Page 33 [33]
OCR
EirsTroric’ GARDENS +OF7.'V TRGCINIA died in the house and returns punctiliously to prove the ghost lore well attested. The Wythe house is faithfully pictured by Ellen Glasgow, in "The Voice of the People,” as the home of Judge Bassett. On the same side of the street stands the white-columned dwelling where the Pages and Saunders lived in early times. ‘The original garden at this place must have been among the most pretentious in Williamsburg, and even now the well-defined terraces compare favorably with those of newer design. ‘The hospitable old house stands upon the topmost fall, where the broad lawn ts graced by two large magnolia grandifloras and two gnarled crepe myrtle trees. Beneath the shade of an ancient mulberry tree and occasional clumps of Japanese pomegranate, snowdrops, jonquils and blue hyacinths rival each other for bloom. Most years the Star of Bethlehem blossoms so thickly along this fall that it looks as if a billowy bridal wreath had been thrown over and above it. Shade trees, locust and hackberry, grow on the second terrace; this gives way gently to the third, which ends at a picturesque stream. Beneath the old willow which shades this grassy, sloping bank, General Washington is said to have held important conferences while drinking spiced wine with ofhcers of high command. Across the Palace Green and opposite the Wythe and Saunders houses is the quaint little building once the home of Governor John Page. Near the old theatre, as it was in Colonial days, this little house passed from history into fiction as the home of the heroine of Mary Johnstons "Audrey, and now is known altogether as " Audreys House." Though its paneled walls are interesting, the stories of its spirit world are more so, and the tragic words etched upon one of the old window panes quickens both pulse and fancy as does nothing else in all Williamsburg. Firmly outlined upon the glass are the words, “‘1796—Nov. 23—Ah, fatal day!’ The story the few words tell must have been one of sorrow, of heartache and of love. The prim walk up to the house on one side begins under old [22 ]
