Oldal 213 [213]
AGNES
His TORTLCG | (A RRR OT RECN PA
hydrangea otaksa huddling against the steps which lead to the
serpentine brick walk.
Many and pleasing pictures have come down to us in the tradi¬
tions of this old place. As court days, races, social or business
appointments took the people along the saftron-colored road up
and down the country, they found few inns. Instead of a tavern
in this locality, hospitality was always sought, and found, beneath
the spreading roof and ever-open doors at Elk Hill. The spirit
of welcome has always stood at the gate here to lay hands upon
the passing stranger and draw him into the green-shuttered house.
This has been noteworthy even in a State renowned for good cheer
and social graces. Neighbors, friends and strangers have always
found a royal welcome in this fine old Virginia home.
The interior of the house, with its paneled door casements
and wainscoat moulding carved in a design of classic detail; the
pure Grecian carving in the drawing-room showing the egg and
dart motif, and the remarkably high-pitched ceilings, place the
building among the best of its type in the country. A large living¬
room occupies the width and depth of the house on the south end
at the rear of the entrance hall. Here the most interesting object
is the mantel of Pavanazzo marble. Most of the doors are opened
by silver knobs; slat inner doors, that interesting detail of the best
Southern houses of the early period, lend coolness in the summer
and ventilation all the year. The first-floor halls and rooms are
lighted by beautiful chandeliers of bronze which once hung in a
famous old house in Richmond. |
The lawn is studded with many elm trees. These, in May, look
as if some fairy had touched their brown branches with a shimmer
of green and gold. Other trees are here, too—birch, poplar and
ash, chestnut, pecan and mahogany. Beneath the shade of one of
the poplars—which boasts a circumference of twenty-one feet—Gen¬
eral LaFayette is said to have made his camp.
‘Scattered in clumps about the broad lawn, between skyward¬
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