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OCR
ROCK CASTILE HE plantation on the upper James River, in Goochland County, from which this garden takes its name, was part of a grant of land from the crown to Tarlton Il leming and was settled between 1725 and 1730. Colonel Willam Byrd in his " Progress to cel! the Mines’ mentions a visit to Tuckahoe when he met Mistress Fleming (born Mary Randolph of Tuckahoe), who was about to join her husband at Rock Castle, "thirty miles farther up the river, in a part of the country little settled and but lately redeemed from the wilderness." The original dwelling was an English cottage of weatherboarding, high brick foundations, enormous brick chimneys and a dormer roof, copied from the south wing of Tuckahoe, the Randolph home built about 1689 or 1700. Scottish names were given to several of the plantations in this vicinity, such as Dungeness, Snowdon, and Ben Lomond, but Rock Castle seems to have been chosen on account of the extraordinary conformation of the rocks and cliffs which form the sides of the very high hill that Mr. Fleming selected for his home. The James River makes a bend at this point and can be seen from three sides of the grounds; on a clear day towards the western horizon stretches a long range of outlying peaks of the Blue Ridge, presumably forty miles away. From the south lawn the grounds slope quite precipitately towards the river, and there one finds a grove of handsome trees, huge boulders of rock and a natural cavern. Many generations of children and of older folk have enjoyed its cool shade within the sound of the rushing water of James River near by. Ihe grounds on the north and west are very extensive, part rolling and part a handsome plateau planted in English elms principally, but with tulip and Lombardy poplars; [124] Fa a c 8
