Stranica 465 [465]
OCR
HisTio mic: GA PRENS OF. VIRGINIA the spring and where later on they made their nests. The trees on the terraces are one of the chief beauties of the place. There are splendid oaks, and old hemlocks, yews that came from a far country, maples, holly and mimosa. The garden proper was behind the house and was enclosed by a white paling fence over which grew jasmines and climbing roses in great profusion, filling the air with their sweetness in the season of bloom. Like the gardens of that day, there were vegetable squares edged with flowers, broad grass walks hedged by box and oldfashioned perennials of every kind, where jonquils, tulips, violets and hyacinths welcomed the spring, and peonies, roses and sweetscented lilies held sway later on. here were masses of shrubbery and tall growing box, as well as jasmines and lilacs. Further on were the grape arbors, currant and gooseberry bushes. It would be hard to say when Mirador was at its loveliest— whether in the June sunshine when the air was filled with the odor of all the blooming things and the shadows on the lawn were cool! and beguiling, or in winter, when the first snows had fallen and turned the hemlocks, ivy and yews into a dream garden and the moon shone down on this peaceful valley with the mountains all white in the distance. The old "Post Road" leading from Richmond and Washington to Staunton wound its way through this mountainous country in front of the Mirador lawn, and many noted travelers have stopped to rest a while at the old “Long House Tavern,” just a short distance east of the place, before continuing their journey over the tortuous rocky road which led across the Blue Ridge Mountains and on into the Valley of Virginia. Mirador, at the death of Colonel Bowen passed to his daughter, Mary, who had married Colonel O. R. Funsten, of Clarke County, and it was held by the Funsten family until 1890, when it was sold to C. D. Langhorne, and is now the home of his granddaughter, Mrs. Ronald Tree. BESSIE CARTER FUNSTEN. [286]
