Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-14
Kenmore, the home of Betty Washington. 1t will be
restored by the Garden Club of Virginia
and the Kenmore Association

Embedded in the brick wall one sees
even today an old cannon ball, grim
reminder of the Revolutionary War.
A few miles from Yorktown, on the
other side of Williamsburg. is James
town, where on May IS, 1907, the first
Virginia colonistS made their second
landing, and which was to be the first
permanent colony, having landed at
Cape Henry about month earlier. The
tower of the original church, which was
built in 1907, still stands. In this
church Pocahontas was baptized and
married in 1914. Here the first Leg
islative Assembly in America convened
in 1919. Jamestown remained the seat
of government until 100, when VIII
liamsburg became the seat of govern
ment; then Jamestown passed into the
hands of private plantation owners.
Taking ferry at Jamestown, cross
the James River and go next to Brandon,
which is located on the south side of
the James. The house here is very In
teresting. not only from an architectural
standpoint, but from the fact that many
famous Virginians were born within its
walls, and many more have been shell
tered under its hospitable roof. The
original name of this estate was Mar
tins Brandon, so called for the first own
er. He abandoned it, however, and in
1885 it was patented by Richard Quincy,
whose brother married Judith, the
daughter of William Shakespeare. In
1719 the place became the property Of
Nathaniel Harrison, and through the
succeeding years has been known as
Harrison place 1t is now owned by
Mr.. Robert w. Daniel of New York,
Virginian by birth.
The garden of gardens in Virginia is
that of Brandon, filed with the old
fashioned flowers so loved by our for
bears, and which we, the present gen.
Grafton. have known since childhood
There is double line of box across
the front of the house on both sides,
which continues down each side of the
front grounds for about 400 feet; here
1t joins enormous bowers of lilac. In
this garden we find many fine old
specimens of spiraea, syringa, weigela,
calycanthus, crepe myrtle, snow ball
(known to our grandmothers as guelder
rose), and all the other old-fashioned
shrubs so loved in days gone by The
narrow walks in the garden are edged
with yellow primroses or cowslips and
sweet violets, blue and white. The
charm of this garden will live always,
visit Brandon will feel an awakening
of all that is poetic in his soul.
X X X X
IRON Brandon we drive to Peters,
burg Here there are several in
teresting places to see-old Blandford
Church. which was built in 1735, and
the backgrounds of the Battle of the
Crater.
For those who are not pressed for
time, instead of going from Brandon
to Petersburg, we can well add to our
trip by going to Suffolk and the Nor
seen Bacons Castle, which was built
in 1860, and made famous by the re-
beilion, which bore its founders name,
Old Fort Boykin and Shoal Bay, each
with a memorable place in history. In
the vicinity of Norfolk is the Adam
.Thoroughgood house, said to be the
oldest brick house in Virginia, having
been built before 1884; also Cape Henry,
where the first landing of the first per-
nanent English settlers was made in
April, 1907, IS years before the Pill
grims landed in Massachusetts,.
From Petersburg we turn to Pied
mont. Va. Just as in the settling of Vir-
ginia, each succeeding wave moved
luIt AlcI Lulduu, dLlu We HOW W 70 tLle
Stanton River Valley, as there we find
another group of homes associated with
other noted Virginians, equally famous
as those of the James or Potomac
Valleys. The Staunton is one of the
rivers which forms the Roanoke, asso-
ciated with Roanoke Island and the lost
colony. At the confluence of the
Staunton and the Dan, where the Roam
oke begins, stands Prestwould, prob
ably the most perfectly preserved and
of all the Colonial Virginia
homes. It Is near the town of Clarks-
Vile, In Mecklenburg County.
Prestwould, the Virginia home Of Sir
Peyton Skipwith, an English baron, is
located on the bluffs overlooking the
juncture of the Staunton and the Dan
Rivers forminMs the Roanoke. According
to family tradition, Col. William Byrd,
Sd, and Sir Pgyton SkipWttb were to-