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HISTORIC GARDENS OF VIRGINIA
a time the remodeling of the Farmington house. Mr. Divers was
away from home at the time. He died soon after his return and
the house fell to his heirs in an unfinished state and remained so
until 1852.
Upon the death of George Divers, the large estate was divided
among his many relatives, and Farmington fell to Isaac White,
who held it until 1842. The next owner was John C. Carter, who
lived there until 1852, when it became the property of General
Bernard Peyton.
Neither White nor Carter ever finished the house, which had
been begun by Mr. Divers nearly fifty years before, but General
Peyton, who is said to have spent thirty thousand dollars upon it,
did much towards its completion. The last addition, however, was
made in 1897, after Farmington came into the possession of
Warner Wood.
The house had remained unfinished so long that it became a
common superstition among the negroes that whoever finished it
would die when the task was done. Strange to say, this super¬
stition was fulfilled. [he very day the finishing touches were put
on, General Peyton, who had done so much to beautify and preserve
the estate, though apparently well a few hours before, died that
night.
In 1860-61, Joseph Miller, a wealthy and distinguished British
marine engineer, came to this country for his health, and bought
Farmington from the widow of General Peyton, in February, 1861.
Being a man of great cultivation and a lover of art, Mr. Miller
brought all of his furniture, silver, china, and many of the paint¬
ings from Europe with him; these still adorn the old house and
charm the visitor who is fortunate enough to enter its portals.
Merely to enumerate them would fill a space larger than is allotted
to this little sketch. The house and a large part of the estate was
next inherited by Joseph Muiller’s sister, Mrs. Mary Anne Harper,
then a widow with two small children, Warner and Lucilla Woods,
by a former marriage.
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