Stranica 189 [189]
OCR
HisTorRiIc GARDENS OF VIRGINIA —— NEZET ez E From old papers and documents we learn that the Kandolph family lived a life of cultured leisure at Tuckahoe for nearly two hundred years. William Byrd, that eighteenth-century author, wit and aristocrat, in his “History of the Dividing Line,” speaks of the place: “I parted with my Intendant and pursued my journey to Mr. Randolph’s at Iuckahoe, without meeting with any adventure by the way. The heir of the Family did not come home until late in the evening. He is a Pretty Young Man but had the misfortune to become his own Master too soon. This puts young fellows upon wrong pursuits, before they have sence to judge rightly for themselves. I was sorry in the morning to find myself stopped in my Career by bad weather.” After a visit of three or four days, he writes: ‘“The clouds continued to drive from the N-Est and to menace us with more rain. Therefore after fortifying myself with two capacious Dishes of Coffee and making my Compliments to the Ladyes, I mounted and Mr. Randolph. was so kind as to be my guide.” In 1782, the Marquis de Chastellux wrote of his visit to the estate, describing it as, ‘““Tuckahoe, on James River, the seat of Mr. Randolph a rich planter of Virginia.” Chastellux further tells us that ““The Virginians have the reputation, and with reason, of living nobly in their houses, and of being hospitable; they give strangers not only a willing, but a liberal, reception.”’ And Thomas Anbury, in his “Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America," published in 1789, says, “‘I spent a few days at Colonel Randolph’s at Tuckahoe, at whose house the usual hospitality of the country prevailed.’ He then adds a description of the house, saying that it “seems to be built solely to answer the purpose of hospitality, being constructed in a different manner than in most other countries.”’ But the old home has had its adverse criticism, too. Not many years ago, Professor Edward Channing, in an address before the Massachusetts Historical Society, said ‘‘the house was interesting on account of its architectural features,’ but that “‘on the whole, [116]
