Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1898-06-02


No. Is.
There are those who have no incli
nations in common with the antiquari-
ali spirit, which loves to visit old home
steads and their surroundings, no sym
pathy with that kindly instinct which
tempts 10 traverse the long neglected
ways of garden and feld-the ways
which were trodden by the feet of gen
erations which were long since dust, no
reverental impulses which lure from
ne beaten paths of toll and traffic 10
The family burial places where these
generations sleep in dust after the end
+ lIies f.ful fever. BY such our efforts
he patient, tedious work OF gather
" up from nook and corner, from
uusty, torn and crumbling letter and
raj recitals OF the living witnesses, tt Q
,idely scattered facls of the bygone days
via hardly be appreciated. To them
tories Of the TAD d past are as naught.
rhey have little OF The reverentia feel
np for the times when sire and grand
sire were children, or when they we're
.trrggling in the days Of manhood or
tonanhood TO abl:sh their homes and
hpuseholds. There are Others for whom
thcse old time N MORALS have an in
,resf, ia scnalion deep and abiding
&. life itself; who love to visit the
;.lair, antiquated mansio 8 yet left as
land marks h-re and there at wide in
teryals on the banks OF our rivers and
creeks, and along the courses of our his
tor.c ighways; wi delight to loiter
in the lanes and paths and by the mel
lucholy hearthstones, and to stray
among the briar-grown graves and de-
cipher the dim insci iptioi of their mos
~ stones; who will gather with reveren-
tial hands bud or blossom or leaf
as they pass, and in So doing fl d sweet,
recompensing solace for their kindly
ARE. 1t is in the appreciation and
reverence OF these accordant spirits
chat our encouragement and reward as
heir chrobiclers must be.
This desire Tor retrospection-this
fondness for going back to see how our
predecessors lived, wrought and strug-
gled in their day and generation-to
know of the employmenls, the social
diversions and enjoyments which occu-
pied their lives, is an attribute which
appeals to something more than mere
cu,insity. II appeals to the sacred ties
of family league and kinship, reaching
backwards and forwards, binding the
generations of men together with er-
during compact and drawing out the
plaintive music of our being from the
.oemn alienation of the cradle and the
grave.
1t il much to be regretted at this late
period of our history that some one i'm
bued with love for colonial lore bad
DOT undertaken fifty or seventy-6ve
years ago the work of collecting and
preserving ali the scattered materials
for history of the old colonial home
steads of Fairfax. Then, there were
many persons living in all the neigh
bornoods who could have given au-
thentic relations of the events and cir
cumstances they had lived through or
mad known of through those who went
b fore them which, with their passing
away, were irretrievably lost. If now
we could recall this vanished lore, and
learn when aud by whom all these en-.
cieut honest teads were founded, and
have correct mirrored to our vision
,hs generations of life histories in the
past how grateful would we feel to the
pains-taklng chroniclers who anticipa-
ted the delight their pages would al
ford us long after .hey had joined the
Innumerable caravan.
The homesteads Of families most prom
lnently associated with the SURFING
events of our colonial history were near
Iy all of them established in the decade
between 1870 and 1740, notably those OF
Mount Vernon, Gunston, Belvoir, Lex
ington, Newingtop, Holm Hill, Towls-
ton Hnll, Cedar Grove, Vacluse, Cltr-
mont, Abingdon and Clifton. Every
one Of them excepting the first named
vas built of brick and stone in SUB,
stsntial manner with thick walls, and
generally with great outside chimneys
having capacious freplaces for roaring
fires fed by we'll seasoned billets of oak
and hickory wood. The style OF archi'
ture in all of them was much the same.
The apartments were large, the ceilings
hirh. and wair scoted walls of oak or
walnut flush were common. The roofs
were steep and the roomy attics they
enclosed were lighted by dormer WIN
dows. A spacious veranda was the ao-
iunct of every dwelling, and there was
no lack OF clamberlng vines about all
-, 1,,oC0InrAfu,NTS FOR CATARRH