ROCK CASTLE 



HE plantation on the upper James River, in Gooch- 

 land County, from which this garden takes its name, 

 was part of a grant of land from the crown to 

 Tarlton Fleming and was settled between 1725 and 

 1730. Colonel William Byrd in his "Progress to 

 the Mines" mentions a visit to Tuckahoe when he 

 met Mistress Fleming (born Mary Randolph of Tuckahoe), who 

 was about to join her husband at Rock Castle, "thirty miles 

 farther up the river, in a part of the country little settled and but 

 lately redeemed from the wilderness." 



The original dwelling was an English cottage of weather- 

 boarding, high brick foundations, enormous brick chimneys and a 

 dormer roof, copied from the south wing of Tuckahoe, the Ran- 

 dolph home built about 1689 or 1700. Scottish names were given 

 to several of the plantations in this vicinity, such as Dungeness, 

 Snowdon, and Ben Lomond, but Rock Castle seems to have been 

 chosen on account of the extraordinary conformation of the rocks 

 and cliffs which form the sides of the very high hill that Mr. Flem- 

 ing selected for his home. 



The James River makes a bend at this point and can be seen 

 from three sides of the grounds; on a clear day towards the western 

 horizon stretches a long range of outlying peaks of the Blue Ridge, 

 presumably forty miles away. From the south lawn the grounds 

 slope quite precipitately towards the river, and there one finds a 

 grove of handsome trees, huge boulders of rock and a natural 

 cavern. Many generations of children and of older folk have 

 enjoyed its cool shade within the sound of the rushing water of 

 James River near by. The grounds on the north and west are 

 very extensive, part rolling and part a handsome plateau planted 

 in English elms principally, but with tulip and Lombardy poplars; 



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