Oldal 331 [331]
HistTroric (GARDENS (OF JV EIERGINTIA
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as it stands in the mellowness of its two hundred years, it breathes
the spirit of hospitality and is in the broadest sense a home.
There was once a private race course, whose owner was the
possessor of many famous trotters, a judge of fine horses, and a
country gentleman of the old school noted for his lavish entertaining.
The site of the old garden, which was terraced to the river, is
supposed to have been the spot where the courtship of General Lee
culminated, for under the shade of an old elm tree overlooking the
Rappahannock Mary Custis promised to be his wife. There is an
old story that Lee refused to allow his troops to fire on Chatham
while it was occupied by Union troops, so through his love for the
place of so many happy memories, its life was saved.
Fredericksburg, lying on the road between Washington and
Richmond, was a strategic point, and when the Federal troops oc¬
cupied the Stafford hills, Chatham was used as General Burnside’s
headquarters. In those lovely gardens sloping down to the river,
havoc was wrought by the blue-coated soldiers. From that
vantage point could be seen the devastation of the picturesque old
town. Clouds of smoke, the bursting of shells and the lurid glare
of fire made a panorama of the horror and desolation of war.
Lincoln stayed at Chatham when he reviewed the troops, and
many counsels of war were held in those panelled rooms. From
early colonial days Chatham played an important part in both the
social and political life of the country, and its spacious halls have
been the scene of many important gatherings, both grave and gay.
Many thrilling secrets those old walls could tell, if they only would!
From the time of Madison’s and Monroe’s visits, nearly all of our
Presidents have been entertained there, and have wandered through
the gardens, with the river flowing beyond.
Originally these gardens were on the terraces, leading down
to a river landing where boats brought each day the necessities as
well as the luxuries of life. At one time a rose-garden, with more
than two thousand bushes, bloomed here in such profusion that it
was the pride of the entire countryside.
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