Stranica 174 [174]
AIRWELL
sereu| from the English Crown to Thomas Nelson. His
f3.#]| grandson, Nelson Berkeley, of Middlesex, built the
S (o house and moved thither about the year 1760. It
“| is interesting to note that his direct descendants still
own and occupy the place.
It has been said that the bricks used in building the house were
brought from England. That, however, seems improbable. Not
only is the house too far from [Tidewater for the transportation to
have been practicable, but it was the custom for plantations to have
their own brick-kilns. However, the Flemish bonding, the ample
thickness of the walls and the general lines and proportions of the
severely plain exterior, give the dwelling the unmistakable stamp
of its early period.
When Tarleton with his English dragoons rode through the
neighborhood, on his raid from Williamsburg to Charlottesville,
he is said to have visited Airwell. It is certain that Lady Berkeley
(who before her marriage was Elizabeth Wormely Carter, of
Sabine Hall), is credited with having refused to give up to the new
county commissioners the church communion silver, which was in
her keeping and which they wished to confiscate as being English
government property.
This silver, which is used when service is held in old "Fork"
Church, is still kept at Airwell by the descendants of Mrs. Berkeley,
to whom Bishop Meade referred as a “lady of dignity, firmness
and authority."
On an ample lawn, surrounded by trees, Airwell house stands
today, a monument to the past. In 1836, it was seriously damaged
by fire, but in 1845 complete repairs were made. About twenty¬
[105]