Oldal 110 [110]
Pe 0 AAN ES "RIVER OB VANTATHON : BELT
On his way to Petersburg from Richmond in 1781, the Marquis
de Chastellux lost his way, but he says, ‘‘We had no reason to re¬
gret our error, as it was only two miles about, and we skirted
James River to a charming place called Warwick where a group
of handsome houses form a sort of village, and there are some
superb ones in the neighborhood; among others, that of Colonel
Cary, on the right bank of the river." The town to which the
Marquis referred was established in the second year of the reign
of George III. At the time of the Revolution it boasted mills,
ware and storehouses, rope-walks and a shipbuilding yard. Unfor¬
tunately, everything was destroyed by the British in 1781. Up to
this time, however, fortune smiled upon the Cary family and bur¬
nished their rooftree with a golden horn. It was to this James
River country seat that Archibald Cary brought his beautiful bride,
Mary Randolph, from Curles Neck, across the river. At that time
jewels, laces and brocades were brought in their own vessels, to
land on the Ampthill shores. There were coaches and fine horses,
rare wines to stock the now empty cellar—in short, everything con¬
nected with this splendid old home was the very finest to be found
in Virginia.
The road which leads from the Petersburg highway to Ampthill
is rich in trees and native shrubbery. Dogwood, birch and oak
trees shade a narrow, drowsy brook which flows from a spring
near by to supply the old mill pond. Scattered throughout—along
the roadside and through the woodland—are quantities of Scotch
broom, or gorse. I[his seems to point to some British encamp¬
ment as, since Revolutionary days, gorse has come down to Amer¬
icans under the name of “Cornwallis hay.’’ ‘The story goes that
the seeds were brought over in the hay used to feed the horses of
the British army. One can easily fancy a red-coated trooper, dis¬
consolate, and wandering beneath the dogwood trees, singing the
words of the old Scotch ballad, ‘‘Kissin’s out of fashion when the
broom is out of bloom.”
The entrance road turns sharply onto the lawn which surrounds
167]