The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1868-04-17
ORANGE AND ITS ArTRACTIoNs.-No 8.

III may not be out OF place mere TO au-
vert to the fact, that the territory en-
braced by this portion of the county,
was originally held by few favored
individuals under grants from the crown
of England. The consideration given
was merely nominal-the only condi-
ton being, that the lands granted
should be occupied Or settled in given
period. To enable tho grantee or pat
entee to comply with this provision, he
had recourse to the INDECENT or destitute
of the mother country, to whom he gave
in fee, tracts of loo acres each, to as
many only as was necessary to secure
his possessions, to induce them to emf
crate and settle upon his wide domain.
These first-settled plantations, long
since merged into adjacent larger ones
subsequently acquired by higher class,
are still known in field nomenclature,
by the names of their former owners, as
Broughton's, bearings &C., &C., and
the places where stood their humble
habitations, are yet easily 6istinguisha-
bic by the fertility of the spot, and Of
ten by remains of fruit trees.
ASpopulation gradually receded from
the older tide-water settlements into
the interior, these extensive domains,
covered with primeval forests, and
yielding nothing to their owners, were
disposed of at cheap rates. in parcels to
SUIT purchasers, and thus lpassed into
the possession of an energetic and utili-
tartan class, by whose labors the wild
erness was cleared away, and the rich
soil made productive. These pioneers
of civilization in new country having
SO many obstacles to contend with, are
often inconsiderately condemned for
their bad husbandry, and charged with
rapacity in destroying so speeuily the
fertility of so rich soil. But it should
be remembered, that IN those colonial
times, land was abundant and cheap
labor scarce and wholly inadequate to
the demand-that Tobacco was the only
saleable comnodity-and indeed served
as the basis of exchange. Its produc-
ton was necessity, and when an area
of land had been divested of it's heavy
timber at great cost of labor, the re-
quirements of the situation compelled
its annual cultivation, until more could
be reclaimed and brought into use.--
The richest lands and those most easily
cultivated were very naturally selected
for the first plantations-they conse-
quently, were first exhausted and aban-
doned, and are chiefly those referred to
in my last number, as having now re-
gained much of their original fertility.
In the mutations of fortune, the lands
of this section have often changed ow-
nership, and is to be lamented, that The
necessities of the evil times of the pres
ent generation may render them yet
more frequent. Comparatively small
portion is now retained by the descen-
dents of those, who were the heirs or
first purchasers of the original grantees.
In some instances they are still held by
the third generation, but only one is
known, in..which the descendants of the
first grantee, now of the fourth genera
ton, enjoy the real estate of their an
cestor. This occurs in the family ofthe
Messrs. Scott, whose fine lands have
descended uninterruptedly from their
maternal ancestor, Jane Todd, whose
father held an immense tract under
grant from the crown of England. In
the family cemetery is coarse granite
tombstone, ofremarkable preservation
considering its antiquity, with the fol-
lowing inscription, plainly and perfect
ly legible.
Here lyeth the body OF Jane Scott,
Wife of John Scott,
Who was born We 2Sth of Dec., 1899 and
Departed this life ye 2Sth of April 1871.
The house in which this lady lived and
died is now, with modern additions, the
dwelling of the present worthy presid-.
ing Justice of the county; and is repre-
sented by tradition as the oldest frame
building in the county, and notwith-
standing its modest, unpretending as
pect, was in its day, regarded as superb
ly aristocratic.
Todd'sberth, a ..dilapidated hamlet
near Madison Run, derives its name
from Todd, the original proprietor of
the surrounding country.
The lands lying between this point
and the village, embracing the Wood
ley estate-Litchfield the residence of
John II. Lee Esq. valuable farm
of Col. John Willis, and Berry Hill,
the residence of the former esteemed
clerk of the county, Reynolds Chapman
Esq, are all of a high order and beau
tifully located.
The abrupt changes fsoil throughout
all this part of the county are remarka-
ble-a small stream ottel separating
soils of different formations. rhe little
creek, Poplar Run, near its junction
with the Rapidan, accurately defines the
line of the red lands, which here extend
to the river, and divides them from the
chocolate on the opposite side. The
farms in this vicinity bordering on the
river, embracing those of the late Maj.
Ambrose Madison, now owned by DR..
Revely-of David Graham, C has. Bank
head Esq, and others, are of rare fer
tility, and in all cases, where enterprise
and capital have been brought to bear
upon them, exhibit the most satistacto-
ry results of skiltul and thorough eul-
ture,