The Tidewater Trail 



Mignonette, heliotrope, four-o'clocks, lady-slippers, and blue Can- 

 terbury bells came year after year. The larger varieties of lilies 

 were there with stocks and hollyhocks for background, while many 

 roses flourished in the mild climate, especially the musk rose, the 

 salmon-tea and the microphylla. Geraniums were used in the beds; 

 in the large rustic baskets, too, and, in the autumn, chrysanthemums 

 and other late flowers bloomed often as late as Christmas. Peri- 

 winkle covered what might have been bare spaces, and over the 

 numerous arbors were trained white-star jasmine, yellow jasmine, 

 honeysuckle — white and coral — in contrast to climbing roses. And 

 over some, grapevines grew, affording a deep and grateful shade. 



The outer boundary of lawn and garden, which were as one, 

 was formed by the blue waters of North River. The completed 

 work was marked by the simplicity and harmony that belong to 

 nature itself, arranged with a taste so remarkable that many ob- 

 servers who visited Belleville have left their testimony that both 

 lawn and garden were glorious in beauty and symmetry. 



In a large octagonal summer-house, near the river bank, the 

 ladies of the family were accustomed to sit on bright mornings 

 with their sewing and embroidery, while some one read aloud a 

 pleasing book. 



To Mrs. Henry Alexander White, daughter of Susan Talia- 

 ferro and Judge Beverly Wellford and granddaughter of Mr. and 

 Mrs. Warner Taliaferro, of Belleville, I am indebted for facts con- 

 cerning this garden. 



Anne Seddon Rutherfoord Johnson. 



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