ANNEFIELD 



N 1790, Matthew Page, Esq., of Broadneck, Han- 

 over County, Virginia, came to Clarke County and 

 took possession of a tract of twenty-two hundred 

 and eighty acres inherited by him. He began the 

 erection of a beautiful stone house that year, which 

 he named Annefield, after his wife, a sister of 

 Bishop Meade. Mrs. Page was a lover of flowers and a garden 

 was laid out for her in the rear of the residence. 



Part of the estate, with the house, was purchased by Thomas 

 Nelson Carter, of Pampatike, in 1840, and his wife, "Sweet Anne 

 Page," who was also a great lover of flowers, made many addi- 

 tions to the garden. 



The central part was reserved for flowers only. Surrounding 

 this on three sides and separated by a lilac walk formed by a double 

 row of lilacs twelve feet in height, plantings of box-bushes, that 

 are now fifteen feet high, were made. Syringa and mock-orange 

 were also set out, as well as arbor vitae. One of these, near 

 the entrance to the garden, was pronounced by Professor Charles S. 

 Sargeant, of the Boston Arboretum, as the finest specimen he had 

 ever seen. 



After Mr. Carter's death in 1866, the estate was bought by 

 his son-in-law, Robert H. Renshaw, and again a flower lover 

 wielded the fortunes of the Annefield gardens. Mrs. Renshaw was 

 Annie Wickham, of Hickory Hill. In speaking of her second 

 home, she said: 



"I have rarely seen such lilac bushes or such blooms. The big 

 clumps of syringa, mock-orange and snowball had taken entire 

 possession, and I fear I slashed too heavily. The syringa by the 

 main walk as you enter was the most wonderful I ever saw. It 

 climbed up into the evergreens and seemed dazzlingly white when 



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