PRESTWOULD 



O those of us who spend our working hours fighting 

 to make our glorious country "safe for Democracy" 

 and our leisure in studying the annals of the Court 

 of St. James, it may be of interest to trace the 

 lineage of the Skipwith family in Virginia, from 

 Sir Grey, who emigrated to America during the 

 usurpation of Cromwell, to Sir Peyton, founder of the Virginia 

 Prestwould, which he named for the ancestral home in Leicester- 

 shire County, England. And, in passing, it may not be amiss tc^ 

 call attention to this oft misspelled and mispronounced name, 

 "Prest-w-o-u-l-d," not "wold" nor "wood," though with the sound 

 of the latter. 



Sir Grey Skipwith was succeeded by his only son. Sir William^ 

 who married Sarah, daughter of John Peyton. His first-born dying, 

 he was succeeded by his second son. Sir William, from whom the 

 title passed eventually to Sir Peyton. Sir Peyton Skipwith was 

 married twice; first to Anne, daughter of Hugh Miller; and second 

 to her sister, Jean — which brings us to the designer and presiding 

 genius of the Prestwould Garden. 



But, first, a few words in regard to Prestwould itself. A little- 

 known bit of history, which might have been lost to us but for the 

 watchful eye of the Honorable H. F. Hutcheson, Clerk of the 

 Court of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, follows: 



A part of the Prestwould estate (including the three islands, 

 "Saponi," "Occaneeche" and "Totero"), was originally the Blue- 

 stone Castle plantation owned by Colonel William Byrd II, founder 

 of the cities of Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. Indeed, it 

 was probably while visiting this plantation that he conceived the 

 idea of those cities, as he writes in his famous diary, on September 

 19, 1733: "After returning to 'Bluestone Castle' from a trip to the 



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