The Garden Magazine, November, 1923 
149 
on the red brick walls ties the house 
to the grounds. There is no planting 
of evergreens or shrubbery to detract 
from the beautifully proportioned 
facade of Georgian architecture. On 
an axis with the house and north of 
it, is the garden, entered through 
handsome wrought-iron gates and 
enclosed with brick walls. It has 
much of its original quality, as it 
has been intelligently restored by a 
former owner. There are eight large 
beds edged by low Box. The main 
paths are bordered with higher Box 
whose stems, thick as tree trunks, 
tell its age. All the paths are of 
gravel outlined with bricks set edge¬ 
wise. Part of the garden is planted 
with Grapes and Apples. It must 
have been a homey, cosy place to sit 
in under an Apple tree and glance up 
from one’s work at the bright, nod¬ 
ding flowers. Strange as it seems to 
us. right in the centre of the garden 
Colonel Byrd ordered his tombstone 
erected. Most likely he loved the 
garden better than any spot on earth 
and desired to be buried there. On 
the shaft is the following inscription: 
Here lieth the Honorable William Byrd, 
Esq., being born to one of the amplest fortunes 
in this country, he was sent early to England 
for his education where, under the care and di¬ 
rection of Sir Robert Southwell, He 
was called to the bar in the middle Temple. 
Studied for some time in the low countries, 
visited the Court of France and was chosen 
Fellow of the Royal Society. Thus eminently 
fitted for the service and ornament of his coun¬ 
try, he was made Receiver General of His Ma¬ 
jesty’s Revenues here, and was thrice appointed 
Public Agent to the Court and Ministry of Eng¬ 
land, and being thirty-seven years a member, at 
last became President of the Council of this 
Colony. To all this were added great elegance 
of taste and life. The well-bred gentleman and 
polite companion, the splendid economist and 
prudent father of a family and the constant 
enemy of all exorbitant power and hearty 
friend to the liberties of his country. 
Nat. Mar. 28, 1674 
Mort. Aug. 26, 1744 
An Aetat 70 
One wonders did he think his lady 
would like to sit in the shade of his 
tomb? He probably did not give her 
much thought, as she is not even 
mentioned as an event of importance 
in his life. 
Outside of the garden are more 
Box-bordered walks leading to the 
cemetery, out through another fine 
set of gates. The early settlers lived 
in the presence of death so constantly, 
that it had no terrors for them, and 
the family cemetery was always near 
the house. 
Another interesting old place is 
Shirley, the home of the Carters, a lit¬ 
tle farther up the river. Here, in the 
old days, the ships came from Eng¬ 
land laden with goods directly to the 
planter’s own wharves. The river 
was used by all as a highway, and the 
gentry traveled in boats along its 
shores from plantation to plantation, 
paying a round of visits, accompanied 
by numerous black servants. 
1 he garden at Shirley is only a 
remnant, with just enough of the 
original Box left to enable one to 
piece together what were formerly 
intricately designed beds. Some 
higher Boxwood shrubs show where a 
summer house was once cut out from 
them. There were both llowers and 
vegetables in the garden and some 
sturdy Camellia and Forsythia bushes 
and Violets are still growing in the 
beds. The present owners are de¬ 
scendants of the first owners, and 
their custodianship is most delight¬ 
ful. 
On the other side of Richmond is 
the old Randolph home called Tuck- 
ahoe. The approach is along a drive¬ 
way bordered with big, broad Cedars, 
and all along the ground is a matting 
of Honeysuckle. Inside the gate is 
the former entrance driveway, now a 
" This maze run wild of flower and vine, 
Our fathers planted for the sake 
Of eyes that longed for English gardens 
Amid the virgin wastes of pine.” 
Sarah N. Cleghorn 
A TRIO OF HISTORIC 
GARDENS 
Through the gateway above we get 
a glimpse of Monticello, Jefferson’s 
home whose garden he never neg¬ 
lected in even the busiest days of 
his Presidency (see page 150.) 
Two kinds of Box (at right) still 
interestingly frame the garden of 
that distinguished Colonial dandy. 
Colonel Byrd at Westover on the 
James River (see description oppo¬ 
site). Under the rows of ancient 
trees at Tuckahoe Daffodils run 
literally by thousands (pictured 
below, see accompanying text for 
description) 
lawn with rows of old trees, and under 
them are thousands of Daffodils, nat¬ 
uralized in a way to gladden the heart 
of William Robinson, and probably 
dating from Colonial times. The semi¬ 
circular driveway leads around the 
Daffodil garden, past the former slave 
quarters, to the house. The ground 
on the other side of the house from 
the entrance descends steeply to the 
river, and the remains of elaborate 
terracing can still be seen. The gar¬ 
den is to the south of the house and 
is sloping. It has Box-edged beds in 
irregular shapes, forming a sort of 
maze. The whole effect is very quaint 
when viewed from the windows of the 
little house where Jefferson went to 
school. 
The main house is built in an H., 
two parallel wings connected by a 
perpendicular section. This part has 
steps on either side leading to two 
little courts. There are brick path¬ 
ways. Here too, as at Westover. the 
