Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1900-02-06
Frank stockton's New Home In West
Virginia.
ny CLIFFORD HOWARD.
From the Ladies Home journal

New Jersey.
He would probably still be living there
were it not for the discovery that pro-
eressive Morristown showed signs of COM
ing out into the country also. and that his
rural residence was sympathetically I'M
dergoing a gradual evolution which prom
ised before long to make of it suburban
villa, surrounded with buildings and en-
livened by the merry buzz of the trolley
carr.
Desiring the solitude of rural life, and
asking only for the artless environments
of Nature, he accordingly sought another
home-somep place wherein he might revel
in the seclusion of woods and gardens
and farreaching meadows.
And such place he has found in
"Claymont 1t is the fulfllment of his
ideal: garden spot, shut in from the
world amid the hills of the beautiful and
historic valley of the Shenandoah. few
miles distant from quaint old Charles
Town, in West Virginia. A hundred and
fifty acres of forest fields and orchards
OF widespreading lawns and terraced
gardens, and in their midst stately man
sion of Colonial architecture
Standing on 4 gentle eminence, the
house overloel,s the landscape, in which
few other dwellings, are visible, and no
highway nor road passes within sight of
it. 1t stands back more than three-quar-
tiers of mile from the entrance to the
grounds, and is reached by winding
driveway through a wood of oak and
tangled vines, with here and there a mass
of rock or some boulder adding to the
picture of romantic witness
Besides the attractiveness gifts situation
and its surroundings. "Ciaymont is rich
in historical associations, for theland was
originally owned by George Washington :;
and although he never lived there, he
frequently visited the spot and the house,
which was built by one of his family, was
modelled afer plans that he had himself
designed
Bustrod Washington, a son of the
Generals nephew-to whom the property
was 1eft-built the house in 1920. Seven
teen years later it was almost entirely
destroyed by fire, but he Immediately
rebuiltit, and he and his descendants con-
tinued to occupy the home for upward of
fifty years, when it passed out of the
Washington family. and after few
changes of ownership came into the pos
session of Mr.. Stockton.
In its outward appearance the house
has changed but little, if at all, since the
time of the Washingtons; and while in
terror changes have been made, its gen
eral style and character remain unaltered.
The house is an old Virginia home of
Colonial type, with modern improve
ments.
1t is a long, rectangular brick building,
with a smaller two-storied house at each
end, each separated from the main build
ing by brickwalled courtyard thirty feet
square, One Of these outbuildings is used
for servants quarters, while the other is
designed as an apartment for guests,
e" For my bachelor friends, " explains Mr..
Stockton; lin case the house happens to
be flied they can enjoy their cigars and
do as they please"
The house, with its appurtenant build
ings and their connecting COURTYARD
walls, presents an imposing frontage
covering fully two hundred and fifty feet.
All of the brickwork is of a light yellow
color, giving to the place tone of bright
ness and cheerfulness, and assuring the
visitor, as he catches his first glimpse of
the mansion through the woodland vista
of the driveway, that welcome and hos
pitality await him.
Theroad through the woods approaches
the north front of the house, where a
Portico midway of the building marks the
entrance. a fight of marble steps leads
up to the portico, with its tile flooring,
and its tall. gray pillars that support the
roof and incidentally lend their aid to the
climbing rose vines that cluster about the
balustrade and seek to reach beyond.
a wide doorway opens into the hall, a
| spacious apartment running parallel with
the front of the house. It is probably
forty feet long and nearly half as wide.
Its lofty walls are vvainscoted with oat, in
beautifully carved panels extending to the
ceiling, which is also finished in this STYLE
o. woodwork.
At one end is large fireplace, and at
the other a graceful oak staircase of hand
some design, leading by rightangIed turns
to the the floor above.
Through an arch under the stairs a
passage leads into the spacious dining
room, with its cozy little ante-room. or
g tca-room, both finished in oak panel
ing after the manner of the hall; while
adjoining the dining-room and overlook
ing the southern part of the grounds is
the conservatory, from which during the
dreary months of snow the recollections
of summer in blushing reality will spread
their brightness and their sweetness upon
the home.
The library and the parlor open into
the hall opposite the main entrance. as
well rs on to the wide veranda On the
south front of the building. In keeping
with the other rooms of the house they are
large and brightly lighted, Yet not with
standing the stately proportions of the
rooms. there is everywhere a spirit of the
most coy homelikeness-the all-pervad-
ing influence Of the genial personality of
Mr.. Stockton and his wife.
Next to the library. on the right, and
separated from it by a curtaine doorway,