Historic Gardens of Virginia 



ried Judith, the daughter of William Shakespeare. He left his 

 share of the property to his great-nephew, Robert Richardson, who 

 sold it, in 1720, to Nathaniel Harrison (i 677-1 727), of Wake- 

 field, Surry County. 



Brandon was next inherited by Nathaniel Harrison II, and 

 the present house, or its original part, was built by him in 1735, 

 and subsequently grew, with its various generations and needs, until 

 it spread its wings almost across the lawn. Some of the most 

 distinguished Virginians were born within its walls, and many more 

 have been sheltered under its hospitable roof. 



A wide space of open green is left just in front of the door, 

 and from the steps of the porch there stretches a double line of box 

 across the front of the house on both sides. The double line con- 

 tinues down each side of the front grounds for about four hundred 

 feet, where it joins enormous bowers and hedges of lilac which 

 lead out from the main grounds to more secluded arbors and 

 garden houses. These ancient box-hedges have grown far past all 

 expectations of the original planter, and have assumed queer shapes, 

 gnarled and twisted, each more beautiful than the other, and they 

 have furnished days of endless pleasure for the many little children 

 who have played "house" on the velvety brown carpet under their 

 soft green boughs. The grass walk, about fifteen feet in width, 

 leads down to the river, the vista of which is one of the most beau- 

 tiful on the James. 



It is wild and wide, and takes one back to the days when the 

 Indians fled in their canoes from the white settlers. Though 

 Jamestown was a thriving settlement, with a House of Burgesses 

 in session in 16 19, the Indians still held for themselves the kingdom 

 of James River. We feel this historic fact at Brandon today. 



On either side of the garden walk from the open green to the 

 river, a distance of some two hundred yards, there is a continuation 

 of fine old specimens of spiraea, syringa, weigela, calycanthus, crepe 

 myrtle, forsythia, japonica, lilac, corchrous, or rock rose, and snow- 



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