MOUNT AIRY 



HE Northern Neck of Virginia Is that long, narrow 

 strip of land, lying between the Rappahannock and 

 Potomac Rivers, Here were the homes of Wash- 

 ington, Madison, Monroe, and Lee — and many 

 other noble and stalwart souls, whose lives helped 

 to make the sum of human achievement greater for 

 having lived. 



This section is far from the centers of trade and commerce, and 

 there are still no railroads or towns; so there one can find old- 

 time traditions and conditions as perhaps in no other part of Vir- 

 ginia. Here one finds many fine old homes and churches left intact. 



Amid the rural beauties, winding rivers, honeysuckled roads, 

 great wheat and corn fields In Richmond County lies "Mount Airy," 

 the ancestral home of the Tayloes. It is one of the greatest of Tide- 

 water estates, and Is like an old barony, with its vast lands and 

 great mansion. 



As you drive up the high, winding way to the top of the 

 terrace, through grassy lawn and giant trees — alternate shade and 

 sunlight — and come to the house, you feel that you must be in 

 England, for it is very stately and beautiful, so softened and 

 mellowed by time, that you are sure you cannot be In twentieth 

 century America. 



It was In the reign of Charles II that the first Tayloe came to 

 the new land to live and brought with him the culture and traditions 

 of an English gentleman, and transferred them to the virgin soil. 



His grandson. Colonel John Tayloe, built Mount Airy in 

 1747, and the Tayloes still own the place, and live there, which 

 makes it unusual among Virginia colonial homes. 



The place consists of three houses, grouped about a central axis, 

 and connected by curved covered ways, the whole enclosing a raised 



[221] 



