USA > Virginia > Manors of Virginia in colonial times > Part 2
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The interior suffered a severe fire in 1844, but most of the heirlooms and treasures were for- tunately saved, and were replaced by Mr. Wil- liam Tayloe when the house was restored. In the hall hangs a famous set of Boydell's Shake- speare, and in the drawing-room, as well as in most of the rooms, is still much of the rare mahogany furniture originally placed there. On the wall hangs a handsome portrait of Gov- ernor Samuel Ogle of Maryland, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, while that of Mrs. Ogle and daughter shows the same master-hand. Continuing around the room, one sees the likenesses of Governor Benjamin Ogle and his wife, Henrietta Hill, Anna Maria Cook, wife of Benjamin Ogle, Jr.,
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and Catherine Goodrich, his daughter. The superb portrait of Colonel John Tayloe 3rd, builder of the famous Octagon House in Wash- ington, was painted in 1804 by Stuart, and represents the patrician land-owner in the dark clothes of the Continental period, which are re- lieved about the throat by the soft lace-trimmed stock. He wears no wig, and his white hair con- trasts to advantage with his ruddy complexion. The portrait of his wife, Anne Ogle, by the same renowned artist, shows a slender, graceful figure in an Empire gown of white satin. She is sitting in an old wing-chair of crimson velvet, with one plump arm resting carelessly in her lap. The features are a bit haughty, but the expression is softened by the cluster of curls about her fore- head. Among the rest of the pictured notables, whose very names awaken the keenest interest, are William Henry Tayloe, Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, and Mrs. John Tayloe.
Over the dining-room mantel, on the river front of the house, hangs the likeness of Colonel John Tayloe 2nd, founder of Mount Airy, which was painted in 1700, while near-by the lovely face of Mrs. Gryme, mother of Mrs. John Tayloe, as she appeared to Sir Godfrey Kneller, gleams from the canvas in the old gilt frame.
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MOUNT AIRY
Adorning the rest of the wall are those of Mrs. John Tayloe 2nd and David Lyde, her son by a former marriage, Mrs. John Tayloe and daugh- ter, afterwards Mrs. Mann Page, Elizabeth Tayloe and her husband, Richard Corbin, mem- ber of the King's Council, and Governor George Plater of Maryland. But a brief glance at the catalogue will clearly show the Mount Airy gallery to be second only to one in the country, that containing just one more portrait.
In the library is a most interesting collection of old manuscripts and autograph letters, among which are found the names of Washington, Jef- ferson, Madison, Monroe, Lafayette, Lord Byron, Anthony Trollope, Lady Vane, Admiral Wormeley, Daniel Webster, Chief-Justice Mar- shall, John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay. Unlimited interest is found here also in the colored English prints of famous race-horses owned by Colonel John Tayloe 2nd, all bearing the date 1800. But deemed by some connoisseurs as the choicest things in the mansion are the rare colored engravings, dated 1735, of the mural paintings and windows of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
The manor-house throughout bears evidence that Colonel Tayloe was a noted turfman, and in
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most of the rooms are silver trophies won by his stable. The one-mile race-track laid off about one-eighth of a mile to the north of the grounds was in Colonial days one of the very few private tracks in America and the scene of the finest racing in the land. Virginia's being the mother of race-horses as well as of statesmen accounts for the excellence of Virginia-bred horses, even of some whose pedigrees cannot be traced three generations. In a letter dated 1867 the follow- ing account of the Mount Airy stable is given: " The distinguished stud of the late Colonel John Tayloe, of Mount Airy (on the Rappahannock), who was decidedly at the head of the turf at that epoch, with Bel Air, Calypso, Grey Diomed, Virago, Black Maria, Gallatin, Cap Bearer, and the gelding Leviathan, by Virginia-bred Flag of Truce. Then succeeded the days of Fairy, Amanda, Florizel, the Maid of Oaks, Post Boy, Oscar, First Consul, and the many renowned get of Diomed, including Sir Archy. The Wash- ington City Race-course has been the arena for most of these named. At one time it was sup- posed that American Eclipse and Henry were the best race-horses in America. For years their time was unequalled. Both of them were de- scended from the distinguished stud at Mount
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COLONEL JOHN TAYLOR By St. Memin
SIR ARCHY The most famous race horse of Colonial times
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Airy." Even an Englishman who disliked to credit this country with anything good was forced to admit Sir Archy's fame, though he coupled it with the assertion that he was the only American horse known in England. From this celebrated sire the noted Hambletonian stables in Kentucky are descended.
For some years Colonel Tayloe was President of the Washington City Jockey Club, of which he was the founder, that race-course being per- haps the most notable in America.
Mount Airy lying as it did on the turnpike between Williamsburg and Philadelphia, all the notables who passed along the highway were lavishly entertained at the hospitable mansion, the stories of which have come down like a breath from an age forever irrecoverable. Among the cherished records of the old homestead is one telling of the raspberries from the Mount Airy greenhouse that were sent by Mrs. Tayloe to the Marquis de Lafayette in the month of February.
In 1776 Colonel John Tayloe 2nd was a mem- ber of the King's Council under Lord Dunmore, and later was one of the first Republican Council under Governor Henry. An extract from a let- ter dated August 4, 1772, proves Colonel Tay- loe's thought for the welfare of his children,
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the letter being written to Ralph Wormeley in connection with the marriage of his daughter to a son of Mr. Wormeley :
" The provision you propose for your son in your lifetime, with what will be his after, is satis- factory to me, provided it be not too heavily encumbered with legacies and debts, and it is necessary to guard against any want that may possibly happen; therefore approve of your pro- posal with respect to a settlement, in case you should survive your son, in either way you please. I only wish my daughter's change in life to be made comfortable to her, and guarded against every contingency. I am satisfied she can live happily with you, yet my tenderness for her creates fears, I must own, and hope they may never be more. But the subject is too tender to speak more plainly upon. I proposed the only mode in my power to give my daughter a for- tune, and, if not accepted, I will not engage to do what depends on the will of others, and not my own; for it will not suit my convenience to pay her fortune in any other manner than from moneys due to me, of which I have not been able to collect a sufficiency to pay my eldest daugh- ter's fortune, who, though in affluence, is yet entitled to the preference, and must have it from
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MOUNT AIRY
me unless otherwise proposed by her husband, or shall think I do not do justice. My second is otherwise provided for. Nannie stands next in turn, but, having no offer yet, may be provided for in time, perhaps as soon as wanted. My de- sire is to make my children as happy as I can, and as soon as possible."
Colonel Tayloe's wise forethought was un- doubtedly responsible for the brilliant marriages contracted by his eight daughters, a distinguished record unrivalled by any family in the country. That they all married gentlemen of the highest position is seen from the following:
Elizabeth, born in 1750, married in 1767 Colonel Edward Lloyd of Wye, Talbot County, Maryland, President of the Council of that state and father of Governor Edward Lloyd.
Rebecca, born in 1752, married in 1769 Francis Lightfoot Lee, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Anne Corbin, born in 1753, married in 1773 Major Thomas Lomax of Port Tobago, a mag- nificent Rappahannock River estate.
Eleanor, born in 1756, married in 1772 the Honorable Ralph Wormeley of Rosegill, a mem- ber of the King's Council.
Mary, born in 1759, married in 1776 Colonel
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COLONIAL MANORS of VIRGINIA
Mann Page of Spottsylvania County, half- brother of Governor John Page.
Catherine, born in 1761, married in 1780 Lan- don Carter of Sabine Hall, the son of Robert, "King " Carter of Corotoman.
Sarah, born in 1765, married in 1799 Colonel William Augustine Washington, nephew of the General.
Jane, born in 1774, married in 1791 Colonel Robert Beverley, of the family so prominent in the early days of the Colony.
On the death of Colonel Tayloe, his only son, Colonel John Tayloe 3rd, inherited the Mount Airy estate. Colonel Tayloe, born in 1771, was then but eight years old. He was educated at Eton, where he numbered such men as Welling- ton, George Canning, Sir Edward Thornton, the Marquis of Waterford, Lord Graves, and Sir Grey Skipwith as his friends and classmates.
In 1792 he married Anne, daughter of Gov- ernor Benjamin Ogle of Maryland, after which he took a very active part in public life. He was a captain of dragoons under General Henry Lee, and was appointed in 1799 by President Adams a major of light dragoons, U. S. A. He served nine years as Delegate and Senator in the Vir- ginia Legislature, and in the War of 1812 was
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in command of the cavalry of the District of Columbia. That he was a warm friend of George Washington is proven in his correspond- ence, which is still preserved, and among which is found a letter illustrating the esteem in which he was held:
" MOUNT VERNON, 12th February, 1799.
" DEAR SIR :
" By your servant, I have this moment (on my return from Alexandria) been favored with your two letters of the 10th instant.
" For the compliment you have been pleased to pay me, in asking my opinion of the eligibility of accepting your late appointment in the Army of the United States, I pray you to accept my thanks.
" However desirous I might have been of seeing you engaged in that line, candor requires that I should declare that, under your statement of the circumstances of the case, I am inclined to believe that your services in the civil line, in the present crisis of our affairs, and the temper in particular in which this state appears to be (if it be fair to form judgment from the acts of its legislature), would be more important. The first is contingent, of course may or may not be called for, according to our doings in the latter. The second is in existence, and requires the active and, I may venture to add, the immediate exertions of the friends of order and good government, to prevent the evils in which it is
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but too apparent another description of men among us are endeavoring to involve the United States.
" No evil, I perceive, can result at this stage of the recruiting service from the postponement of a final decision respecting your appointment to a Majority in the Regiment of Light Dragoons; and as you have it in contemplation (as apparent by your letter to the Secretary of War) to visit Philadelphia shortly, I will suspend a further expression of my sentiments on this subject until I have the pleasure of seeing you at this place.
" With best respects to Mrs. Tayloe, in which Mrs. Washington and Miss Custis unite, I am, dear sir,
" Your most obedient and humble servant,
" GEO. WASHINGTON."
When Colonel Tayloe died, in 1828, the plan- tation went to Colonel William Taylor, from whom it was inherited by Mr. Henry Tayloe, and until very recently, when it passed to the children of the latter, was perhaps the only estate in the country which has descended from father to son in direct succession without one break in the line.
The moss-grown, crumbling brick walls of the burying-ground enclose the tombs of some of the country's most illustrious dead, the newer shafts standing out somewhat crudely against the ancient bricks of time-stained tone. Blue peri-
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winkle riots above the old mounds protecting the quiet sleepers from summer sun and winter snow.
The beautiful park, ending in a famous cedar avenue, was stocked with deer during the life of the founder of Mount Airy, and is still pictu- resque in vale and greenery, though the deer feed there no more. Upon the terraces at both fronts of the house grow great box hedges, while others, where purple lilacs mingle with the white, border the walkways, well-bred citizens of the garden, never overstepping the bounds of conven- tionality.
Beneath the old roof of the manor-house chil- dren were born, to die in the shadow of the self- same spot. Beautiful women of many social graces dispensed here a bounteous hospitality, and wise men who served first their king and then their country left here the priceless heritage of an unsullied name. There was always a royal welcome in this fine old Virginia homestead for the stranger visitor as well as the titled guest. And it is only in such environment that we realize keenly the picturesque figure of the Colonial Cavalier, which is bravely silhouetted like some brilliant decoration against the neutral back- ground of to-day.
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CHATHAM
IRECTLY across the river from Fredericks- burg, that ancient town of Stafford County, where a web of historic association spreads over the beautiful valley, Chatham Mansion, pic- turesque yet in its changed surroundings, is liv- ing in a ripe old age.
No homestead in the country excels this estate in point of history or tradition, for the first mas- ter, William Fitzhugh, was one of the most renowned men of the Colonies, in whose veins was said to run the blood of the Barons of Ravensworth.
According to Burke, the name Fitzhugh, though known since the Conquest, was only ap- propriated by that family in the reign of Edward III., when the ancestor Bardolph was Lord of Ravensworth.
One genealogist, who seems to have been scrupulously careful in his research, says : " From
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CHATHAM Where General Robert E. Lee met Mary Custis
CHATHAM
this ancestor, the family is traced from father to son through the following generations: Bar- dolph was succeeded by his son Akaris Fitz- Bardolph; he by Hervey Fitz-Akaris; he by Henry Fitz-Hervey; then Randolph Fitz-Henry was succeeded by his brother Hugh Fitz-Henry; he died in 1304, and was followed by his son, Henry Fitz-Hugh, which name has been adopted by his descendants to this day." It was this Henry Fitz-Hugh who was prominent in the Wars of the Roses, and was summoned by writ to Parliament in 1321 as Baron Fitz-Hugh, being the first to bear that title, which continued unbrokenly in the male line until the seventh baron, when the barony "fell into abeyance." Catherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII., was the granddaughter of the last Lord Fitz-Hugh.
Fame followed the family to America, whither William Fitzhugh, the son of a barrister of Bedford, England, emigrated in 1670. Four years later he married Sarah, daughter of John Tucker of Westmoreland County, Virginia, and a generally credited tradition is that the little bride of eleven years was sent by her husband to England soon after the ceremony in order that her education might be perfected.
William Fitzhugh, the Immigrant, was not
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only an eminent man of letters, but the ablest lawyer in Virginia. He it was who was counsel- lor for Robert Beverley in his celebrated case, while another of his clients was Lord Culpeper, who at that time held a grant from Charles I. for all Virginia.
The portrait of William Fitzhugh, the Immi- grant, which is now in the collection of Mr. Douglas H. Thomas of Baltimore, was painted by Hesselius in 1698. His naturally strong features are given an iron severity by the heavy black wig which falls stiffly upon his shoulders, and will and determination are written in every line of his face.
The letters of William Fitzhugh, the originals of which are in the library of Harvard Univer- sity, are no less valuable for their literary style than as historical records of the seventeenth century.
On his death, in 1701, his estate of 54,054 acres in King George, Stafford, and Essex Counties, was divided among his five sons, William, Henry, Thomas, George, and John. William Fitzhugh, of Eagle's Nest, married Anne, daughter of Richard and Lætitia Corbin Lee. Their son Henry married Lucy, daughter of King Carter, these being the parents of William Fitzhugh of
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COLONEL WILLIAM FITZHUGH From the portrait by Hesselius painted in 1698
XFER
HO PATHY
CHATHAM
Chatham, who inherited the greater part of the 18,723 acres left to his father.
Born August 24, 1741, William Fitzhugh, the fourth of the name in Virginia, displayed at an early age an ability for public life. He was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1772, and was elected to the Continental Congress in 1779, besides holding other important offices. He married Anne Bolling Randolph, daughter of Peter Randolph of Chatsworth, Henrico County, and spent the majority of his life at Chatham, the mansion of which was erected in or about 1720, according to an old brick found on the place.
There is no finer example of the long Colonial architecture than this homestead, with a frontage of 210 feet, the two-story central building being flanked by one-story wings connected with the main portion by covered corridors. The bricks of which the mansion is built are said to have been brought from England, though there is room for doubt in this assertion; but the ivy with which it is hung in parts is known to have come from abroad.
The great square hall, the walls of which are panelled, measures twenty-six by twenty-six feet, the high-ceiled rooms on either side being twenty- four by twenty-four. The handsome panelling
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torn out by the soldiers during the Civil War has never been entirely restored, but the curtains run- ning along the sides of the house still preserve the wainscoting intact.
The drawing-room and library are both beauti- fully wainscoted, and though the nine rooms of the first floor originally showed this ornamenta- tion, much was destroyed during the Civil War. 'The inside walls are fully two feet thick, and in all the windows are deep seats that invite the rest of the modern guest as they did that of the maids and Cavaliers of many years ago.
The situation of the manor-house, on an emi- nence of the Rappahannock, commands a mag- nificent view of the country around, covering as it does an area of Virginia's most historic ground. To the right of the house is the original kitchen, with its enormous fireplace and roasting-crane, and on the left is a duplicate building in the old office.
The vast ten-acre lawn is studded with splendid trees standing singly or in groups, conspicuous among them being the silver poplars that grow twice the height of the house. Picturesque walks through grounds and garden are outlined with trees of flowering boxwood, that attract the earliest and laziest bees by their pungent fra-
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CHATHAM
grance. And when the moon rises back of the woodlands, or only stars light the silent night, back and forth through the dew-drenched hedges trips " the White Lady," silently weeping and wringing her hands. Who she is, or why she walks there, no one is able to tell; yet night after night, through century after century, this sad wraith of some once gay being haunts the " Ghost Walk " of Chatham, perhaps in heart- broken longing for the days forever irrecov- erable.
Another weird feature of Chatham is the In- dian Cave in the North Ravine, said to have been hewn from the rock long before the white man came, but found and used by him as a hiding- place during the Revolution.
In this old home were always illustrious vis- itors, and many and interesting are the legends told of the princely life of William Fitzhugh, who entertained with a royal and lavish hand. Chatham was a second home for Washington, the room known as the west chamber always having been occupied by him. Lafayette, too, was en- tertained here after the siege of Yorktown.
Being an ardent devotee of the turf, William Fitzhugh had laid off on the estate a private race- track, where his famous horses were put through
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their schooling before they appeared at the public meets. In 1775 his renowned Regulus, Bril- liant, and Kitty Fisher were favorites on the most prominent race-courses.
Being so constantly filled with guests, and counting among them only the most eminent in the land, one marvels not at the many meetings which took place at Chatham, some of which made, while others helped to unmake, history. Here one breathes the essence of romance; the very air teems with the history of years, and day- dreams and reveries live in the memory long after a visit to the celebrated spot.
It was at Chatham that John Dandridge, the father of Martha Washington, breathed his last. It was at Chatham that Martha Custis first met Washington. It was at Chatham that Mary Fitzhugh married George Washington Parke Custis in 1806, and it was under this same hos- pitable roof that Mary Custis met her idol, Robert Edward Lee. But the prettiest story of all is that told of General Lee, who, when this mansion was headquarters for the Federal army, refused to shell it from his vantage-point on Marye's Heights, rather than destroy one limb or shingle of the place which held his most sacred memories.
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CHATHAM
Towards the latter part of his life, the stren- uous entertaining began to tell on the nerves and income of William Fitzhugh, who sought refuge at Ravensworth, in Fairfax County, in which mansion he reproduced Chatham, the material being wood instead of brick.
Though it was through him that the estate of Chatham achieved its fame, William Fitzhugh was neither born nor buried there.
The many acres of this old plantation, now re- duced to but few, fell to Henry Fitzhugh, and now the only living descendants of the renowned William Fitzhugh are the children and grand- children of General Robert E. Lee.
After the estate passed out of the Fitzhugh family, it was purchased by Major Churchill Jones, who left it to his brother, William Jones, from whom it went to his daughter, Mrs. Coalter, and from her to a younger daughter of William Jones, Mrs. J. Horace Lacy. The fact that it was the home of Major Lacy during the Civil War accounts for its having been known as " Lacy's " to both armies. Being the headquar- ters of Hooker, Sumner, and McDowell, the mansion and fair acres suffered cruelly from the vandalism of ignorant troops, who tore away with a ruthless hand the marks of history, and
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COLONIAL MANORS of VIRGINIA
wrenched from the ground the roots and blossoms of æons long past. At Chatham was held the council of war that decided upon the battle of Fredericksburg, and after the battle the walls that once rang with gay song and laughter echoed only to the moans of wounded soldiers, the house being then a temporary hospital.
After the war Major Lacy returned to his sadly altered estate, but troubles had come too thick and fast, and a short while afterwards it was sold. During the next twenty years the place was one of changing masters, but finally, in 1900, it was purchased by Mr. Fleming Bailey, and came into its own again.
Great trees shattered by the shells of '62 are now hung with ivy in thick profusion; honey- suckle riots in rich luxuriance, and in the dear little garden squares old-fashioned flowers are once more blooming, silently giving their beauty and fragrance in reparation for the cruel years of war.
Among the mélange of lore and legend with which the Rappahannock homesteads abound, one of the prettiest tells of Governor Spots- wood's first voyage up the river, to the music of skylarks brought from England to be set free in the new-found land. When the sun sinks into
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CHATHAM
the silvery river, lengthening the shadows on the Chatham lawn, the slender throats of these little songsters are filled with melody for the stranger who pauses in rapture at the faultlessly lovely scene.
And turning to the old mansion, enveloped in the peace and quiet of history made and cen- turies dead, one realizes that happy days have come once more to Chatham, which will live for years set to the music of Spotswood's larks.
KENMORE
ROM Stafford Heights, the picturesque hills that form the palisades of the Rappahannock River, the historic town of Fredericksburg is viewed in its luxurious setting of rolling meadow and forest land, lying as some incomparable jewel, endowed by nature and beloved by man.
Here, in a quiet, secluded spot, a fitting monu- ment of history made of lore and legend, still stands Kenmore, the rare old home built by Colonel Fielding Lewis in 1749. Fredericks- burg was somewhat unique among Virginia towns, inasmuch as many of the landed gentry lived there in preference to their country-seats, as was the usual custom.
The name of Lewis is one of the oldest in English history and among the most distin- guished in that of America. Mr. Hayden, than whom there is no better authority in the country, traces the Virginia branch of the family from
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