Historic Gardens of Virginia 



adept in the art of entertaining, utilizes its adaptability for "garden 

 parties" and teas in the cedar house, thus affording functions of 

 quaint and rare appointments. As a matter of interest, if not 

 beauty, is a pile of brick in one corner of this garden that marks 

 the site of an old schoolhouse. Here, with the father of the present 

 owner of Oak Hill, "went to school" William A. Stuart and General 

 J. E. B. Stuart, the father and uncle of Honorable H. C. Stuart. 



A connection with men of public life is also given to Oak Hill 

 in being the birthplace of the mother of Honorable S. H. Wilson. 

 Oak Hill is now an up-to-date farm, with the house supplied with 

 all modern conveniences, a side annex having been built and hot and 

 cold water supplied. Arrangements are being made for an electric 

 plant to be put in to light the whole place. The outhouses and 

 servants' quarters are well kept up, and a large, perfectly equipped 

 dairy has been created, for Oak Hill is known as a stock farm. 

 Its milch cows and Angus cattle, Shropshire sheep and Berkshire 

 hogs claim attention, as well as its thoroughbred saddle horses. 

 This live stock is well supported, for the 2,000 acres attached are 

 in splendid cultivation. Corn yields from thirty to forty bushels 

 per acre, while wheat figures out from ten to fifteen bushels. Large 

 quantities of hay are also raised. The American field wire fencing 

 gives the plantation a cared-for appearance, and in every detail 

 about the farm Mr. Hairston, the proprietor of the place, and one 

 of the largest landowners in Virginia, is characterized as a progres- 

 sive and successful man in his line of business. 



Trinity Episcopal Church, erected mostly by donations from, 

 the Hairston family, is a worthy addition to this Oak Hill estate. 

 Regular services are held once a month, as is the custom of country 

 churches, and a large Sunday school, composed mostly of tenants' 

 children, meets every Sunday, with Mr. Hairston as its superin- 

 tendent. 



Near Oak Hill is Berry Hill, the ancestral home of the Hair- 

 stons, and is one of the most interesting of the several estates 

 owned by various members of that family, so prominent as land- 



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