The record-union., 1896-10-25
HISTORIC COLONIAL HOUSES.
ClaremOnt Manor Once a Typical Self
Supporting Estate.
How Virginia Planters Enjoyed Them
selves-A Life of Happiness,
With Few Cares.

Virginia. 1t is owned by b. +. Hit of
Philadelphia, who occupies it during the
winter. The walls are four feet in thick
ness, apparently as solid as when first
constructed. The heavy oak timbers
show no signs of decay. The brick, lime
and cement were all brought over from
England. This charming spot, COM
manding broad sweep of the James
River, was originally settled by the
English cavalier, William Allen, and
was named Claremont Manor, after the
Claremont Manor in England. The
house was built on the same style, and
is one of the very few types of the old
English manor houses now remaining
in Virginia. The vast estate of 12,500
acres was entailed. in the old English
style, upon the eldest son of the fam
lily, the last of the line being William
H. Allen, who died at an advanced age
few years ago, when the estate was di-
vided and a village rose near the grand
old mansion.
William N Alien was a central figure
In Virginia affairs and a typical planter
of the generation preceding the late
war between the States. He was not
only lord of all he surveyed, but had
great influence in political matters. He
raised the largest tobacco crop of any
planter on the peninsula, and his ware
house was more commodious one than
any in Richmond. He built a small
railroad which circled through and
around his possessions, transporting his
crops from the various fields, thus saw
ing time and teams. When the war be
gan he took up the track and donated
the steel rails for the construction of
the ram Virginia, which attacked the
entire Federal fleet off Fort Monroe.
He also owned 900 negroes. The hight
Of his ambition seemed to be to own a
thousand, but invariably, when the
overseers would complete their census
and report it TO be within one of the
high-water mark some old moss-back
negro would yield up the ghost before
another was born.
In the hight of his prosperity the war
came, his slaves We're freed and at its
conclusion he was impoverished. But
the building stands, having survived
two revolutions. The British burned
some of the buildings on an adjacent
plantation, the foundation walls of
which were recently eXcavated, showing
a similar construction to that Of Clare
mont. There is no record of the exist
ence of that house, but most likely it
was occupied by some of Aliens rela-
tives. The family records, paintings.
ETC., were removed by the remote de-
ScendantS of the last of the line"
shortly after his death. and the history
of this old colonial mansion is closed.
A few miles distant is historic Bran
don-once the finest estate in this aristo-
cratic section. A few miles below is the
floating island" on which We're located
the original colonists, and called James
town. Only the walls of the old church
and the graveyard remain. Here sat
the first deliberative body of America,
in 1119, and strangely, in the same year,
there was landed here the first cargo of
slaves. And here was sown the seed of
the Bacon rebellion" 100 years before
the American revolution.
In viewing the ruins of these old colo
NAL estates and reviewing the good
old days" one cannot but feel that the
simple life of these colonial planters
was one of happiness, with but few
cares. Land was cheap, food beyond
want and little labor supplied a great
deal. Life was easy and not the vexed
problem which disturbs half of the
country to-day. Each plantation was
q community to itself. All Of the neces-
saries of life were here produced, and
the few luxurieS We're imported. The
planters saw no necessity for city
They had their own wharves and ware
houses and everything needed was
brought to their doors If they wished
to visit the cities of Richmond, York
town, Norfolk or Newport, they had
their launches and servants and would
make the voyage as became their dig
nifty. They had their horses and con-
veyanceS for the hunt or visit to the
plantations. What more
was needed? Truly, there We're no
steamboats,, railroads, electric lights
and "hello's," but they were not missed
and these colonists seemed to have got
ten as much out of life as we do, we
of this hurry-up generation.
This was, indeed, the golden age OF
Virginia. The people were prosperous
Society was brilliant; learning was
more generally diffused, because they
were not so engrossed in the cutthroat
race for the mighty dollar. The life
was a picturesque one-a sleepy land of
democratic aristocrats" and frontiers
wine and entertained lavishly, living in
baronial splendor on the James and
York Rivers in their imposing English
houses with huge fireplaces and richly
carved furniture The frontiersmen
lived in their log cabins in the woods
and while the planters had tutors for
their butterflies of aristocracy," the
sent their children to the
'loghouse" schools, and from these
came future Senators, Ministers and
Presidents of the United States. The
old family portraits of these colonial
squires show jovial faces not marked
with lines of care that are seen on the
faces to-day even of young men. Truly
life was slow and events in Europe were
not heard on this side for several
months afterward, but as they cared
very little for anything outside of their
own little world it mattered not, and
they were merely paragraphed in the
few weekly newspapers that We're
printed for the proprietor"
Hunting, horse racing, cock fighting,
balls and dances were their principal
amusements. ''State balls were given
in the cities during the winter and the
planters came from every section of the
peninsula in coaches or in their
launches, bringing their families and
a retinue of servants. The stately min
uet was the principal dance, and the
grace of the courtly young aristocrats
and DANES has passed into a proverb
On the broken tombstones in the old
are traced the names of
the early colonial planters and those
who adorned a society that was both
gay and brilliant. And this is all that
is left of those who settled this para