Stranica 78 [78]
OCR
WESTOVER sa|LKE an exquisite emerald clasp upon the golden, chain-like river, lies the green lawn of Westover. Upward from the winding James the -sward, studded with great, gnarled tulip-poplars, sweeps smoothly to the stately and magnificent old homestead of the Byrds. Nearly two hundred years ago some of these trees are said to have been planted, and now they stand like giant guards upon the ancient lawn. On each side brick walls descend to the edge of the river bank. Westover goes back almost to the beginning of the English in America. In the year 1688, William Byrd, the first of his name in Virginia, who had come with his young wife, Mary, to the Colony in 1674, and settled at the falls of the James, purchased the plantation from Theodorick Bland. About 1735 his son, the second William Byrd, built the beautiful home, which still stands, surrounded by the lovely emerald lawn, the flag-pathed courtyard, and the gracious old garden in which his dust reposes. The house, of red brick mellowed to a warm old-rose, without porch or ornament, is considered one of the most perfect examples of Georgian architecture in America. It has a high, steep roof, set with dormer windows and flanked by lofty chimneys. Before the door gray-stone steps rise in a pyramid to a beautiful doorway, which many a builder has copied. The main entrance to the grounds is upon the side opposite the river and is through wonderful gates of wrought-iron, which often have been described. Nowhere in America, unless it is in ancient and historic Charleston, which has so many lovely gateways, is there a finer example of the iron-master’s art—a double grill, ten feet high, surmounted by the monogram of William Evelyn Byrd, and swung between two massive, square brick pillars which bear leaden [47]
