The Tidewater Trail 



These Lawsons and their kinsmen, the Walkes, who occupied 

 the place so many years, identified themselves with all that was 

 fine in the history of the new country. One of them was always a 

 vestryman in that ancient and most interesting church known as 

 Old Donation, as well as the little church that preceded the present 

 one. Another Lawson helped select the site of Norfolk. There 

 were women, too, of charm and beauty. One, Mary Calvert 

 Lawson, has had her name handed down from generation to genera- 

 tion always Mary Calvert, whether it be Lawson or Walke, Hill 

 or Truxtun, as it is today. 



When the moonlight streams over this garden, and lingers 

 lovingly there, one feels that much of interest has happened in it. 

 That these wonderful trees through their several generations have 

 been revered is truly evident in that during these more than two 

 centuries they have never been harmed, keeping their foliage green, 

 and making of a lovely spot a perpetual summer, and well may 

 the poet have applied to it: 



"A place of rest with swaying trees, 

 A lovely garden by the sea." 



Cornelia Hodgman. 



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