Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-07-04

wick. Scotland. and Elizabeth Walker
| was his child. Sir Alexander fought
with the great Marlborough at the bat
tie OF Blenheim, and his own portrait
with Blenhcim Castle in the back
ground is another refugee from Chel-
sea TO the Richmond woman's Club.
Anne Catherine. the second Chatelaine
/ or chelsea. was evidently Il lady OF her
own mind. Old chronicles say that she
| was elegant in person and manners and
of nigh spirits, and lived to great
age. When tea was contrahand she
drank Sers daily lin her closet" Her
husband often went about attending
! to his various plantations. and Anne
Catherine then looked after Chelsea
and managed things with high hand.
! Was the overseer negligent? Some
! times--and then she had him tossed up
: in blanket under the chamber
dow, and she looked on to see that
he was tossed up often enough to make
him turn over new leaf.
I Once Bernard, the first. wen;
a-shooting bats, and at thai :
! time the lndians threatened to rise.
! Anne Catherine lost no time in trivian-
iies. but manned boat at dead
night and took her children, her val
tables and herself to West Point.
| where she remained till danger was
| over Her, grandchildren remembered
! her in her tester bed" in the large
, chamber. her maid combinS her long,
| gray hair, and she herself holding a
! mirror TO see that she combed it right
, Anne GATHERINGS sister, Dorothea. was
the moth"r-in-law OF Patrick Henry,
VINO n" doubt would have disapproved
/ OF MS auat-in-law drinking tea, even
, in her closet.
/ Anne GATHERINGS daughter Anne But
ler married Charles Carter. of Shirley
/ on-the-James. and her daughter, Anne
III! Garter. married Light Horse Harry
Lee. ana was the mother OF Robert Il.
Lee, who was frequently a visitor Of
chelsea. his grandmother's birthplace
! Martha Washington when the widow
custIs, lived not very far from Chel-
! sea. and Robert +. Lee. Jr., the young
, est son of Robert T.. Lee, lived at
homancoke on land ne inherited from
| his mother, who Inherited it from her
grandmother. Martha Washington He
was the nearest neighbor to
Al Ihclsea that merry band of Nir-
GINA gentlemen. led by Alexander
Spotawood, stopped on their way TO the
! Blue Ridge Mountains No white man
then knew what lay beyond that misty
line OF blue, and the trip was re-
earded. as of just as much conse-
| quence then as Peary's trip in later
years to the North Pole.
/ They started from Williamsburg and
one MIR. Fontainc Of the PARTY fortu-
! nately kept diary.
! On August the twentieth, 1915. he
wrote. I'VE breakfasted and about 10
i got on horseback and AT came 10 and
crossed the ferry. and AT we came
( TO MI. Austin Moore's house upon Mat
taponi River in King William County.
Here we lay all night and were we'll
entertained" Alexander Spotswood
called this merry party of Virginia
gentlemen knights OF the golden
horseshoe, and to each he gave a gold
horseshoe set with jewels-,heir motto
was, sic jurat transcendere montes'
/ on they rode from Chelsea toward
the great mountains passing their
days right merrily. MIR. Fontaine gives
/ us a catalogue of their drinks. which
seem trifie excessive in this state
wide" age. They drank the health of
everybody from King George down, and
! at each stop made a bowl OF punch"
On one occasion when the knights"
were fast approaching the mysterious
line of blue, they drank the kings
health in champagne and fred VOL
| ley; the princess's health in Burgundy
and fred volley: and all of the rest
of the royal family in claret, and vol
ley. We drank the governors health
and fred vollcy. We had several
quarts OF liquors. viz. Virginia red
and white wine, Irish usquebah, bran
! dy, shrub. two sorts of rum, cham
payne. canary. cherry, punch, water,
/ cider"
| Great wonder when they at last
reached journeys end that they did not
see several ranges of mountains!
! What has this TO do with Chelsea:
Merely so far as IL shows how the old
mansion was connected with Virginia
! history II was full of priceless
thinEs-silver pictures and fine furni-
ture. From Bernard Moore the first
! 1t went 10 Bernard Moore the second.
His sons died before him. and his
bej Of -
place. During her lifetime was the
War Between the States and the
grandson of Chelsea played his great
part. This heiress of Chelsea married
Robinson and after the war the Rob-
insons could not hold il. The family
silver that had hidden with the old
Moores in their graves during the con-
fiict, was eXhumed; and the other old
furnishings OF a Virginia landmark
were removed TO humber place which
the Robinsons owned in another coun-
". AS in very vengeance for this
tragic removal the devouring flames
consumed this humber home, and every ,
vestige of the pride and ponp of the
Moores of Chelsea, except the portraits.
They were tarryinG At the little town ;
of West Point until the humber home
was ready for them.
But Chelsea still stands in exquisite
and we'll preserved antiquity. an epic
in brick telling its story vaguely to
those who come from afar TO see its
mellow and unusua! beauty 1t has gone
from master to master since that tragic
day when the descendants of old Grub
Moore" went their sad way across the
river to an humber home. Its song
is the song of the swan" and not
alone does il voice its own requiem. for
at few mansions OF the Old Dominion
does a Stuart sit upon the Stuarts
throne"
This is hut dicression 10 Mace
Elizabeth Moore. whose fortunes with :
John Walker Will he continued next /
Sunday)