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Time Pin DMGN Pi SECTION
Ny. dl
ees eS SS tt aszt — a ee SS
home. The wings were added after 1890 by Mr. C. D. Langhorne,
as was also the beautiful rock enclosure and handsome gateway.
Hospitality at Mirador was part of its atmosphere. The Vir¬
ginia woman from her earliest training knew that she was ex¬
pected to be a good neighbor and a gracious hostess, however hard
and inconvenient it might often be, and from old letters and diaries
it would appear that Mirador was continually having what today we
would call a house party.
The University of Virginia is only seventeen miles away—yjust
the distance to cover on horseback, reaching Mirador in time for
tea or to spend the night, or it might be several nights when there
was “special company.” At that time, when some of the belles and
beaux of that day were guests in this charming home, there would
be dancing each evening, and the negro fiddlers would call the
figures as the young people would turn their partners and swing
corners in the picturesque dances and the popular Sir Roger de
Coverly. }
Prominent among the guests in the early days at Mirador was
Colonel Crozet, the distinguished French engineer: in charge of
the extension of the Virginia Central Railroad, which at that time
only ran to the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but which, under
Colonel Crozet, after eight years of hard work, crossed the
mountains and opened up the great Valley of Virginia, and the
greater West, to modern transportation. During these years
(1850-58) the distinguished engineer spent much time at Mirador.
With all its air of stability and gracious dignity the real charm
of Mirador lay in its grounds. ‘The lawn, or yard, to use the less
pretentious term of that day, was terraced, making a falling
garden." Stone steps led from terrace to terrace, and brick walks,
flanked by low-growing box, made a background for the lovely
monthly roses—the roses of Provence—that filled these and the
two long borders that ran from the hospitable front door to the
lower terrace. Under the windows there were lilacs, crepe myrtles,
and jasmines, where the robins found their first resting places in
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