Stranica 242 [242]
OCR
WESI END Green Springs in its rural charm. There are no RG} magnificent views, no prodigies of nature, but the coloring and exquisite contour of the land, the woods that define and give value to every stretch of field and meadow, make this a country preeminently fitted for homes. Years ago the little mineral spring, that gives this part of Louisa County its name, was a popular summer resort, but even the oldest inhabitant can just remember the decrepid bath-house that survived the hotel and cottages. The rock formation about this spring is confined to a comparatively small area, several miles long, and two or three miles wide. The rock is soft and speckled throughout with green. It is said to be the bed of a prehistoric lake. The soil in this section is particularly fertile, and that, no doubt, tempted the first Watson and the first Morris to come to Louisa County. They, with their descendants, owned the land for over a hundred years and built the homes that are standing today— -lonia, ““the Old Place’; Sylvania, Bracketts, Hawkwood, Grassdale, and Westend. Most of these estates have passed in late years from the hands of their original owners and, as usual, when places pass from hand to hand, the gardens have suffered most. Now, there is barely a trace left of the early gardens with one exception, and that is the garden of Westend. This garden lives today untouched, a perfect example of the landscape art of its day. The house at Westend was built in 1849 by Mrs. James Watson, who was Miss Susan Dabney Morris, of Sylvania. Mrs. Watson, so far as we know, designed the garden and planted the srounds at Westend herself, but just as we feel Le Notre, at [145 ]
