The Potomac and Rappahannock 



are the same masses of boxwood and the same fine park, with its 

 kingly forest trees. There is still the old rose-garden to be seen, 

 too, and the grapevine dell. It was in the latter place, possibly, 

 that Patsy, the beautiful young daughter and only child of Battaile 

 Fitzhugh, plighted her troth to Samuel Gordon, Jr., of historic 

 Kenmore. "I love you," said Patsy, with a radiant blush, "but 1 

 cannot leave Santee." 



Ever since that time the place has been owned and occupied 

 by members of the Gordon family. Today, the infant grandson of 

 the late Robert V. Gordon, holds sway at the loved old homestead. 



From Santee, a half mile's stretch of woodland road leads to 

 Prospect Hill. The vines clinging close to the substantial brick 

 house; the great sprawling shade trees, with every evidence of 

 hoary, but well preserved and worthy, old age; the fascinating 

 brick walkways, overgrown with moss, all unite to give to Prospect 

 Hill that charming touch of days gone by, which lends itself so 

 irresistibly to many of the country seats in Old Virginia. 



The present house on the old Battaile home site was erected 

 by Basil Gordon, whose daughter, Mrs. Charles Herndon, one 

 of the best loved, and one of the oldest residents of Fredericks- 

 burg, remembers distinctly when, as a little child, a workman held 

 her up, so that she might have a wee hand in placing a brick in its 

 corner-stone. 



After several careful owners and tenants, Mr. and Mrs. C. L. 

 Gage now have it in appreciative possession. 



The house itself is most attractive, with its spacious rooms, 

 breezy halls, and wonderful woodwork. The pillars of the porch, 

 and the beams and boards (some of the latter being thirty-eight 

 feet in length) were hewn from trees in the nearby woods. But 

 it is the out-of-doors surrounding Prospect Hill that holds most 

 charm. In the adjacent woodlands are some old gun-pits and 

 breastworks, relics of the War Between the States. In the old 

 family burying-ground, not far away, are interesting mementoes of 

 days long gone. 



[231] 



