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GES ee HrsToRic GARDENS 1 0F 2 ¥ £ECGINEA SE ENSZ = = = — om a adept in the art of entertaining, utilizes its adaptability for “‘garden parties" and teas in the cedar house, thus attording 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 8. 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. Ihe 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 progressive 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 superintendent. Near Oak Hill is Berry Hill, the ancestral home of the Hairstons, and is one of the most interesting of the several estates owned by various members of that family, so prominent as land[322 |
