Stranica 85 [85]
OO mz- —— — — — — — ' b.
HrsTORIC. (GARDE WS. O'R OVTEREIN TA
she walked in her fading beauty and her elegant apparel, and
wept, until she died.
Not far from the house the ashes of the beautiful Evelyn
Byrd lie, near those of her grandfather, William Byrd the first,
in the yard of old Westover Church, which, if we may liken West¬
over itself to an emerald clasp upon the necklace of the golden
James, we might call a pendant. |
The first Westover Church, which was built in the early part
of the seventeenth century, stood on the shore of the river, still
nearer Westover. The present church, which was erected about
1740, is somewhat back from the James, upon Herring Creek, a
lazy, brown stream, bordered near the river by marshes, which
give way to banks crowned with pines and cedars, sycamore, holly,
and beech trees.
It is a plain, low, rectangular structure of red brick, dwarfed
by the great trees by which it is surrounded. The little church has
passed through many vicissitudes. For many years the Byrds
worshipped there, but early in the nineteenth century, when the
Byrds had passed away and the Episcopal Church suffered its great
depression in Virginia, its sacred offices were almost forgotten and
it was used as a barn. Later still, during the War Between the
States the graveyard wall was thrown down, the tombs broken, and
McClellan’s troopers stabled their horses within the venerable walls
of the edifice.
After the war, the building was restored by James Hamlin
Willcox, and is now again used as a church.
A gentleman relates that, as a boy, his negro mammy carried
him to service in this church. On weekdays he was allowed to go
barefoot, but on Sundays his reluctant feet were forced into shoes.
Safely ensconced in the pew, he would slyly wiggle his feet out of
confinement and then wriggle his toes in the sand between the stone
slabs of the floor. Through the old diamond-paned windows he
would watch the bees clustering upon the roses that clambered
about the embrasure, and, at last, to their drowsy hum, that blended
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