Oldal 430 [430]
6 SE ESEK MGX EK VŐ EL OLNI
ington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and even LaFayette, who
was a visitor at Castle Hill when he was last in America.
From her grandfather, Dr. Thomas Walker, Judith Walker
inherited Castle Hill. She later became the wife of William Cabell
Rives, United States Senator, and twice Minister to France. Addi¬
tions were made to the old house during her life, and the present
lawn was laid out under her direction. It is interesting to note that
the father of Judith Walker, the eldest son of Dr. Thomas Walker,
was not only a Colonel and Aide-de-Camp on the Staff of General
Washington, but he was a United States Senator as well; so not
only was she the daughter of a Senator of the United States, but
her husband held also the same high ofhce.
Dr. Thomas Walker, who married Mildred Thornton, a
cousin of General Washington, completed at Castle Hill, in 1765,
the house which stands today in excellent preservation. It is one
of the few homes still standing on the soil of Virginia that is
older than the beginning of the War of Independence. This
house is still the home of the descendants of its first owner, who
do honor to their lineage. For five generations, it has been a
seat of hospitality and culture. In the great square hall, the
youthful, music-loving Jefferson once played the violin, while the
still younger Madison danced. Here the doors have opened to
welcome five men who were Presidents of the United States.
The wonderful box-hedges, the tallest of them all now almost
hifty feet in height with its broad arches, through which one catches
glimpses of the garden and the mountains standing guard beyond,
tell the story of the eventful years that have passed since the build¬
ing of Castle Hill and the planting of its garden.
(GERTRUDE RIVES POTTs.
[267]