Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1872-10-25

Mountain and the lofty hills Of Montgomery
and the Upper Ho,omac.
Twilight was fast darkening into night and
my thoughtful guide and companion, evel
careful of his charge, and especially of his cav
airy, suggested that we should turn into Cue
w Chase for the night, where we would fnt
faithful hostler at the stable, and host wor
thy Of this venerable seat, at the mansion. 4
few moments more made US realize that, in tn
bland, benevolent and open countenanee, th
cordial greeting aud warm welcome of JOSEPH
Ii. BRADLEY, ESQ.,, we were in the presence ant
under the roof of one of the finest specimens o.
an American gentleman, and of one who, ID
any land, would be called one of Natures no.
blemen. A cup Of cold tea, and a glass oil
iced caret refreshed us for sound sleep. and
the sun had scarcely begun to brighten the
mornings grey, when, like the famed farmer
of Chappaqua, we heard the footsteps of the
farmer of 'Chevy Chase moving actively
about, giving orders for the day; for Mr..
BRADLEY is prond of his farm, and rejoices in
the distinction which be bonorably and wor-
thily bears, as President of the Montgomery
County Agricultural Society. After an agree
able and entertaining chat about farming af-
ter viewing his fine field of corn, and well and
conpactly built wheat rcks, and enjoying a
most excellent and bountiful breakfast our hor-
SEES came to the door, and we babe adieu to
the hospitabIe master of ''Chevy Chase" We
bent our course again towards Rock Greek,
and soon reached the beautiful, productive and
| highly cultivated farm of GREENBURY WATKINS,
| Esq. Our memory recalling previous inyi-
tation we turned aside to pay our respects,
| but were unfortunate 10 not finding Mr. w al
home, and as ii was too early TO disturb Mrs.
W. from her domestic duties, We only left our
regards, aud departed well pleased a: the evil
dence of thrift, industry and sound judgment
| which abounded on every hand. The adjoin-
ing farm Of Hayes formerly the seat of the
lamented ROBERT f. DUNLOP, one Of the purest
and noblest of mankind, we were glad TO
learn was still kept up and in good order BY
bis nephew, Mr.. LAIRD. Next 10 this, on the
east and on both sides of Rock Creek, is the
once famous farm Of Clean Drinking the
a man who was an especial ftvorte with a.
generation now almost vanished, and Of whom
it might be said
''IIe was fellow of infinite jcst,'
while his hospitality was equally as well
known. Next we passed Glen Ross" and
turning to the left came into the beautiful es-
tate of brentwood" the once mansion Of
| RoBERT T. BRENT, whose beautiful aud grace
full family of daughters aptly illustrate the
character so happily introduced by Mr.. BLAIR,
the elder, Of ''Silver Spring, in his adiress
before the Montgomery County Agricultural
Society," when lie took occasion to speak SO
eloquenty Of the soil of Montgomery County,
aud similar portions OF Virginia, for raising
fine horses and beautiful women. He charac-
crized il as ''the true race-horse region the
land of fleet horses, noble men. aud beauteous
women" This line farm is now owned by
yr. RAY, and while amenting the loss of
noble race Of propriecrs il is pleasant to
know that the property has fallen into good
hands, those of "A man who will not only suffer
no deterioration, but is evidently up to the
times in enterprise, thrift, and good manage
ment. We regretted not finding this gentle
man at home as we would have been happy 10
have formed his acquaintance. The Point OF
Rocks Railroad, which has been building for
the past seven. years, passes through this farm
and The track is laid a few miles beyond il, and
Mr.. RAY has opened an extensive quarry Of
fine building stone with which the Railroad Is
partly supplied. The next farm we came to
in our road, was that Of the Mess. McDERNoTT,
of Washington, and here we saw the best iron
half inch iron rods, eight feet long, each rod
nailed to substantial posts. tapped with a
strong pole, and supported with three stands
Of telegraph wire, interlaced from the top to
The bottom rod. The polite manager, who re-
lieved our thirst with some cool, delicious
Montgomery water, in answer to our inquiries,
informed us, contrary to our expectations,
that this was very cheap fence, its material
being the remains Of broken hospital bedsieads
bought at a government sale, Of useless war
material, and tho cost comparatively tri1ing.
May we never again have occasion for so great
a waste Of material, men and money, as this
silent fence represented. From this farm beau
tifully situated and improved, with Gne
orchard, of cherry and apple trees, we turned
once more towards the valley Of Rock Creek,
and soon struck the Railroad at Newport Mills,
where the stream is crossed by magnificent
iron bridge Of the well-known Bellman pat
tern, supported upon pillars sesenty-sIx feet
above the wafer. There are four spans Of
perhaps a hundred feet each, built after the
design, and under the direction Of the accom-
plished and experienced engineer Captain p.
F. DAsDaIDGE. Here, for the first time, in
Montgomery County, we saw number Of
cara said TO be sleeping cars for the workman,
sleeping quietly upon the elevated treslle work
on the east end Of the bridge. No sign Of
work, no workmen in sight, 80 we had to de-
pend on our own judgment for height fpillar
and stretch OF span, but We are pretty conf
dent of the accuracy Of our estimates. The
Mill once place Of considerable business, has
sunk into ruin and decay "bricf is the life Of
mills and men," From thence our course was
eastward to the Washington and Rockville
Turnpike, rs originally projected, but never
completed, and thence westward up its course
passing the once well-kuowu residence of THos.
CRAMPLis the largest land-holder and most
opulent citizen Of the county. The home farm
owned by Mr.. WELLER, not ''Samivep' Of
holy memory, but JACOB, who If he has not
t5s yitshS tgnacr e thatiniiTiSaa1 c-fiaioi-