Stranica 32 [32]
DME) PAE S RAVER! PLANTATION: BELT
bricks of the Governor’s palace. The latter, which stood upon this
spot until just after the Revolution, has been described as a
“magnificent streture built at the public expense, finished and beau¬
tihed with gates, fine gardens, offices, walks, and a canal and
orchard embracing in all three hundred and seventy acres, bordered
with lindens brought from Scotland." Where the Governor’s
garden once bloomed so gayly, daffodils and buttercups now grow
into flower. The last named plants—ranunculus acris—are said
to be direct descendants of the first ever in this country, which
were brought from “‘Merrie England” to adorn the palace grounds.
Wild artichokes take up the golden note in autumn beneath the
boughs of trees planted by loving hands as a memorial to the
gallant sons of James City County who gave their lives in the
great World War.
At the brown-stained Wythe house, which faces the Palace
Green and adjoins Bruton churchyard, cherokee rose vines smilingly
greet one before the gate is opened. ‘The original garden laid off
on formal, English lines, was, in its best days, hedged with box¬
wood, and lay at the rear of the house. A long walk between two
flower-crowded borders was its dominant feature, and, though
most of the old lines have been washed away by the rains of time,
white and purple lilacs and pink crepe myrtle trees succeed the
countless jonquils and narcissi that come up on the lawn each
spring.
This house was the home of George Wythe, designer of Vir¬
ginia’s emblematic seal with the motto, “Sic Semper Tyrannis,”’
and teacher of Jefferson, Marshall and Monroe. The dwelling is
rich in history—in traditionary lore, too—for it was in it that
Washington lived at times during the Revolution and where mem¬
bers of LaFayette’s suite were quartered. And legend tells of two
ghostly visitors. One, the wraith of Lady Skipwith, a belle and
beauty of colonial days, who restlessly trips through the ages on
high-heeled, clicking shoes, to be known as the dainty dame of the
tapping tread. The other tale tells of a young French officer who
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