Stranica 528 [528]
THe’ PLiEDMONT “SECTION
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and spacious rooms. Antique furnishings and oil paintings of one
Hairston generation after another further impress the idea of the
length of days that is a heritage of this mansion.
Other than its situation and the appearance of the residence,
there is another charm to Oak Hill. This is its old, old-time flower
garden. Here- Wordsworth would have been at a loss to have
worked into metre the names of such a host of flowers. The wind¬
ing walks, with their neatly trimmed boxwood borders, are a strik¬
ing feature, but at every turn and on every side there are shrubs
of every name, and in passing the blossoms our grandmothers used
to love and care for peep out here and there; evergreen trees
towering above all furnish shaded retreats, and a dreaminess and
rest steals over one as this contact is made with so much beauty
and fragrance in flora’s bower. A cedar house is one attraction;
a mammoth magnolia tree, raised from seed brought from Florida
seventy or eighty years ago, holds attention to another point, but
the grove of wild olive trees outrivals all else in interest, for it has
a tradition in the supposition of having been brought from the East
by a tourist in the Hairston family. The trunks of the trees and
the manner of growth are similar to those of Palestine, but this
resemblance is not the only thing to make them worthy of cultiva¬
tion. Its resplendent lustre of fern-like foliage throughout the year
and its lily of the valley-like flowers and beautiful winter berries
make it a prized evergreen, as pretty and effective as any for
decoration.
This olive grove, magnolia tree and winding walks and oval
and square and rectangular flower beds are not all. The view
from any of its terraces of the low ground stretching away right
to the bank of the Dan, flowing on so slowly as if loath to
leave so inviting a spot, makes for this garden an enchantment
equal to its own charms. Visitors often state that its situation and
arrangement make it so beautiful that it must be like the old castle
gardens described or painted by novel writers.
The present Mrs. Hairston, nee Miss Jopling, of Danville, an
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