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HisToRic GARDENS OF VIRGINIA
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of stage coaches and boxwood gardens. Its leafy streets and lanes
have charmed travelers from many countries. One of these, the
Marquis de Chastellux, wrote in his diary in 1780: “‘The chief
magnificence of the Virginians consists in furniture, linen and plate;
in which they resemble our ancestors who had neither cabinets nor
wardrobes in their castles, but contented themselves with a well¬
stored cellar, and a handsome buftet. If they sometimes dissipate
their fortunes it is by gaming, hunting and horse races; but the
latter are of some utility, inasmuch as they encourage the breed
of horses which are really very handsome in Virginia.”’
Standing in the spring sunlight in the Williamsburg of today
and shutting our eyes to the growing city, what lover of history
can not obtain glimpses of the panorama of the past. JIhrough
its old garden gates many historic figures pass—Colonial governors
with lords and ladies from foreign shores; awkward Patrick Henry
with his tongue of silver fire; John Marshall, [Thomas Jefterson
and Richard Henry Lee. ‘Then Washington, LaFayette and
Rochambeau; Cornwallis the conquered, and Tarleton, too. And
in the days of the early Republic, Madison and James Monroe.
Since their brave day nearly every president of the United States
has, at some time, visited the picturesque town.
The most important thoroughfare, Duke of Gloucester Street,
begins at William and Mary College, to end at the Palace Green.
Using this as a central or starting point, a quiet ramble through
the little town will repay one with interest and patriotic thrills,
as each street has its particular story; around every corner, about
each nook, is woven a web of historical associations that bring from
the dustiest memory an answering appreciation. And, though some
of its dwellers have modestly said, “There are no gardens in
Williamsburg,” this ramble along shady streets and about century¬
old houses will prove that in the springtime, at least, the whole of
the town is one beautiful, old-fashioned garden.
The Palace Green, lying just on the east of old Bruton @hurch
has given way to a school building, which was constructed of the
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