The James River Plantation Belt 



with the monotone of the minister, he would drift away upon the 

 wings of sleep. 



In this old church, as in the garden, one's thoughts go back 

 into the storied past and recall the days when the great land- 

 owners worshipped there. Some rolled up in great six-horsed 

 coaches with servants and outriders; others came from up and 

 down the river in pirogue or pinnace or sloop; the more humble 

 yeomen rode up on horseback, their dames upon pillions behind. 

 The plain little church must have been gay with bright silks and 

 satins, plumed headgear and jeweled fans, brilliantly-flowered 

 waistcoats and pompous wigs. 



Many of the old gentry sleep under the mouldering slabs in the 

 graveyard. The earliest date is that of 1637, i^i which year the 

 first church was erected. The tomb of Evelyn Byrd is kept from 

 disintegration by iron bands. Yet the church yard is no place of 

 gloom ; it is more like a garden than a cemetery. 



All that man could select, all that Nature can give, has con- 

 tributed to make the Westover garden a bower of fragrant beauty. 

 But it is neither the flowers, nor the trees, nor the shrubs that 

 most touch the heart which is tuned to ancient memories. To dream 

 of these, there is no more fitting place, where, as the old verse, so 

 often used on sun-dials in England, has it: 



"With the song of the birds for pardon, 

 And the joy of the flowers for mirth, 

 One is nearer God's heart in a garden 

 Than anywhere else on earth !" 



Sherrard Willcox Pollard. 



[53] 



