Page 421 [421]
OCR
HISTORPC (GARD EMS OP TYRRGTINIA a - = SR mm am mm ma er a — aaa aE through the stair hall one finds a graceful spiral stairway which ascends upon the right to the upper floor. The house possesses at least one unique—and strictly Southern— feature. Upon the second floor, each room has large slat doors used both for ventilation and as screens. It is significant of both the material and design of this dwelling that it has never been remodeled. Modern luxuries have been permitted to keep pace with the times, and certain innovations have been allowed. Up to the present, however, none of its owners has been willing to sacrifice one line of the original structure for a more modern idea. In olden days, the inconspicuous service door at one end of the hall gave access to the out-door kitchen. It must not be forgotten that in colonial as well as ante-bellum times, the great families lived in the manner of their English ancestors. Their houses were not planned to permit the quick passage of food from kitchen to dining-room. Today, a modern kitchen stands as an addition at Horseshoe, though the old one still remains as an interesting and historic landmark. A quaint little side entrance opens out of the stair hall on one side of the house, and it is through this that the visitor is led to make a tour of the garden which lies in the rear. Here, after leaving many roses, one sees long, prim borders stretching, perhaps a hundred feet, to reach a stone bench nestling among white and purple lilacs. Again, we are reminded of William Byrd, for we wonder if the present bench stands in the self-same spot as that where, this Genial Seigneur tells us, “‘Miss Thecky,’’ Lady Spotswood’s sister, “sat and bewail’d her virginity.”’ This garden, a survival, is said to have had its beginning in 1815, and is intersected by wide turfed walks between borders of flowers and shrubbery. Any search for box gardens would not be complete without a visit to Horseshoe, where the garden plan follows the line of the estate and both explain the place name. A grassy pleasaunce, studded at intervals by six-foot trees of sempervirens boxwood, forms its controlling note. While not so tall as | 262 |
