelshelf a short distance beyond the lower “ears.” The chair rail above the wainscot sheathing is two feet, eight inches from the floor, and is deco- A witch door with sunk panels in the Gray rated with Suuoune between 20s Elousea nec ENR On erT NON he piece and ovolo moulding, the goug- Misses Gresham. ing being repeated in the cornice oe frieze. Altogether the room shows great interest in interior carved woodwork. The parlour also has a fine mantel where groups of colonnettes support a deep cornice with frieze ornamentation of fluting in circles and ovals. The “witch” doors have sunk panels and very small brass locks, and their frames consist of a series of narrow mouldings all of which are different in grouping. The corner details are more Victorian than Colonial, but the projecting chair rail is good. Although small in point of population, Tappahannock has strongly [278]Sade F a ee Tue Rircuist House marked characteristics and has played a very important role in the history of Virginia. That the village is picturesque and interesting is merely incidental; its foundation was as practical and matter-of- fact as any today and as well attained. The ideals of the present are here as everywhere else—business and progress along the lines of opportunity—the same spirit of enterprise which led our progeni- tors of three hundred years ago to their great undertakings upon both land and sea. a 4 ' i i “ ca es Soe ater ee ae ea ea tere oe Pin rate ee ee i om %Bao [rks a ars eeAKN a bold bluff half a mile from the Potomac River, Gunston Hall, the house built by George Mason, author of the Bill of Rights, has stood since Seventeen-fifty eight. Founded by George Mason, the Cavalier, who, after the Long Par- lament was dissolved in Cromwellian times, fled to Virginia and was granted nine hundred acres of land for importing eighteen persons in Six- teen-fifty five, the estate soon comprised seven thousand acres. Four generations passed, however, before his great-grandson, George Mason V, chose the type and the situation of the dwelling which he built as the heart of his inherited paradise. The brick house is of the long, low type called one full storey, although the sharp slope of the gable roof would indicate space ample for two. The five pedimented dormers on each front are spaced with meticulous care and the four stone-capped chimneys with broad sides and very narrow ends rear upward from each gable end. The house presents a frontage of sixty feet, a width of thirty, and impresses one at first glance as being small. The exterior has several distinctive features, not the least of which are the stone quoins which key so well into the brick walls in effective contrast, and the porticos—each with a different spirit—upon both fronts. The small western porch is square and has a gable roof supported on slender columns, and an original departure is noted in the pediment, where immediately above the formal entrance an arch is cut. The steps are stone. It is the east portico, though, that has always attracted attention by its polygonal form and pointed arches. This has been called a Colonial interpretation of the Gothic and has a hipped roof which extends to the eaves of the house. A frieze of the Roman Doric order surrounds all but the entrance arch. The lowest of the flight of splendid stone [ 281 ] Te aa a ee eee aaa eee ce etme eet ies ee ee a en ees a : eeeaned Ps : : ad Naha eee aaa eee ete et . ec a eer nee =e ) n ee PA yI aE ed a Gunston Hall, begun by George Mason, author of the Virginia Bill of Rights, in 1755 and finished in 1758. steps is very wide. The cornice is punctuated with outlookers, the four windows on each front of the main storey have flat brick arches and are fitted with four large panes of glass. In the south gable end three small windows are grouped in line with the dormers. Gunston Hall is given an appearance of stability by the bringing of the walls to the ground level, and the variation in the colour of the brickwork, with white wood trim, adds greatly to the honest plan. An addition on the north has destroyed from that point the delight- ful outlines of the structure which here assumes a very modern ap- pearance. A cellar with four rooms and passageway underruns the building, and though in recent years the wine vaults have been closed up, the original Dutch oven still has its place. With ivy clinging to its walls and masses of shrubbery nestling against it, this old house—so quiet, so dignified—shows that it was built according to the architectural canons of the middle of the eighteenth century. [ 282 ]Ce ed or Gunston Haty The hall is spanned by double arches, from the centre of which a carved wood pineapple—emblem of hospitality—is suspended. The formal entrance is from the west portico and the door be- tween two windows is an excellent specimen of the interrupted pedi- ment. The interior architectural detail is very complete with struc- tural panelling, a full cornice, and great richness of carving. This contrast to the severe exterior is very surprising. The symmetrical hall fifteen by thirty feet is spanned by an ornate arch where it is intersected by the stairway which rises along the north and ends on the southern wall. Between two curving arcs a carved wood pine- apple is suspended, presenting a treatment which differs from any other Colonial Virginia house. The pilasters on the sides are also uncommon. The hall windows have wide, low seats and are distinguished from those of the rest of the dwelling by projecting architraves, and the panelling is limited to the wainscot and staircase, where it follows Jacobean lines. The steps with two balusters on each are wide and shallow and their ends are elaborately carved. [ 283 ] oe rt et 's | Po ra < iia = ee fi SN ce ee a Ve ee re Siete eaten eo PP cies y s YoI a a = = OA ep ek rerio ame mee . a ce re ee ne INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF CoLoniaAL TIMES The mahogany hand rail terminates in a graceful sweep upon the newel post in a group of spindles upon the projecting lower step, and the stair breaks when half way between the first and the half storey to end on the dormer floor beneath triple arches. The ponderous cornice which surrounds the hall ceiling is very rich and the chair rail is hand carved. The walls are white plaster, the pine woodwork is painted white and the doors are said to be mahogany. On the right side of the westward front the broken pediment treatment over the doorway is an inheritance from Renaissance designs and displays an architrave with mitred ears below the triangular doorhead. This proves to be the entrance to the recep- tion room where two windows with comfortable seats and panelled blinds look out upon the well kept lawn. The chimney end 1s in- teresting and all of the woodwork refined. The massive mahogany door which opens from here into the music room has six panels deeply bevelled and outlined with beading. .The southeast end of the house is occupied by the music room, which, measuring twenty-one by twenty-four feet, has a superb chimney breast eighteen feet wide. This has a broken pediment with pineapple finial, and above the mantel the space enframed with carving was evidently meant for a family portrait. The fireplace of Georgian style shows the value of plain surfaces as a foil to elaborate carving, and the marble facing of the fireplace opening is typical of this style. The open niches are, according to architects, perhaps the first of their kind in America and although of equal distance from the mantelshelf are neither in line with the over-mantel or the doorheads. Their scroll pediments are enriched by heavy keyblocks which appear to float above them in a manner not at all secure near carved Chinese figurines which sit against the wall. | The two windows are placed between Ionic pilas- ters with full entablatures carved with the egg and dart motif. One almost gasps at sight of the vast amount of hand-carving of great beauty, for the room is a veritable fantasia of broken curves and carving of Chippendale taste. Not content with the decoration of the beautiful cornice, the artisans applied the same hand-work to both the door and window frames, where dentil, egg and dart and rope motifs are employed in two different sizes. The jambs are elaborately panelled and even the inside blinds show great enrich- ment. One notes particularly the capping of the dado and the carving of the mopboard. [ 284 ]Heed q so 5 Seaeai te *S aa = Gunston HA tL soil eee ar ea aa a a BER et atc The music room where the monotony of the wall surface is broken by niches which flank the chimneypiece and which is remarkable for its hand carved woodwork. The music room shows the “minor phase of the academic lan- guage of form in carving” and is in every sense a remarkable speci- men of craftsmanship, and the carving on the interior of Gunston Hall is exceptionally fine, even in Virginia where there is such an amount of beautiful Georgian work. The chair rail, baseboard, door and window frames of the music room may safely be called the hand- somest of the Colony. Though all of this woodwork is said to have been imported, it was not difficult to find wood-carvers in America as the newspapers of the day carried many such advertisements. There is also a tradition that George Mason had craftsmen brought from England and that they spent three years in completing their task. Even the trained eye marvels at the extraordinary amount of wood detail. The room is suggestive of Watteau gowns, the min- uet and courtly living. The library across from the reception room has above the mantel [ 285 ] id tienen niieteeetdair anton e SE eS os ee Sa ra ee ee el , ra i . *%INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses OF COLONIAL TIMES a tablet in which a photographic copy of the Bill of Rights 1s framed. It was here that Mason and Jefferson are thought to have drafted the Declaration of Independence; it was here, too, that the most distinguished men and women of the eighteenth century were en- tertained, and where later they assembled to discuss the gravity of 4 j > Ag Vivaeaeene 4% rier i pri RPT wht nr TTR URCO RCI RRR RRO RREMOAel WO PATA AE DOH, lies *SRSSASSE LLL ES. Detail of door-head in music room which shows the most ornate carving among Virginia's Colomal houses. # \ the American situation. On each side of the fireplace are alcoves with glass doors, and the win- dows repeat the treatment of those in the reception room. The room is eighteen by twenty feet. A very narrow hall runs be- tween the library and dining room, and where this ends a sec- ond, or service stair, once rose to the floor above and fell to the basement beneath. The hall originally led through an arched doorway to a very small porch, but in recent years the stairs have been closed and the portico lost in the modern addition. The dining room has been restored to its Colonial lines and is de- lightful in every detail. The west wall is panelled from floor to ceiling, and the firebreast, flush with flanking cupboards, is adorned with a beautiful over- mantel. The windows are simi- lar to those of the other first floor rooms with the exception of the carving, and a chair rail ex- tends around the unpanelled portion of the wall. The excellent pro- portions and elaborate detail of the interior are typical of the finest Georgian work. All of the wood used in the main construction of the house is said to have been cut on the plantation and the majority of it is pine and oak. The ceilings of the first storey are very high and give a spacious effect, and this fine sense of proportion, architectural enrichment and [ 286 ]Gunston HAtt sincerity of construction does away with the impression of smallness that is created at first sight of the house. Above stairs, four bedrooms partly repeat the plan below, though the upper hall runs at right angles to the lower and ends in the gables. The rooms are rather small and are naturally low-browed owing to the dormers which have within their alcoves low seats. These chambers DRAWING RM nrrperet ‘e eteuet LIBRABY First floor plan of Gunston Hall. have special names. One claims the distinction of having been occu- pied at various times by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, La Fayette and other distinguished guests. From another, a stair ascends to the attic, once a veritable treasure house of rare furni- ture and valuable papers of past generations. The son of George Mason, General John Mason, left an account of life at Gunston Hall in which he relates that his father never had a clerk or steward, but kept his own books and superintended all of the operations of the home house. It is said that the plantation sup- ported five hundred persons at one time and that from his private wharf, George Mason, the man whose influence has had such a pow- [ 287 ] 4 ) bs! eS SA se a a en a ee ee ee ee te i aad er samen hne cen ag rae eae toe eeINTERIORS OF VIRGINIA HouSES oF COLONIAL [TIMES i { ; ; i i 5 ' t a H H y iu i a ! i Lif , f erful effect upon two countries, shipped as much as twenty-three thousand bushels of wheat at one time. Being but a few miles from Mount Vernon, the families of the two estates were in constant intercourse, and in Washington’s Diary will be found frequent allusions to visits or hunts at Gunston Hall. Although the property was the scene of raids during the War of Independence and of Eighteen-sixty one, though the old house has been a home of many masters—some of whom inflicted humiliating wounds—it now stands in the one hundred and sixty-ninth year of its existence rejuvenated, and restored in many ways to its original lines. The present owners, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Hertle, with infinite care and deep appreciation, by studying its past and with the ser- vices of a skilled architect, have succeeded in giving to the ancient dwelling the appearance it had in its Colonial days. Whether cheerfully or reluctantly, one must admit that George Mason—the man who was the author of the first written constitu- tion of a free country ever framed; the man considered by many pre-eminent in the age of America’s greatest men—understood to per- fection the supreme importance of detail. A brief glance into the interior of his home is all needed to prove his knowledge of propor- tion and of classical architecture. A tribute should also be paid to the builders who, so long ago, brought the statesman’s practical plans to so beautiful a conclusion. George Mason is sleeping through eternity in the family burial ground at Gunston Hall. Though for many years the historic spot was neglected, and even its owner overlooked, the overgrown sap- lings and wayward creepers have felt the needed touch of care. The lawn that was desecrated by troops of the enemy is now an emerald sward. New cherry trees pitch their tents near the box-hedged walk beloved by Mason and an avenue of magnolias has replaced the black- heart cherry trees along the entrance drive. Willow oaks and pop- lars, lindens and elms are scattered about the lawn in place of more ancient trees, all rivalled by the dogwood and kalmia which bloom riotously each spring in George Mason’s “hunting woods.”OUNT VERNON needs neither preamble nor introduction. Just as the plantation stands in point of history, the house reflects in its archi- tecture the life of George Washington and the times in which he lived. The estate had its beginning when Lord Cul- peper granted five thousand acres of land on the Potomac River to John Washington and Nicholas Spencer. Twenty-five hundred of these acres were inherited by the great-grandson of the former, Lawrence Washington, who called the property Mount Vernon in honour of the Admiral under whom he served in the British Navy. In Seventeen-forty three Lawrence Washington built the central portion of the manour-house, which, after the death of his daughter, Sara, passed into the possession of his half brother, George, who increased the acreage to eight thousand and continued to call the lands upon which the dwelling stands the Manour-House Farm. Mount Vernon is double-fronted and appears today very much as it did when described by a foreign visitor as “on the lofty banks of the Potomac in a situation more magnificent than I can paint to an European imagination.” A porch extends across the river facade of the house which is ninety-five feet long and about forty feet wide. The Whitehaven flagstones with which it is paved are, according to specifications sent abroad with the order by Washington, “One foot Square and two and a half inches or thereabouts thick.” The roof Is supported by eight square wooden columns with panelled sides and above the deep modillion cornice is a balustrade of Chinese Chip- pendale style. The foundations of the house are stone and brick and the framing is oak. It has been said that the character of American architecture was moulded by the sawmill, and in a way this may be [ 289 ] 4 + SA ee DNR EAE A tm hee a a a ena “ my : INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES Berkeley, built by Benjamin Harrison in 1726. and two storeys in height. The brick walls have been washed with red mortar w hich gleams delightfully through a dense mantle of Vir- ginia creeper. Entrance doors on the two fronts afford access, and over these are pediment hoods. A companion building which was the Colonial kitchen stands in the same relative position on the opposite side of the lawn. On the west end of the main dwelling at the corners, cisterns lead down to a circular underground room w hich 1s said to be sixteen feet in diameter. In the time of the Indian this was the hiding place for the members of the family at Berkeley. The main house which is built of brick is forty-one by sixty, and like all typical Colonial structures, was reared upon a framework of dignity, simplicity and regularity. The chimneys rise above the slate roof at ‘the gable ends, and in the surface of that on the east may be read “B. H. 1726.” Tiny windows here with small panes of glass were originally loopholes. The blinds have old-time holdbacks and [ 436 ]BERKELEY The old office or school house which stands in line with the Colonial kitchen, its counterpart, on the opposite side of the manour-house. are green; the rest of the trim 1s painted white. Plain as it 1s, the influence of more than one great architect inspired old Berkeley. The entrance doors appear very old, and each has wide sills and glazed transoms. There is an uncommon treatment on the sides where wooden panels are placed back of glass of the same size which is undoubtedly newer. It is difficult to understand the object in using both when either one would have accomplished the same purpose. When the doors are open a shaft of light extends through the house creating a charming vista across the lawn into James River. The hall is fifteen by forty-five, and its length is broken midway by an arch. The panelled wainscot with deep gouged dado cap and an enriched cornice where wall and ceiling meet are among its dis- Rctve features. “lhe hall is) spanned) by sa) broadmelliptical arch carried on fluted pilasters, and all of the doors have pediments em- bellished with a dentil course. [ 437] Pee ee SS arial tee ee ae roe ees =e af i b OE rate eal eee Soe en ee ne fe nnee ae aa nN ee een eo oe a a eae ra ee en ee ee a a | De ale al eal hd i aera a eat Got =— INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES On entering the riverward door, one finds a large room—almost square—with lofty ceiling. The astonishing thing here 1s the vast amount of hand-tooled woodwork which is at once apparent. Not content with merely bevelling the panels of the dado, the craftsman in skillful fashion applied narrow mouldings to follow the panel lines, which vary according to space, some being rectangular and others square. The eleven-inch chair rail is deeply gouged, and both above and below the moulding projects. The cor- nice is very broad and has a frieze decoration of single lattice. The three windows in the room are unusually high and have reced- ing panelled jambs. The inside blinds in two parts are also pan- elled and hang on very small H hinges. At the end opposite those on the front and on both sides of the chimney piece arches rise to give access to the doors at their rear. Supported on reeded pilasters with heavy bases, these arches be- tween the drawing room and library are skillfully gouged and beaded in scallops. The chimney breast ae a being flush with the walls, the space The plaque in the western gable in which between doorways and arches forms 1S Opes the initials of the builder of fair sized alcoves. erkeley and date of its erection. The mantel, flanked by slender colonnettes, is ornamented with delicate gouging, and dark grey mar- ble faces the fireplace, now closed. Crystal candelabra that once belonged to Queen Victoria are the only mantel decoration. The door heads are rather heavy and on the frieze an octagonal design is deftly applied. The drawing room is twenty by twenty-two and one- half, and the woodwork, although heart pine, is painted white. The chaste effect is heightened by leaving the upper walls in plain painted plaster. The symmetry that has been observed in the walls and open- ings is in a great degree responsible for the attractiveness of the room. [438 ] weePe A j eet ait eye) maT he een CW ures CO Wr NO appenh! ren Wa | Ba) ny STA Or iy q SAU i 6 Ss Ah Penta ta 1 ERR Te ee He re ee P iin P ee ers ee iy : ere he a EEURG A til ls : Raat i ' PLAT UM) Le ae apart Aiea wi uA ANUCT=. vn and 4 ¢ s across la pen doors sweep ull by 0 ( o The vista formed through the h; INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA Houses oF COLONIAL TIMES 4 eee eee ee The drawing room. Arches on the sides of the chimney piece form alcoves which give access to the library. When Berkeley was undergoing repairs some years ago, Mr. Jamieson, the owner, discovered behind the main wall of the parlour a piece of very rough plaster into which the letters ““B. Harrison” were deeply incised. This interesting reminder of the Harrison tenure, now carefully framed, hangs upon the walls of the charming room. This room is an excellent example of slender lines and un- broken curves. Double doors on the two sides lead into the library, and these like the others have two square and two oblong panels. The library which is the size of the drawing room is also painted white, and here the centre of interest lies in the hearth before which George Washington often sat with his good friend Benjamin Harri- son. The room has the same window treatment as the other, but the door pediment and arches show a scheme of serpentine gouge work. A point of great interest that is noted at Berkeley is the ab- sence of repetition of the finer detail. The wainscot consists of [ 440 ] Pa ee aa ee ee connie weno ae Sir tere one ara a aa er ae ———— fo all A 3BERKELEY shallow rectangular panels with narrow stiles, and the cornice again is deep. The walls are cream colour and the woodwork white. The house does not follow perfectly the Colonial plan of central hall with flanking rooms of the same size, for the dining room is much larger than those across the hall. Measuring twenty-one by thirty feet this is the only room in the dwelling with woodwork in a natural finish, and here it is very dark which 1s cleverly effective against the white | ReeREE Sis walls. A tall black mantel stands | above the wide fireplace, and each | of the three doors have original heads. One of these doors opens into the modern pantry which leads to the kitchen, once the nursery perhaps, and another opens into the squarish stair hall. | The formal entrance to the stair hall is through a flat archway with | wide jambs, and a frame made to Bi 2 4 represent pilasters which stands | : just beyond the central arch in the main hall. The stair hall is nine by twelve, the stairway is absolutely plain, and all are in natural walnut. The newel is plain and the hand rail and balusters are in keeping with the dark wall stringer. The RT a EO aor . - . A drawing room door with head elabor- stair forms a landing when up a ated by a dentilled fret and an applied third of its flight where a squatty octagonal decoration. window of just six panes of glass affords a comfortable seat. Another pause, and the broader landing ‘s reached, and this six by nine space was known in Colonial days as the Musicians’ Balcony. The landing has an opening in the wall opposite the steps which 1s made safe by a balustrade like that of the stair, with the exception of the hand rail. The spindles run from floor to wall, making this the only balcony of the kind in Virginia. The main stair, arriving at the second floor, repeats the plan below. The dado becomes the lower part of a door on -the river [ 441 ] ee oe ert a ee ee a eee Bees &.a SS om a en ae Fal a ha aaa — t cy a INTERIORS OF VIRGINIA: HousEs OF COLONIAL TIMES 3 i . ; ; a e 8 q ¢ 3 Detail of unusual cornice, gouged arch-heads and beaded keystone. front, and beyond this is the second storey porch, with a delightful river view. A companion stairway leads to the attic which is ren- dered as habitable as the second storey. The woodwork is painted two shades of green. _ The four sleeping rooms opening into the hall are of different sizes and colouring. One hasa black baseboard with the rest of the trim painted two shades of gray, and in another the austere white walls are made gay by a trimming of blue. Part of this last room was borrowed for the bath between it and that on the southwest front which, tradition relates, belonged to the fourth Mrs. Benjamin Harrison. It was to this room that her son William Henry Harri- son journeyed to write his Inaugural address in herspiritual surround- ings. On a window pane here he is said to have written his name. Across the hall still more sentiment awakens at the sight of a four-post bed which is reputed to have once belonged to beautiful Evelyn Byrd. . All of the upper rooms have fireplaces, and the [ 442 ]BERKELEY powder rooms—now closets—have transoms. All but one room has three large windows. The first Benjamin Harrison came to Virginia before Sixteen-forty two, and Benjamin of Berkeley, born in Sixteen-seventy three, was Speaker of the House of Burgesses and Treasurer of the Colony. It 2 = ee ‘) ©) Qo © LIBRARY DRAWING ROOM STAIR HALL DINING ROOM PORCH -