Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1947-05-01

owners of some of the county's
lovliest old homes will dust off the
welcome mat and display to the
public cultured gardens, early
American furnishings and an
tiques seldom seen outside Of
museums. For Wednesday is the
day the Federated Garden Clubs
stage their 10th annual house and
garden pilgrimage and these
homes will be open from 10 A. M
until P. M. for a fee.
Would you like little preview ,
Well, let's start way up county
in Laytonsville, where the beauti
full gardens and the quaint old red
brick house of Rolling Ridge
Farm will be shown by the own
ers, Mr.. and Mrs. John H. Small
III. The farm of 230 acres, origi-
nally a part of Retirement" later
of Brooke Grove" is noted for
its pure bred Angus cattle. The
house was built in 1893 by Robert
Ober and until the last decade ha7
been continuously occupied by his
descendants. Mr.. and Mrs. Small
restored the house according to old
photos and furnished it with per-
iod pieces in keeping with it's
architecture. In early days the
four large chimneys carried the
smoke from ten fireplaces one
| in each Of the ten rooms. Rolling
hills and the distant Paws Ridge
frame this house most attractive
ly.
Leaving Laytonsville we go to
Olney where, in the days when the
village was known as Mechanics
vile, Whitson Candy built the
small white house Clara Nav
Downey recently purchased for her
home just around the corner
from her famous Olhey Inn, which
is built on the site of "Mt Olney"
the Granville Farquhar home. The
exact age of the house "Olney'
and much of its early history seem
unknown. The farm was part of
tract known as "Shepard's Hard
Scrabble" perhaps the land was
poor.
Whitson Candy, who had pot
terry in the village, built the kitch.
en- and central part of the house.
In 1886 Roger Brooke bought it
for, his son-in-law, DIR. Charles
Farquhar, physician of Alexan-
dria, Va. who named it Olney and
built the hall, stairs and two
rooms. The large chimney and
oven was built in 1841 and the
south wing added several years
later. Few changes have been
made since. Mrs. Downey reno.
waited the house but the 1841 lines
have been preserved.
If you have come distance,
perhaps you will pause for lunch
at the Inn before going on to
Sandy Spring to take a look at
the old meeting house and visit
several other homes. Mrs. Downey
is preparing a Especial" for those
on the Pilgrimage.
The original frame Friends
Meeting House was built in 1853
The present brick structure was
erected in 1917, the bricks being
made at a nearby clay pit. The
dimensions Of the building are 50
by 80 feet and the heights to the
caves, 1874 feet. Ivy covers the
walls and peeps in the upper win
dow. Inside may be seen one o,
the two old stoves which once
warmed the building. Also the
partition which once separated the
sexes men to the left women
to the right.
Just a stones throw away is
Hardwood" now the summer
home of Under Secretary Of State
Dean 'Acheson. On this farm of
100 acres is the spring from which
the neighborbood got its name. DR..
William Stabler, Petersburg, Va.
doctor, in 1889 married Deborah
Peasants and settled at Hardwood
which she had inherited as a rela-
tive Of the Brooke family. It was
much larger tract at that time,
worn out from the production Of
tobacco. The house was modest W.,
are told, built Of squared logs and
once a tobacco barn. What is now
the large dining room was added
in 1920 according to date on
the fireplace
Shall we drop down to "Llewel-
lyn Fields" before going on to