Page 529 [529]
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adept in the art of entertaining, utilizes its adaptability for “‘garden
parties" and teas in the cedar house, thus attording functions of
quaint and rare appointments. As a matter of interest, if not
beauty, is a pile of brick in one corner of this garden that marks
the site of an old schoolhouse. Here, with the father of the present
owner of Oak Hill, "went to school" William A. Stuart and General
J. E. B. Stuart, the father and uncle of Honorable H. C. Stuart.
A connection with men of public life is also given to Oak Hill
in being the birthplace of the mother of Honorable 8. H. Wilson.
Oak Hill is now an up-to-date farm, with the house supplied with
all modern conveniences, a side annex having been built and hot and
cold water supplied. Arrangements are being made for an electric
plant to be put in to light the whole place. Ihe outhouses and
servants’ quarters are well kept up, and a large, perfectly equipped
dairy has been created, for Oak Hill is known as a stock farm.
Its milch cows and Angus cattle, Shropshire sheep and Berkshire
hogs claim attention, as well.as its thoroughbred saddle horses.
This live stock is well supported, for the 2,000 acres attached are
in splendid cultivation. Corn yields from thirty to forty bushels
per acre, while wheat figures out from ten to fifteen bushels. Large
quantities of hay are also raised. ‘The American field wire fencing
gives the plantation a cared-for appearance, and in every detail
about the farm Mr. Hairston, the proprietor of the place, and one
of the largest landowners in Virginia, is characterized as a progres¬
sive and successful man in his line of business.
Trinity Episcopal Church, erected mostly by donations from.
the Hairston family, is a worthy addition to this Oak Hill estate.
Regular services are held once a month, as is the custom of country
churches, and a large Sunday school, composed mostly of tenants’
children, meets every Sunday, with Mr. Hairston as its superin¬
tendent.
Near Oak Hill is Berry Hill, the ancestral home of the Hair¬
stons, and is one of the most interesting of the several estates
owned by various members of that family, so prominent as land¬
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