Oldal 443 [443]
OCR
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 superstition 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 paintings 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. [274]
