Historic Gardens of Virginia 



and we have the old paper of 1636, in which It is repatented to 

 her by Governor John West. She later became Lady Harvey. 

 Its next owner was the picturesque William Barker, mariner, who 

 sailed the seas in the Merchant's Hope, and was one of a company 

 to found the old plantation, courthouse and church of that name, 

 along with one Quiney, whose brother, Thomas, married Judith 

 Shakespeare — not uninteresting are these links with Old England. 



Barker's descendants divided the land into three parts, and 

 one of these corresponds to the site of the present house. It was 

 described in 1673 as the share falling to his daughter, Sarah 

 Lucy, 'Svith houseing, fenceing, buildings and all other profits, 

 vantages and priveledges whatsoever to the same belonging" — 

 surely this includes a garden! 



Joshua Poythress I bought Flower de Hundred In 1725 and 

 1732 from the various heirs of John Taylor, and it is still the 

 property of his direct descendants of the seventh and eighth genera- 

 tions, that part on which the house and garden stand being owned 

 by Dr. William WIUcox Dunn, of Richmond, Virginia. 



The Poythress house is thought to have been on a bluff near 

 the river, close to the burying ground. Certain It is, that here 

 one still finds old brick and clumps of blue flags and traces of other 

 garden flowers. This brick house was burned and its site aban- 

 doned. Susannah. Peachy Poythress, only daughter and sole heiress 

 of Joshua Poythress III, was born at Flower de Hundred in 

 1785 and was buried there in 18 15. She married John Vaughan 

 WIllcox, of Charles City County and Petersburg, in 1894, at which 

 time they built the present house — a white wooden structure — on 

 a rolling bit of ground, back from the river and, as has been said, 

 doubtless already an old site and homestead. 



It was never their home, but was often visited; the plantation 

 was under full cultivation, and she must have known and loved 

 the present garden. Later, her son came to live here and added 

 wings to either end of the house. His children, in turn, built other 

 wings. His wife was the moving spirit in making the garden a 



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