Historic Gardens of Virginia 



The Ampthill of today is very different from the Ampthill that 

 Archibald Cary knew. Its spacious rooms have been used as a 

 tavern, and it has been otherwise desecrated. The sweeping lawn, 

 which once led to the river, has been cut into fields, and time and 

 the hand of man have felled many of the aged trees which once 

 guarded the place like a corps of faithful sentinels. How sad to 

 think that it should have passed from the possession of the family 

 who made it famous! But that seems to be the fate of most old 

 homesteads. They are doomed to linger on in poverty and neglect 

 long after their original owners are sleeping. In poverty, because 

 they must starve in their old age for the sound of familiar and 

 much-loved voices; and in neglect, because new owners seldom seek 

 them with a feeling of pride in possession. They have nothing 

 left but their memories and traditions — a few bright flowers grown 

 among too many tears. 



Edith Dabney Tunis Sale. 



[70] 



