Oldal 281 [281]
OCR
ESÉS ee a a ee SNNNÉT HisTORIC GARDENS OF VIRGINIA — {= a = = WO garden, and one of several orchards. [he house and grounds of Sherwood, as the Seldens planned them, and as they are, for the most part, still maintained, occupy twenty acres. From the entrance gate, the lawn sweeps for half a mile down to the banks of the Ware River. To the east lie an orchard, numerous farm buildings, and a second orchard. To the west from the entrance, are part of the lawn, the beautiful old garden and a third orchard. The house, flanked by the many quaint outbuildings of an antebellum Virginia homestead of its dignity, is of three stories. A wide veranda runs the full length of two sides of the building. The first and second floors have four rooms each, separated by wide halls that sweep through the building from south to north. On the third floor there are two rooms and another spacious hall. The windows here are deeply recessed and topped by gables. In the furnishings of the house there are many rare and lovely old things in the matter of pictures, glass, silver, and mahogany. The wide, open fire-places are set oft by mantelpieces that are simple in design but fine specimens of the classic period of the cabinetmaker’s art. But as charming as Sherwood itself is, the true glory of the place is to be found in its yard and garden. he former contains many superb trees, of which there are no less than a score of varieties. The latter is bounded on all four of its sides by giant trees of several kinds. Roughly speaking, the garden is two hundred by four hundred feet. The entire eastern side is occupied by a double row of crepe myrtles. Beneath them runs a broad walk, edged with slate, and flanked on either side by flower and shrubbery beds, ten feet wide. The crepe myrtles have attained a height of fifty feet. In some instances eight and ten stems spring from a single base more than a foot in diameter. When in full bloom, as they are during the greater part of July and August, they present a gorgeous spectacle of color—great pink pyramids forming an avenue four hundred feet in length. From the entrance gate a similar walk cuts through to the western arm of the river. [172]
