Oldal 353 [353]
a carer a ee ee ese e eszes
HIsTORIC GARDENS OF VIRGINIA
great men from all over the country were gathered there. He
writes of the pipes of wine, barrels of oysters, saddles of mutton
and other supplies laid in for their enjoyment. It is interesting to
read of the colors the different brides chose for the walls of the
house. One wants the walls green and the chariot painted yellow!
[Landon Carter married Maria Byrd of Westover. Three
months ago in looking over some of the old books, a leather volume
of Thompson’s poems was found. In it was the beautiful Byrd
coat-of-arms and on the flyleaf was written, “Presented by Maria
Byrd of Westover to Colonel Landon Carter of Sabine Hall.”
Uhe book of poems she presented to her lover so long ago rests
today on the library table at Sabine Hall, a bit of atmosphere
linking the past and present together.
Sabine Hall has come down for eight generations, alternating
with Robert Carter and Landon Carter until Robert W. Carter
willed it to his grandson, Robert Carter Wellford, whose mother
was Elizabeth Landon Carter.
Robert Carter Wellford, like the first Landon Carter, went to
the banks of James River for his bride, and most of his wooing
was done at Westover, then the home of Mrs. A. H. Drewry.
Robert Carter Wellford and Lizzie Harrison, a sister of Mrs.
Drewry, were married in the old drawing-room at Westover under
an arch of roses, where had stood nearly two hundred years before
Landon Carter of Sabine Hall and Maria Byrd of Westover.
Amid all the joys and sorrows that have come with the years
the children and grandchildren of Robert Carter Wellford and .
Lizzie Harrison still gather in the old home. Their feet patter
down the halls which echo with laughter and merriment, and in
the old garden, under the old English broadnut tree, little ones still
play flower ladies.
E,LIZABETH LANDON WELLFORD JONES.
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