Stranica 259 [259]
GREEN PLAINS
RGIN exceptionally pretty excursion ts to take the Mob¬
jack Bay boat at Norfolk or Old Point and steam
out through Hampton Roads into the Chesapeake
Bay; then on, and up into Mobjack Bay, and ex¬
plore its tributaries—East, North, West and
Severn Rivers. The largest of these and the most
beautiful is North River, twelve miles long, and more than a mile
wide at its mouth. As the boat turns from Mobjack Bay, into
this river, its course carries it very near the point of land on which
is situated, in Mathews County, ‘‘Green Plains," the home of
the Roys since the latter part of 1700.
‘‘Isleham,” the home of Sir John Peyton, a relative of Mr.
James Henry Roy, and his marriage to Elizabeth Booth, of “Belle¬
ville,’ Gloucester County, just across the river, seem to have been
the inducements to him to leave Essex, the home of his forefather,
Dr. Mungo Roy of Revolutionary fame, and erect one of the most
attractive and complete establishments in Tidewater Virginia, in a
location incomparably beautiful. The river is like an inland lake,
and on a bright day the handsome homes are reflected in the water
all along the shores, as if in a mirror.
Green Plains mansion is of brick, composed of a large central
building, of two stories and an immense attic and cellar, with wings
on the east and west of one story. A broad hall runs through the
house from north to south, with two rooms on either side on first
and second floors. [he stairway with two landings, the carved
and paneled woodwork, the recessed windows with their broad
seats and enchanting cupboards in the sides of the mantels, are in¬
teresting architectural features.
There were innumerable outbuildings, many of brick and most
substantially built; the carpenter's shop, the weaving room, the
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