Rebecca could not help but marvel at the change that had come over a man she considered just a simple country-bumpkin at first. His eyes were alight as he spoke, and his tone suggested a quiet wisdom that was not immediately apparent. Even his choice of words and the way he turned a phase seemed alien to his outward homespun visage. Scarcely able to believe her good fortune in not only discovering such an intriguing place, but simultaneously stumbling across someone more than a little familiar about its obscure history, she suppressed a raging desire to interrupt with a half a dozen more questions as he continued. According to one tradition, a strange light appears during some years in late spring that can sometimes be seen from as far away as Waynesboro.
Some folks think it's UFOs, others just scoff it off as some sort of natural phenomenon.
Personally, I think it's something else entirely, but that's just an old man's opinion. Again, Rebecca bit her tongue and elected to listen, not wishing to interrupt his train of thought. Then around 1910 a wealthy officer from Richmond, Major Dooley, visited the place and was taken by its charm. His wife, Sallie Mae, was also enamored with the site, and Dooley contracted her nephew, Fritz Elder to work out the details of its purchase after failing to obtain an outright purchase. After a lot of haggling, Dooley managed to procure the site and immediately began the construction of the marble structure you saw in the brochure.