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FOREWORD
A large part of this material has never before been made public.
Many of the illustrations are entirely original and were made
expressly for this book and all but four of the garden plans were
drawn especially for it.
But the book makes no claim for literary merit. With the ex¬
ception of the introduction, it is altogether the work of amateurs.
Nor does it profess to tell a// about Virginia’s old gardens. It does
not undertake to tabulate all their beauties and recite everything
for which they are famed. It tells but little of the celebrated men
and women who have trod their paths, for throughout the aim has
been for historic accuracy rather than romantic interest or literary
value.
The editor would record her grateful appreciation of the work
of the Historic Garden Committee and all those who so kindly
aided in the research. She acknowledges particularly the courtesy
of the garden owners, the kindness of those who lent paintings,
prints or photographs for reproduction and all who, personally,
drew or had drawn, the plans which lend such interest and value
to the book. Great thanks are due to Mr. William G. Stanard
and Mr. Robert A. Lancaster, Jr., authorities on Virginia history.
It has been with a desire of lifting the latch of some of the old
gates and, through the courtesy of their owners, inviting the reader
to enter the gardens that the James River Garden Club has under¬
taken, before it is too late, to “gather up the fragments that re¬
main."
EDITH DABNEY [TUNIS SALE.
Tuckahoe, Virginia.
March, 1923.
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