Mirador Landscape
Mirador Landscape
Mirador Landscape
Greenwood, Virginia
A report documenting the history of the Mirador landscape and its six generations of owners.
Re
produc
ti
on:
All
ma t
eri
alcont
ai
nedher
ei
ni st
heint
ell
ect
ualproper
tyoftheGarde
nCl ubofVi
rgi
nia
exc
eptwherenote
d.Per
miss
ionforre
product
ion,exc
eptforper
sonalus
e ,
mustbeobt
aine
dfr
om:
TheFel
lowshipCommi t
tee
,Cha
ir
TheGardenClubofVirg
ini
a
TheKent-
Va l
ent
ineHouse
12Eas
tFrankli
nStree
t
Ric
hmond, VA23 2
19
www.gcvi
rgi
nia.
org
Picture
Rose Garden in full bloom, looking northeast. (Photo by author, August 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 V
Acknowledgements
VI Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Croquet lawn and serpentine wall, looking northeast.
(Photo by author, July 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 VII
Preface
The report is divided into four major areas of ownership that parallel
significant changes to the landscape and societal shifts at Mirador. Included
in this report is a rendered plan of the Mirador gardens that supplements
information in the report and provides an accurate documentation of the
exisiting landscape. Taken together these elements help portray Mirador in an
accurate and fascinating light, thereby justifying it as the “Hidden Jewel” of
Albemarle County.
VIII Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
2-ASC
LA
VAC, PC
MS
2-SV
4-VAC
QP
SV
Tennis Court
Greenhouse
5-MS
Arbor
with WF
PS PC
RS
LI
SP LA
BS
3-PC PS SP
BS QG
4-MS
AS
Cutting Garden
BS With 19-BS
AG
SJ PS HS
HS HS
Rose Garden 4-HS 3-PC
HS AT
PC
GD
Groundcover is HH
5-LI Brick Wall Enclosed
AS With BS
Smokehouses MXS
AG and Arbor
Pool 4-PSP
MS
3-HS
5-HS
IO
BS BP
QR AR
SV
BS QR
HH 4-PSP
Sunken Garden
MS Beds: 26-BM RS BM
Croquet Lawn and
Serpentine Wall
2-AR
Lawn
BS AR 2-BS Brick Wall Enclosed
Bordered RS
With BS
by BM
CJ AR
BS AR
Wooded Area: HH, VM, LJ
Main House
AS PO
13-JV Terrace LT
29-BS
BP
Terrace
AS AR BS
Plant List TS
UA
FA
IO
Trees IO AR Shrubs
TS FA
HH
LA
AR Acer rubrum Red Maple AG Abelia x grandiflora Shiny Abelia
CA BS AS
AS Acer saccharum Sugar Maple UA AT Asimina triloba Common Pawpaw
IO
ASC Acer saccharinum Silver Maple FA AZ Azalea sp. Azalea
Arch and
BP Broussonetia papyrifera Paper Mulberry MG BM Buxus microphylla Littleleaf Boxwood
Rock Wall
CJ Cercidiphyllum japonicum Katsuratree BS Buxus sempervirens American Boxwood
FA Fraxinus americana White Ash CA Caragana arborescens Siberian Peashrub
FG Fagus grandifolia American Beech EA Euonymus alatus Burning Bush
GD Gymnocladus dioicus Kentucky Coffeetree HS Hibiscus syriacus Rose-of-Sharon
IO Ilex opaca American Holly LA Ligustrum amurense Amur Privet
JV Juniperus virginiana Eastern Redcedar LI Lagerstroemia indica Crapemyrtle
LT Liriodendron tulipifera Tulip Tree PC Philadelphus coronarius Sweet Mockorange
MG Magnolia grandiflora Southern Magnolia RC Rhododendron carolinianum Carolina Rhododendrum
Barn
MS Malus sp. Crabapple RS Rhododendron sp. Rhododendrum
MXS Magnolia x soulangiana Saucer Magnolia SJ Spiraea japonica var. alpina Japanese Spirea
PO Platanus occidentalis Sycamore SP Syringa pekinensis Pekin Lilac
PS Prunus serotina Black Cherry SV Syringa vulgaris Common Lilac
PSP Prunus subhirtella Weeping Higan Cherry VAC Vitex agnus-castus Chastetree
var. pendulla
QG Quercus georgiana Georgia Oak
Groundcovers/Vines
QP Quercus palustris Pin Oak
QR Quercus rubra Red Oak HH Hedera helix English Ivy
TC Tilia cordata Littleleaf Linden LJ Lonicera japonica Japanese Honeysuckle
TS Tsuga canadensis Canadian Hemlock VM Vinca minor Vinca
UA Ulmus americana American Elm WF Wisteria floribunda Japanese Wisteria
Little is known about the history of the Mirador property prior to the
Bowen’s ownership. The earliest records indicate that in the early nineteenth
century a miller named William Ramsay owned the property where Mirador
now stands. There is very little recorded information about Ramsay and his
landholdings. As early as 1802 he had constructed a one-story frame home
northwest of Mirador known as Millburne. The house was expanded in 1816
when Ramsay added an eight-foot wide piazza along its principal façade. The
property also included a barn and a combination mill and distillery on the
property.1 Today, Millburne is located across County Road 691west of Mirador.
2 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
View of Mirador looking southwest. (Photo by the author, August 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 3
1835-1892
After Bowen purchased Millburne in 1835 he and his family lived at the
Greenwood estate near the base of the Yellow Mountains. It is unclear whether
he built a new residence or simply lived in the single-story frame house con-
structed by his predecessor. Whatever the situation his living arrangements
were not in an ideal location for Bowen to manage his estate, and in 1842 he
relocated to a more central area of the property.7 He chose a hill that over-
looked a millpond and also provided a spectacular view of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. He located the house, so it faced southeast towards the current
US Route 250. At the time, this was the principal stagecoach turnpike from
Richmond to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in the nineteenth cen-
tury.8
Bowen built his new house in the popular Greek Revival style. This
style was all the more fashionable because of Thomas Jefferson’s private estate
Monticello, located in the eastern half of the county, as well as the University
of Virginia also designed by Jefferson. These influences established high stan-
dards for other Greek Revival residences in the area. The square house was
made of Flemish-bond brick construction with symmetrical facades that in-
cluded six-over-six double hung sash windows on the first and second floors.
Basement fenestration included six-paned fixed casement windows that con-
tinued the symmetrical pattern along the principal façade.
4 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Building of Mirador
The first and second floor entries on the southeast elevation had arched
fanlights with a rounded arch window in the attic above. There was also a
central, one-story portico with a second story porch supported by paired
Doric columns on the front elevation. The house was constructed with four
interior end chimneys and an additional front-gabled side entry on the south-
west elevation. In addition to these elements, the earliest picture of Mirador,
probably taken after the Civil War, shows a covered side entry on the south-
west elevation with stairs leading to a path. This path most likely led to the
one-story brick double pen kitchen.9 There was also a single room frame
smokehouse to the northeast of the main house.10 Bowen named his new
home “El Mirador” which is Spanish for “ the spectacular view.” Eventually
the name was shortened to its current title “Mirador.”
Earliest Photograph of
Mirador. Taken sometime after
Civil War. Left, shows enlclosed
side entry with path leading to
kitchen. (Courtesy of K. Ed-
ward Lay, C-D Rom)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 5
1835-1892
6 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Building of Mirador
Site of Bowen’s Mill, opposite US Route 250. Portion of the 1866 Map of Albemarle
(Photograph by author, August 2004) County. The Bowen properties are un-
derlined. (Courtesy of Rieley and As-
sociates)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 7
1835-1892
The Agriculture Census of 1850 and 1860 validate this description. By the
mid-nineteenth century he owned 3,000 acres, and half were considered “im-
proved,” i.e. farmland. Ten years later Bowen owned over 4,000 acres with
more than half of his property used as farmland. His three primary crops
were wheat, tobacco, and Indian corn. He also grew oats, hay, peas and beans,
potatoes, butter, and honey. However, Bowen was not limited to crops and
food but had a livestock inventory that included horses, mules, cattle, oxen,
sheep, and swine. These animals were used to farm the land, helped produce
wool or buttermilk, or were slaughtered for money.15 James Bowen was a
successful farmer who emphasized diversity and self-sufficiency on his planta-
tion.
Prior to the Civil War, Bowen used slaves to run his plantation. The
1850 Slave Schedule listed fourteen slaves owned by James Bowen including three
females. A decade later the 1860 Slave Schedule listed Bowen as owning forty-
three slaves that included eighteen female slaves.16 According to Alice Winn
these slaves were housed along a road to the north of the mansion and beyond
the back gate. It is possible that this road may be the current path that lies to
the northwest and west of the mansion which connects the main house with a
majority of the outbuildings and surrounding farmland. After Chiswell Dabney
Langhorne purchased the property in 1892 he razed these structures. 17
8 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Building of Mirador
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 9
1835-1892
Mirador was a center of activity for the Bowen family and its guests.
One of its most notable visitors was the French Colonel, Claudius Crozet,
who helped build the railroad through the Blue Ridge Mountains. He was in
the region from 1850 to 1860 and visited Mirador often.20 Despite the many
changes to the Mirador landscape in the nineteenth century, it was remem-
bered as an extraordinary place where many social events occurred. Fanny
Castleman reminisced of her grandfather James Bowen’s fine riding horses
and how often the family and their guests would ride to and from the Blue
Ridge Mountains for an afternoon outing. There were also tennis and croquet
games, dancing in the evening, reading aloud in the winter, and familial sing-
ing accompanied by Mrs. Bowen on the piano.21
10 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Building of Mirador
The Civil War and Reconstruction era resulted in significant social and
physical changes to the Mirador landscape. Although no major conflicts oc-
curred nearby, there was the usual presence of troops in the region. Alice
Winn referred to the Greenwood and the Piedmont Valley as an “island in the
middle of a turbulent sea.”22 Stonewall Jackson marched his Confederate troops
eastward past the gates of the estate towards Richmond in June 1862.23 Less
than a year later, in a letter to Susan Meade Funsten in January 1863, David
Funsten mentioned that Confederate troops were staying on or near the Mirador
property. He also commented on the kind treatment by James Bowen.24
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 11
1835-1892
With the end of the Civil War and with slavery abolished, Bowen was
forced to develop alternative ways to manage his farm. In November 1865 he
wrote to his friend Charles Palmer requesting that Palmer send more nails to
help with construction on his property. “I am building dwelling houses on my
land for tenants and renting out small farms, from one to two hundred acres to
a farm.”25 Bowen continued the letter by discussing the current labor market.
“I find negro labour is done with and we must get white labour. What do you
think of the plan? I would like to be with you to hear you talk and help me to
plan as to labour.”26
The changes to the Mirador landscape were seen in the 1870 Agricul-
tural Census. The total acreage that he owned dropped from over 4,000 acres in
1860 to 1,300 acres ten years later. Over half of his property was unimproved
and considered “woodland.” One theory is that Bowen rented his land to
white tenants, and this property was not listed as being owned by Bowen.
Another theory is that Bowen’s financial resources soured with the onset of
the Civil War, and he was forced to sell part of what he owned. Whatever the
reasons, the value of his farm machinery dropped dramatically, and he was
required to pay his workers wages for the first time.
12 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Building of Mirador
James Bowen died in 1880, and his wife and heirs became owners of
the Mirador and Greenwood properties. Mrs. Bowen died several years later
and the 165 acres of property that included the Mirador house was transferred
to the Bowen children. Mary Bowen Funsten, daughter of James Bowen lived
at Mirador following her father’s death. However the Bowen children eventu-
ally chose to sell Mirador, because it had fallen into disrepair and needed a
great deal of work.29 In 1892, fifty years after the construction of the Mirador
mansion, the children sold the property for $9,000 to Chiswell Dabney
Langhorne, a self-made millionaire and resident of Richmond, Virginia.30 Soon
thereafter, Mirador would experience physical changes to the landscape and
the mansion and would become the social center of the region.
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 13
1892-1920: Mirador and the Langhorne Legacy
The Langhornes were a successful family who owned mills and ware-
houses and were considered leading citizens of the town.32 John and Sarah
had three children: Anne Frances, Chiswell Dabney, and Elizabeth. Chiswell
Dabney was born in 1843 on the Dabney’s plantation near Lynchburg. For a
short time, prior to the Civil War, the Langhornes lived at Point-of-Honor in
Lynchburg. Both father and son fought for the Confederate Army. In 1859 C.
D. had joined the Virginia home guard, and John Langhorne served as a Major
in the 2nd Virginia Cavalry.33
14 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
C. D. Langhorne with three of his daughters Phyllis, Nancy, and Irene. (Courtesy of Winn)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 15
1892-1920
16 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Mirador was known as a simple and elegant plantation during the Bowen
ownership of the property. However, when C. D. Langhorne purchased the
property in 1892, he and his wife brought along their large family of eight
children and several servants. Each member of the Langhorne family was a
unique person with their own individual story. Their charm and grace, matched
with their confidence instilled in them by the strong personality of their patri-
arch, C. D. Langhorne, led Michael Astor to describe the family as “Mr.
Langhorne’s Circus.” C. D. was the ringmaster, his sons were part of the enter-
tainment, and his daughters were the main event.40
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 17
1892-1920
C. D. Langhorne (1843-1919)
Despite this great neighborliness, there was also simplicity and disci-
pline. Every morning the children were expected to be appropriately dressed
for breakfast regardless of the heat. The children were also in charge of
fanning C. D. as he took his afternoon nap and were to remain quiet while
doing so.44 People came to him for advice, and he was well respected in the
surrounding community. He would frequently offer his opinion, although it
was sometimes not asked for, as in church, where C. D. would locate himself
in the third pew, so he could signal to the reverend when the sermon had
continued too long.45 These character traits would be passed on to his daugh-
ters, and helped them become leaders in politics, fashion, and culture.
18 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
In 1912, after his wife had died and his children were grown, C. D.
retired to “Misfit” on the south side of Rockfish Gap Road (US Route 250).
In turn, he gave Mirador to his daughter Phyllis, although he continually ar-
gued with her over how the estate should be managed. Seven years later at
the age of seventy-five, Chiswell Dabney (C. D.) Langhorne, the patriarch of
the family, died. Upon his death, the Richmond Times Dispatch wrote the
following on February 15, 1919:
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 19
1892-1920
20 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 21
1892-1920
Keene and Harry were born in 1869 and 1874 respectively, and each
worked for their father in the railroad business. As a young man, Keene pur-
chased property in Buckingham County, but would visit Mirador often. He
was married to Sadie Reynolds near the turn of the century, and he died nine
years after Harry in 1916. While attending the University of Virginia in the
1890’s, Harry contracted tuberculosis and was often confined to a cabin in
the Blue Ridge Mountains. Towards the end of his life he married Genevieve
Peyton, however after a few short years of marriage Harry died in 1907.53
22 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Keene, the oldest Langhorne son. Harry and fiance Genevieve Peyton.
(Courtesy of Winn) (Courtesy of Winn)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 23
1892-1920
Elizabeth (1867-1914)
Elizabeth, the eldest Langhorne child, was born in 1867, and like her
mother, she too was petite and very beautiful. When she was eighteen, she
married T. Moncure Perkins who was distantly related to her mother’s side of
the family.55 The Perkins lived in Richmond, but often came to Mirador to
visit. In 1914, after separating from her husband, Elizabeth continued to
remain in Richmond with her three children: Chiswell, Nancy, and Alice.
Later that year, Mr. Perkins and Elizabeth died within two weeks of each
other, and Nancy and Alice were sent to New York to live with their Aunt
Irene. Nancy would later own Mirador for thirty years, and Alice would pub-
lish a book in 1974 that detailed the life of the Langhornes at Mirador.56
24 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 25
1892-1920
Irene (1873-1956)
Irene was the second oldest daughter, born in 1873, and was consid-
ered the most beautiful of the five sisters. Years later she confided in her sister,
Nancy, that C. D. would parade her around the county in a carriage to show
off her beauty.57 This led to Irene receiving sixty wedding proposals from a
variety of well-to-do bachelors. Irene was sent to New York to attend board-
ing school, and while there she was chosen to lead the cotillion at the Patriarch’s
Ball in 1893. A year later she met and married Charles Dana Gibson. This
proved to be quite a controversy because Gibson was a New Yorker, and mar-
rying a northerner was against southern tradition. The wedding took place in
1895 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Richmond. Following the honeymoon, the
Gibsons returned to New York to a home that was given to them by C. D. and
had been designed by the architect Stanford White.58
The Gibsons spent most of their time in New York where Charles’
career would flourish. Gibson was an illustrator and later creator of the Gibson
Girls, which was the ideal representation of the Victorian woman (based in
large part on his wife Irene). They spent their summers in Maine, hosting
dignitaries, politicians, and other celebrities. Irene also followed in her mother’s
footsteps and maintained a beautiful garden there.
When her sister Elizabeth and her ex-husband died in 1914, Irene and
Charles adopted Elizabeth’s children Alice and Nancy. Because of their con-
nection to high society, Irene became involved in politics and charities such
as the Protestant Bib Sisters in New York City. Later she and Nancy helped
raise money for the restoration of Robert E. Lee’s boyhood home, Stratford
Hall.59 The Gibsons returned to Mirador often, and after her husband’s death,
Irene came to stay at Mirador for extended amounts of time until she died in
1956.
26 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 27
1892-1920
Nancy (1879-1964)
In 1919 she was elected as the first woman to the House of Com-
mons and served for twenty-five years. Soon thereafter Nancy Langhorne
Astor became one of the most famous women in the world, and a woman
who fought for international peace and improved social conditions in her
country. In addition to her role as a politician she also was a mother of five
children. Although Nancy spent most of her adult life in England, she re-
turned to her childhood home often and recalled Mirador fondly in her mem-
oirs. “I have never been as happy as I was there.”62 When she died in 1964,
she was mourned internationally.
28 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 29
1892-1920
Phyllis (1880-1937)
Phyllis was the fourth Langhorne daughter born in 1880, and was very
close to her sister Nancy who was only a year older. Like Nancy, Phyllis led an
active life in her youth. Both Nancy and Phyllis also road horses very well and
competed in many horse shows as young women.63 Phyllis however was very
different than her other siblings. She was as witty as her sister Nancy, but she
also looked more like her mother Nanere than the other daughters. Phyllis
was considered wistful, introspective, and melancholy – a more romantic per-
sonality.
Similar to Nancy, Phyllis’ first marriage was a short lived one to a New
Yorker named Reggie Brooks. Nearing her divorce of Reggie in 1914, she fell
in love with Captain Henry Douglas-Pennant, however he died in France.64
In 1917 Phyllis married Lord Robert Brand, a successful businessman and
politician. Brand was an Oxford Scholar, military hero, and nicknamed the
“The Wisest Man in the Empire.”65 It was Brand who warned England and
the Allies after World War I that Germany would rise again to conquer the
world.
In 1912, prior to her divorce from her first husband, C. D. gave Mirador
to Phyllis as a gift, and he then retired to Misfit.66 Eventually in 1920 Phyllis
sold the property to her niece, Nancy (Perkins) Tree, because she and Lord
Brand were rarely in the United States. Phyllis died seventeen years later in
1937 at the age of fifty-six.
30 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 31
1892-1920
Nora (1889-1955)
The youngest sister, Nora, was born in 1889, the only Langhorne child
born in Richmond. Nora was the most carefree and generous of the Langhorne
sisters, and this would eventually lead to consequences in her relationships
later in her life. At one time, Nora was engaged to three men at once.67 Nora
was also known to have a wonderful stage presence and loved performing in
front of others, whether it be playing the piano or imitating famous people.
In 1908 she married Paul Phipps, an architect from New York. They
had two children, one of whom was Joyce Grenfell, the actress. Phipps would
later help Nora’s niece, Nancy Perkins Tree, redesign her homes at Kelmarsh
Hall and Ditchley Park. However, during her marriage to Phipps, Nora met
Lefty Flynn, a former Yale football player and actor. They ran away together,
and were married in 1932. Charles Gibson found them in the western United
States singing for money and convinced Nora to come back to her other hus-
band. Although she rejoined Phipps in England, Nora eventually ran away
again to marry Lefty.68
32 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Among Nora’s many talents was the ability Nora, carefree and generous.
to entertain. (Courtesy of Winn) (Courtesy of Winn)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 33
1892-1920
The Langhorne daughters, their husbands, and their children were the
central characters during their time at Mirador. However, there was also a
larger family network that included numerous ex-slaves and other free African-
Americans who were viewed as members of the family by their employers.
They were called “Mammy,” “Aunt,” or “Uncle,” and many were nannies for
the Langhorne children and grandchilden. They included:
• Aunt Liza Pie - nanny for Nancy Lancaster and Nora Langhorne
• Margaret Wallace - nanny for Alice Winn
• Liza Piatt - Nancy Astor’s nurse
• Lou Dense - nanny and cook
• Aunt Ann Brodie - cook
• Auntie Veenie
• John Pate – stableman
• Emily Pate - housemaid
• Blanche and Mote Whiting
• Richard Wood and son Stewart Wood - butlers
• Mignon and Beatrice - daughters of the Woods
• Aunt Veeny Barbour
• Mrs. Callie Brown and her daughter Frances69
34 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 35
1892-1920
Life at Mirador
36 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 37
1892-1920
Surrounding Landscape
38 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 39
1892-1920
40 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 41
1892-1920
C. D. replaced the small wooden gate at the main entry with a large
stone arch with “Mirador” inscribed in the keystone. He also used leftover
cement to repave the brick path from the bullring to the front porch. The
origins of the bullring are unknown, but was most likely constructed by the
previous owner James Bowen. Along this path there were boxwood which
C.D. had removed because they smelled like “wet-dog.”80 He also placed a
kennel for foxhounds “in the field behind the cottage” in preparation for
hunting at Afton with his neighbor Mr. Goodloe.81 It is unclear whether this
is southwest or northwest of the brick cottage.
42 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 43
1892-1920
These slave cabins were replaced by two wooden cottages for the ser-
vants on either side of the smokehouse.84 Near the back gate, possibly located
at the intersections of these paths, there was a woodpile which was a gather-
ing point for the servants throughout the day. This is evidence that the back
gate was most likely located at the intersection of roads north of the house.
Nancy Lancaster detailed the existence of other buildings and features on the
landscape in her essay describing Mirador:
44 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 45
1892-1920
46 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Side road, adjacent to the cottage, i.e. kitchen, used as a path for work-
ers to move throughout the farm. (Photo by author, August 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 47
1892-1920
The graves of the Bowen and Funsten families are located in the cem-
etery of the Immanuel Episcopal Church. The location of the gravestones is
further evidence that they were once located at Mirador and later moved to
their present location. Several of the Bowen family graves have multiple grave-
stones for the same individual and are oriented in a north-south direction as
opposed to the other graves which face east-west.
The locations of the dairy, graveyard, and vegetable garden are un-
known. The “Garden” surrounded by a picket fence is also described by Alice
Winn. She recalled the “old-fashioned” garden enclosed by a white picket
fence laid out in squares vegetables and flowers and bisected by herringbone
brick paths.90 Lancaster and Winn are most likely referring to the existing rose
garden that lies north of the main house.
48 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 49
1892-1920
50 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Langhorne Legacy
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 51
1920-1950: Nancy Tree and Mirador’s Golden Age
When the Trees purchased Mirador in 1920, the property had regained
its beauty and charm through the tireless efforts of Phyllis (Langhorne) Brooks
Brand, the fourth daughter of Chiswell Dabney Langhorne. The improve-
ments included a newly constructed barn south of the main house. In addi-
tion, she restored many of the existing gardens to their original form. When
her niece Nancy Tree purchased the property in 1920, she would reinvigorate
the estate. The Trees would make Mirador well known for its gardens and
landscape as well as the people who inhabited it.
Nancy was born in 1897, the oldest daughter and second child to
Elizabeth Langhorne and T. Moncure Perkins. The birth took place in the
guest cottage at Mirador where Elizabeth stayed when visiting her parents.94
Her mother, Elizabeth, was the oldest of the Langhorne children and the only
one to marry a Virginian. Her father, T. Moncure, owned a meatpacking
factory in Richmond, Virginia, and rarely visited Mirador with his wife and
children. Nancy had two other siblings, an older brother Chiswell, and a
younger sister Alice.
52 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Nancy Perkins on her seventh birthday.
(Courtesy of Becker)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 53
1920-1950
She was also exposed to many of the famous Virginia estates, which
she visited with her mother throughout her childhood and adolescent years.
In 1910 the Perkins family, including Alice and Nancy, traveled to Eu-
rope for two years.98 During her visit, Nancy attended school in France, stayed
at a convent in Switzerland, and visited her Aunt Nancy Astor at Cliveden in
England. She had the opportunity to meet royalty from several countries and
was exposed to French, Italian, and English gardens. Specifically, Nancy was
most influenced by two places: Chenonceaux and Cliveden. Chenonceaux
was an estate originally owned by Diane de Poitier, and located near Tours,
France. She stayed with family friends at Chenonceaux and immediately fell in
love with the walled gardens, boxwood mazes, and fruit orchards.99
54 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 55
1920-1950
When Nancy returned to the United States in 1912 at the age of fif-
teen, her parents had separated, and two years later they died within two weeks
of each other. Her Aunt Irene and husband Charles Dana Gibson raised her
in New York City.101 Nancy attended a boarding school in Middleburg, Vir-
ginia, and returned to New York in 1915. In the months following, she and
her cousin “Babs” Gibson were invited to numerous debutante balls. It was
at this point she was introduced to New England’s high society.102
During the summer months Nancy spent much of her time at Islesboro
Island, Maine, and at Mirador with her Aunt Phyllis. In 1915 at Islesboro she
met Henry Field, grandson of Marshall Field, and two years later they were
married in New York City. However, after only four months of marriage,
Henry died suddenly of complications from surgery. While in mourning Nancy
traveled to the Far East with her friends, and later on a trip to England she
met Ronald Tree, a cousin of the Field Family. They soon became close
friends and in early 1920 Nancy, Ronald Tree, and two of their friends traveled
to North Africa.
When they returned she and Ronald were married in May 1920.103
Prior to the wedding, Nancy had purchased the “Misfit” property opposite
Mirador on State Road 250, which had previously been the home of her grand-
father, C. D. Langhorne. After the wedding they moved to New York City
and later that year purchased Mirador from her Aunt Phyllis.104
56 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 57
1920-1950
58 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 59
1920-1950
Delano’s work was not limited only to the main house, but he also
focused his efforts on other structures on the property. It is known that Delano
designed the large livestock facility north of the main house which included a
large cobblestone courtyard and central fountain.108 The barn and outbuild-
ings are reminiscent of the main house at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
Whether Delano designed the lesser important buildings on the property such
as the greenhouse, loafing barn or machine shed is unknown. However, he
may have designed the farm manager’s house and the building referred to as
“Callie’s Cottage” southwest of the kitchen. Both structures are brick and
date back to the 1920’s. There is, however, no documentation whether or not
Delano was ever commissioned to design these structures.109
60 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 61
1920-1950
The garden lawn was divided into two sections. The first was a sunken
garden bordered by a five-foot high brick wall. The wall extended to the
southwest beyond the house, and was flush with the house on the northeast
side. There was originally no brick wall along the southeast side, east of the
house. A brick path that led from the driveway ran southeast to northwest
and defined the western third of the garden. The eastern two-thirds of the
sunken garden was in line with the house. The entire sunken garden was a
lawn outlined by dogwood trees and boxwood. There was an arched formal
entry on the southwest facade that included a metal gate with the word
“MIRADOR” within its frame. Other less important entries were located
along the northwest and southeast facades. There was also a one-story brick
building built into the southwest wall.
62 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Sandpile
Tennis Court
Lily Pond
Vegetable Gardens
Fountain
Lady’s Slipper
Smokehouses
and Arbors
Sunken Garden
Sketch of garden by Nancy Lancaster, no date. Map is labeled to show the major areas of the Tree
and Delano plan. (Courtesy of Rutherfoord)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 63
1920-1950
Beyond the gate, Delano mirrored the existing smokehouses and placed
an arbor with wisteria between the two structures to establish the view. Be-
tween the smokehouses and the sunken garden was a turfed area enclosed by
a boxwood hedge. This area was often used as an area to sit and relax while
enjoying the view of the gardens and the mountains in the distance.112 The
second section of lawn extended north beyond the arcade to pair of stairs
that flanked a central fountain. Two rows of apple and pear trees along the
exterior of the lawn further guided the eye. Intermingled with the trees were
perennial borders. Large hedges of privet or boxwood outlined the north-
west-southeast paths that led from the sunken garden, past the smokehouses,
and north to the tennis court. To account for the angle of the tennis court, a
second arbor enclosed with wisteria was located adjacent to the court, and
honeysuckle was allowed to grow along the court enclosure. This partially
hid the tennis court and guided the eye through the arbor towards the moun-
tains beyond.213
64 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 65
1920-1950
The Cross-Axes
66 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 67
1920-1950
Northeast of the sunken garden and nearer to the house was a rose
garden. The rose garden was connected with paths that ran northeast-south-
west in front of the smokehouses. Annette Hoyt Flanders, a Landscape Ar-
chitect from New York, designed this garden. Flanders who had a Masters
Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois, had experi-
ence working all across North America including Canada and Hawaii. In her
self-titled pamphlet, Landscape Architecture, Flanders noted job number 53 as
“the cutting garden at ‘Mirador.’”116 The original plan for the Rose Garden
called for thirty-six different varieties of roses laid out in formal parterres.117
A birdbath served as the central feature of the garden, with “Lead Figures”
located at certain points along the gravel paths. Interestingly, Nancy Tree,
her friends, and her family never mentioned Flanders in their letters when
describing the gardens. Rather, they credit Nancy or Delano with the results.
Irene Langhorne Gibson wrote to Nancy in the 1940’s after a visit to Mirador,
“Now your plans for all your garden planting have come true. The garden is
a dream.”118
68 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 69
1920-1950
Serpentine Wall
70 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 71
1920-1950
72 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Later, this list was expanded and many of the annuals were used to
border perennials or were planted in the cutting garden.120 Nancy Tree kept
very specific records about the maintenance of the grounds and the vegeta-
tion at Mirador. Samples of these records were given to Jeannie Scott, a former
owner, in the early 1980’s by Nancy Tree Lancaster. The eighteen pages of
notes outline specific directions for the planting of the gardens and the land-
scape. In addition to the formal areas of the garden previously highlighted,
Nancy Tree had extensive plans for the less formal areas of the property. She
lists seventeen different areas of the landscape: Entrance Driveway, Lawn
Inside Gates to Steps, Front Porch, Lawn Outside Dining Room, Sunken
Garden, Hillside, Pond Planting, Orchard Garden, Vegetable Garden, Berry
Garden, Rose Garden, Shrub Garden, Pond Garden, Back Yard, Shrubbery
Plantings Near Squash Court, The Present Nursery, and Road to ______
House.121
Some of the locations such as the Sunken Garden and the Pond Plant-
ing (refers to the millpond) are well known locations. Other areas such as the
Squash Court and the Shrub Garden are unknown. The Berry Garden may
have been associated with the Vegetable Garden as well as the Orchard Garden
near the Greenhouse. Her notes also referred to an existing greenhouse as
well as a greenhouse to be built later. The current greenhouse located north of
the swimming pool is most likely the planned greenhouse Nancy Tree referred
to in her letters. Mentioned several times also is a swimming pool which may
in fact be the one in the present location, immediately north of the croquet
lawn and serpentine wall.122
Nancy Tree’s notes indicate she paid a great deal of attention to the
less public places on the property. This included enhancing the existing for-
ested areas along the south and east ends of the property. “Have the hillside
a wood and plant in it thickly: Mt. Ash or Rowan Trees, Mt. Beeches, pines,
oaks, linden, maples, tulip poplars, red gums, judas or red bud, dogwood and
shad blow or amelanchair, hemlocks, paulouma.”123
In her notes, Nancy also mentioned William Delano again in her notes
on the Sunken Garden and her gardener Dowsett. Once the Trees moved to
England, Dowsett continued to maintain the gardens. Phyllis Brand referred
to “Dowsett” as a person who had “kept the garden looking lovely and
green.”124 In 1942 letters from Aunt Irene and Dinah Bridge mentioned the
Yancy (or Yancey) brothers maintaining the grounds. Bridge also noted that
there were three gardeners working at Mirador in April 1942 (Dowsett and
the Yancy brothers).125
In addition to the guests who often visited and the gardeners who
maintained the property, there was also a supporting cast of people who
worked for the Trees at Mirador. The most notable is Stewart Wood, an
African-American who supervised the mansion and grounds in the absence
of the Trees. Two of the workers at Mirador, Jenny White and a Scottish
woman named Helen, came to work there when Phyllis Brand owned the
property. The remaining workers, including Stewart, had lived in the vicinity
of Mirador throughout their lifetime and were fixtures at the estate. Nancy,
who grew up with many of these people, viewed the workers at Mirador as an
extended family who were interdependent upon each other.126
74 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Although the Trees were away from Mirador during much of the time
they owned it, the friends of the Trees from America and abroad continued
to use the house and grounds. Irene Gibson, Nancy’s Aunt, was a frequent
guest at Mirador and described many of the people and events that took
place there in the 1930’s and 1940’s. In a letter prior to 1941, Irene wrote
about a party hosted by Nancy Astor at the Farmington Country Club which
was followed by a visit with Phyllis and Bessie Martin, a childhood friend, to
Mount Arey and Sabine Hall at the northern neck of Virginia.127 In a later
letter to Nancy Tree, Irene noted that Lord Halifax, Great Britain’s ambassa-
dor to the United States, and his wife came to visit.128 In 1946 Elizabeth
Varner, a cousin of Nancy’s, summed up the experience of many visitors at
Mirador during the Tree’s ownership. “You don’t know how much I love be-
ing at Mirador. Many many thanks.”129
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 75
1920-1950
Reflections of Mirador
Two of the most oft mentioned areas are the serpentine wall and the
millpond below Mirador Hill. The serpentine wall (which was Nancy’s idea
and imitated the design of Jefferson’s wall at the University of Virginia), cre-
ated a transition from the central grounds to the millpond and the naturalistic
landscape east of the mansion. In Aunt Irene Gibson’s letters to Nancy from
1937-1942, she described the serpentine wall as “lovely and every vine and
bush there fat and tall” and “the serpentine walk it is a miracle, everything so
thick.”130 In a letter from Ronald Tree he also mentioned magnolia trees and
willow trees lining the serpentine wall.131
The millpond below the serpentine wall was also mentioned in letters
from Irene Gibson and Ronald Tree. Ronald wrote in April 1942, “The lake
is almost hidden by immense weeping willows, and the hill side by Dogwood
and Judas in full bloom.”132 These descriptions of the naturalistic setting by
the millpond are very different than the formal gardens in the immediate vi-
cinity of the main house and reflect Nancy’s intentions to maintain the natu-
ralistic context for significant portions of the property.
76 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Serpentine wall with rose vines on wall and magnolia and weeping willow trees
above, no date. (Courtesy of Becker)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 77
1920-1950
The anchor of these formal vistas was the area immediately north of
the main house and referred to as the “sunken garden.” Nancy used the
sunken garden to establish a viewshed of the mountains to the north, using
boxwood and dogwoods to outline the area. Irene described it in April 1942.
“As you walk down the steps it is dense in full bloom. The Scotch Broom is
lovely…The Key Gate is perfect. Those standard Wisteria in the walled
garden are fine. Dogwood in full bloom back of the Box.”133 This is the only
mention of the key gate, although it stood on a significant northwest-south-
east axis in the garden. Later that month Ronald Tree described the walled
garden again when he wrote, “The sunk garden is dead white with a great wall
of dogwood – easily 20 feet high.”134
Finally, Ronald Tree wrote again in April of 1942, “in the kitchen
garden there is a riot of tulips, great mauve tree-paeonies, violets, and mauce
phlox.”137 Ronald is probably referring to the vegetable garden or the rose
garden located on the eastern edge of the axes. It is evident that the propaga-
tion of the perennials and annuals at Mirador that began in the 1920’s had
paid great dividends.
78 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Picture of Key Gate and herringbone brick path during 1980’s. (Cour-
tesy of Rutherfoord)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 79
1920-1950
80 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Rows of cedar trees along entry drive. (Photo by author, August 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 81
1920-1950
Later Gardens
In 1933 Ronald Tree was chosen for a seat in the House of Commons,
and he and Nancy moved once again to another estate, Ditchley Park. Within
seven years Ditchley Park would become a powerful political estate, similar
to what Nancy Astor’s house, Cliveden, had been in the early twentieth cen-
tury. During World War II Winston Churchill often visited Ditchley Park for
extended stays. There he continued to lead the country in a location that was
a safe distance from German aerial attacks.145 Ditchley had a much different
environment than Kelmarsh Hall, with a great deal of the landscape devoted
to naturalistic pleasure grounds. The Trees hired two architects, Geoffrey
Jellicoe and Russell Page, to redesign the gardens. They emphasized the long
vista from the main house using terraces and sunken parterres and also de-
signed a large Orangery Garden. Nancy Tree also had a herb garden on the
property which consisted of two hundred varieties of herbs.
82 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Ditchley Park, present day. The Trees second home in England. (Courtesy of www.ditchley.co.uk)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 83
1920-1950
84 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador’s Golden Age
Looking south through Nancy Lancaster’s wisteria arbor. (Photo by author, August 2004).
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 85
1950-Present: Mirador’s Decline and Rebirth
Following Mona Marran’s death in 1975, the property was placed un-
der the auspices of a corporation, Mirador, Incorporated. Jim Scott, a former
schoolteacher, became President of Mirador, Incorporated, and afterwards
began restoring the mansion. In 1981 the property was officially transferred
to James Scott. Jim was more concerned about the restoration of the house
rather than the landscape, but in 1981 his wife Jeannie accepted the task of
restoring the gardens as they had appeared during the Tree years in the early
to mid- twentieth century.
86 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
To accomplish this task, Jeannie sought the help of the former owner,
Nancy Lancaster who was living in England at the time. During the next five
years, Nancy and the Scotts would begin a friendship, and the gardens would
once again regain their beauty. In their frequent correspondence, Nancy
sought to explain the image of the gardens at Mirador to the Scotts as well as
her excitement for their interest in the gardens. In of her first letters dated
October 31, 198-, Nancy wrote:
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 87
1950-Present
The first landscape gardener who Jim and Jeannie Scott hired was
Lanning Roper. Roper was born in 1912 in New Jersey and grew up in the
United States. A graduate of Harvard in 1933, he joined the Navy in World
War II in which he served as an officer. Roper concluded his military service
in 1945 in London working for military intelligence. He chose to stay in Lon-
don and began volunteering at the Kew Gardens in London and later at the
Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. Following his work at the Royal Hor-
ticulture Society, he began designing his own gardens in 1957.152
In the early 1980s Roper was afflicted with cancer, although he con-
tinued to work sparingly on projects. In 1981 while in Virginia, Nancy
Lancaster introduced him to the Scotts and Mirador. Though it took him a
considerable amount of time to collect his thoughts about Mirador and its
gardens, he completed the report on October 13, 1982. Less than a year later
Lanning Roper died at the age of 71.153
88 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Decline and Rebirth
Chess garden at Haseley Court, England. Boxwood were saved by Roper for
the owner Nancy Lancaster. (Courtesy of Rutherfoord)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 89
1950-Present
In his eleven-page report, Roper outlined a plan that would bring the
Mirador gardens back to the beauty that the Trees enjoyed in the 1920’s.
Because the Scotts were restoring the gardens, Roper began the report by
establishing guidelines when altering elements in the landscape:
Within the report, Roper suggested keeping the front and east sides of
the property as a parkland, and in doing so, to add more shade trees and plants
to enhance the forested affect. He also felt it was important to reemphasize
the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains north of the house. In doing so, he
suggested that the view shed along certain paths should be broken up using
flowering shrubs including Abelia, Philadelphus, Syringa, Chaenomeles, and Spi-
raea in groups of three or five. He also emphasized the creation of a more
complex landscape around the smokehouses and arbor:
90 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Decline and Rebirth
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 91
1950-Present
Russell-Smith conceived a sitting area south of the key gate with stone path leading
north. (Courtesy of Rutherfoord)
92 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Decline and Rebirth
Azalea beds adjacent to porch with path leading to swimming pool. (Courtesy of Rutherfoord)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 93
1950-Present
Vernon Russell-Smith suggested a grass path north from the rose gar-
den to a central, circular grassed area with a sundial located in the center. The
grass path continued northwest toward the brick stairs adjacent to the tennis
court. The circular area was also accessible via grassed paths from the south-
west and northeast that connected the design to the larger grid of the garden.
Plan for area north of the Rose Garden. Circular ring with
sundial in center . (Courtesy of Rutherfoord)
94 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Decline and Rebirth
Plan showing layout of central lawn with lily pond and cross-axes.
(Courtesy of Rutherfoord)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 95
1950-Present
Although it is unclear how much of the Roper report and the Russell-
Smith plan the Scotts implemented, they nevertheless made significant changes
to the landscape. It is believed that Jim Scott removed the large bullring and
graded the terrace in front of the house. As a replacement he placed a smaller
octagonal paved area directly in front of the porch with a matching octagonal
pavement inset. The Scotts also restored the other buildings on the property
including the large barn and courtyard. The sunken garden remained a turfed
area with perennials along its borders, and the Scotts completed the wall on
the southwest side, connecting it to the house. During the early 1980’s Jim
Scott added large central steps bordered by boxwood that led from the lawn
area directly into the sunken garden. Scott also removed the arched arbor and
replaced it with a square one sometime during his tenure. 160
96 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Decline and Rebirth
The sunken garden with perennial borders and central lawn, early 1980’s.
(Courtesy of Rutherfoord)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 97
1950-Present
While the Trees owned Mirador, Nancy had a large vegetable garden
near the greenhouse. Jeannie Scott began her own, smaller vegetable garden
south of the greenhouse. There were seven to thirteen rows spaced six to
seven feet apart with stone walkways between them.161 These paths are simi-
lar to the ones that Russell-Smith suggested in his plan.
98 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Decline and Rebirth
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 99
The Mirador Landscape Today
The Mirador landscape has adapted and changed throughout its his-
tory. This evolution has brought about a more complex landscape that in-
cludes many elements from the Bowen, Langhorne, Lancaster, and Scott own-
erships. The house and front lawn are similar in appearance to the period
immediately following the Delano restoration. The entry road and lawn con-
tinue to be wooded as Nancy Lancaster had intended . Although the entry
gate and rock wall are extant, the path to the house is wider and reflects the
changes made by Jim Scott in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The bullring is
gone, but remnants of the terraces continue to contour the land.
100 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Entry drive, looking southeast.
(Photo by author, August 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 101
A Hidden Jewel
102 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Mirador Landscape Today
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 103
A Hidden Jewel
104 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Mirador Landscape Today
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 105
A Hidden Jewel
Cross-Axes Remnants
The key gate, a brick structure covered in English Ivy, is situated along the northwest-
southeast axis. (Photo by author, August 2004)
106 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Mirador Landscape Today
Steps that at one time were connected to the Rose Garden via a path,
looking northeast (Photo by author, August 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 107
A Hidden Jewel
Rose Garden
One of the oldest and most intact features of the Mirador landscape
is the Rose Garden, redesigned by Annette Hoyt Flanders in the 1920’s. The
garden and its distinctive white picket fence are located northeast of the
sunken garden. The northeast and southwest entries contain arbors with
paths that lead to a central fountain and four parterres outlined with box-
wood. Today, the garden consists of annuals and perennials within the origi-
nal framework laid out by Flanders.
108 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Mirador Landscape Today
View of Rose Garden from back porch of main house with sunken garden
in foreground. (Photo by author, May 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 109
A Hidden Jewel
Serpentine Wall
110 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Mirador Landscape Today
Millpond at base of serpentine wall and hill. (Photo by author, August 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 111
A Hidden Jewel
Beyond the immediate and more formal area around the main house,
the Mirador landscape contains various other features that have significance.
The vegetable garden created by Jeannie Scott in the early 1980’s south of the
greenhouse is now a cutting garden. There are no longer stepping stones, but
rather rectilinear beds with annuals and perennials separated by grass paths.
Remnants of the old apple orchards are located in the vicinity of the green-
house and continue to run northwest-southeast along an axis similar to that
of the gardens.
112 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Mirador Landscape Today
The cutting garden, formerly Jeannie Scott’s vegetable garden, south of the green-
house. (Photo by author, August 2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 113
A Hidden Jewel
Black’s Tavern with the second millpond in the background, looking northeast.
(Photo by author, August 2004)
114 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
The Mirador Landscape Today
The Mirador farm complex with Delano designed barn in center, looking west.
(Photo by author, July 2004)
The Pekinese show dog training facility built in 1994, facing southwest.
(Photo by author, August2004)
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 115
Endnotes
1
K. Edward Lay, The Architecture of Jefferson Country (Charlottesville, VA: University
Press of Virginia, 2000), 119.
2
Grosskopf, Thaler, and Trischman-Marks, researchers, “The Road to Rockfish Gap
Survey,” December 1991, p. 2, in Papers of K. Edward Lay, Accession #12817-a, Special Collections,
University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA.
3
Lay, 318.
4
Deed Book 32, page 60, Clerks Office, Albemarle County Courthouse, Charlottesville,
VA. Chiswell Dabney Langhorne, who purchased the property in 1892, moved a cemetery to
Immanuel Church down the road. After an on-site investigation, there were no graves indicating
a known Ramsay family member. One conclusion is that neither Ramsay nor his heirs were ever
buried on the grounds around Millburne and Mirador. Another possible conclusion is that they
were moved by C. D. Langhorne and are now located in an unknown location on the church
property. However, the Bowen family graves were also moved and were found during the visit,
leading the author to believe that there was another cemetery on the property, or the Ramsays were
never buried at Mirador.
5
Bessie Carter Funsten, “Mirador,” in Edith Tunis Sale, ed., The James River Garden
Club, Historic Gardens of Virginia (Richmond, VA: The William Byrd Press, 1930), 234.
6
It is unclear whether Richard Bowen ever moved to the region following his acquisi-
tion of property. Nothing is known about Bowen’s immediate family, including James Bowen’s
father. Because Bowen was the only one of his brothers to remain in the region, the author has
concluded that Bowen and his brothers were possibly the first generation of their family to move
to the region, and it was only James Bowen who found the region suitable to his liking or his
financial well being.
7
Fanny Starr Bowen Funsten Castleman, “El Mirador,” 1925(?), TMs, 1, in Land Papers,
1635-1950, Accession # 6589, -a, -b, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,
Charlottesville, VA.
8
Castleman, 2.
The main house, kitchen, and smokehouse are the only existing structures from the
10
Bowen time period. While it is certain that there were other outbuildings on the property, the
whereabouts of these are unknown.
116 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
11
Castleman, 1.
12
Kenneth Koons, and Warren Hofstra, eds, After the Backcountry: Rural Life in the
Great Valley of Virginia, 1800-1900 (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2000), 53.
13
Castleman, 1.
14
Ibid. His privacy and preference to remain at home rather than run for political offices
is probably the reason so little is known about Bowen or the early Mirador landscape.
15
1850 Albemarle County Agricultural Census and 1860 Albemarle County Agricultural
Census, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA.
16
1850 Slave Schedule, 351 and 1860 Slave Schedule, 105, The Library of Virginia, Rich-
mond, VA.
17
Alice Winn, Always a Virginian (Lynchburg, VA: J. P. Bell Company, 1975), 54.
19
Castleman, 2.
20
Funsten, Gardens of Virginia, 234. Crozet was also well known for his survey work
and cartography abilities according to Richard W. Stephenson and Marianne M. McKee, eds.,
Virginia Maps (Richmond, VA: The Library of Virginia, 2000), 127.
21
Castleman, 3.
22
Winn, Always a Virginian, 52.
23
Ibid.
24
David Funsten, to Susan Meade Funsten, January 1863, in David Funsten, Papers,
1851-1868, Section 1, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
25
James Bowen, Mirador, VA to Charles Palmer [Richmond, VA], 10 November 1865,
in Palmer Family Papers, 1782-1894, Sections 1-2, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
26
Ibid.
1870 Albemarle County Agricultural Census, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA,
27
and Castleman, 2.
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 117
Endnotes
28
Robert Becker, Nancy Lancaster: Her Life, Her World, Her Art (New York: A.A. Knopf,
1996), 131.
29
Pendleton Hogan, “El Mirador: a Colonial Mansion in the Piedmont Lands,” Ameri-
can Motorist 7, no. 8 (November 1932): 17.
30
Ibid.
31
Castleman, 3.
32
Elizabeth Coles Langhorne, Nancy Astor and Her Friends (New York: Praeger, 1974),
4.
33
Becker, 59. The Langhornes were also cousins to Confederate General Jeb Stuart on
their father’s side.
Alice Moncure Perkins Winn, Three Centuries of Virginia Ancestors, Rev. 1988, no page
34
35
“Descendents of John Langhorne, 1640,” http://www.livelyroots.com/langhorne/
index.htm (accessed 1 July 2004).
36
Nancy Lancaster, “Chiswell Dabney Langhorne,” no date, 5, in Nancy Lancaster,
Papers, 1933-1967, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
37
Coles, 5-6.
38
Becker, 57.
39
Nancy Lancaster, “Greenwood,” no date, 1, in Nancy Lancaster, Papers, 1933-1967,
Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA. It is never mentioned exactly how C. D. Langhorne
discovered Mirador. However, the Langhorne family traveled through Albemarle County to reach
White Sulphur Springs during their vacations and he possibly discovered the property during one
of these trips.
40
Ibid., 29.
41
Lancaster, “Chiswell Dabney Langhorne,” 1.
42
Becker, 14-15.
43
Lancaster, “Greenwood,” 4.
118 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Endnotes
44
Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess, Astor Story (dictated ca. 1953), 23, 27,
Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia.
45
Becker, 16.
46
Winn, Always a Virginian, 120.
47
Lancaster, “Greenwood,” 1.
48
Becker, 19.
49
Ibid., and Nancy Lancaster, “Nanere,” no date, 2, in Nancy Lancaster, Papers, 1933-
1967, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
50
Becker, 19.
51
Lancaster, “Nanere,” 2.
52
Becker, 25-28 and Winn, Always a Virginian, 39-41.
53
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
55
Winn, Five Centuries of Virginia Families, 55.
56
Becker, 60-61, 85-86.
57
Astor, Astor Story, 24.
58
Becker, 31-32.
59
Langhorne Gibson, “Dash and Drama: Irene Langhorne Gibson, 1873-1956,” Vir-
ginia Cavalcade 47, no. 1 (Winter 1998): 9-11.
60
Astor, Astor Story, 50-51.
61
Becker, 34-39.
62
Astor, Astor Story, 17.
63
Lancaster, “Greenwood,” 5.
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 119
Endnotes
64
Becker, 40-41.
65
“Descendents of John Langhorne, 1640,” http://www.livelyroots.com/langhorne/
index.htm (accessed 1 July 2004).
66
Winn, Always a Virginian, 33.
67
Lancaster, “Greenwood,” 5-6.
68
Becker, 43-44.
69
Winn, Always a Virginian, 55; Astor, Astor Story, 18; Barbara Twigg Brown, “Early
Days in Virginia Recalled by Girlhood Friend of Lady Astor,” Richmond Post-Dispatch, 5 October
1966, Sec. F8; Lancaster, “Chiswell Dabney Langhorne,” 2; Becker, 128-129. Little is written about
where any of these slaves lived. Some lived at Mirador and others most certainly lived nearby.
70
Although it is uncertain, Nancy mentioned in a letter to Jeannie (Scott) Rutherfoord
on 31 October [198-] that the tennis court was built for an uncle who was an avid tennis player.
This letter is in Jeannie (Scott) Rutherfoord Collection, [Collection of Photographs, Plans, and
Written Manuscripts Concerning Mirador], Georgetown, DC.
71
Brown.
72
Nancy Lancaster, “Christmas of Youth,” no date, 3, in Nancy Lancaster, Papers, 1933-
1967, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
73
Ibid.
74
Lancaster, “Mirador,” 2.
75
Winn, Always a Virginian, 50.
76
Lancaster, “Chiswell Dabney Langhorne,” 1.
77
Ibid.
78
Ibid.
79
Grosskopf, Thaler, and Trischman-Marks, 1.
80
Lancaster, “Greenwood,” 1.
120 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Endnotes
81
Lancaster, “Greenwood,” 1-2.
82
Winn, Always a Virginian, 54.
83
Ibid.
84
Winn, Always a Virginian, 53. This is the only mention of cottages for servants, and
they were most likely removed when Nancy Lancaster purchased the property, shortly before the
restoration of Mirador.
85
Lancaster, “Chiswell Dabney Langhorne,” 1.
86
Winn, Always a Virginian, 54.
87
William T. Stevens, ed, Mirador (Charlottesville, VA: Stevens and Company, 19—),
np.
88
Campsis radicans is a durable vine native to the southeast United States and is common
in Virginia.
89
Winn, Always a Virginian, 55.
90
Ibid., 53.
91
Becker, 131.
92
Winn, Always a Virginian, 33.
93
Nancy Lancaster, “Mirador,” no date, 1, in Nancy Lancaster, Papers, 1933-1967, Vir-
ginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
94
“Memories of Mirador,” E1.
95
Becker, 31.
96
Becker, 64.
97
Becker, 63-72.
98
“Graceful Lady Comes Home to Mirador,” E1.
99
Becker, 74-75.
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 121
Endnotes
100
Becker, 82-83.
David A. Maurer, “Graceful Lady Comes Home to Greenwood,” The Daily Progress,
101
102
Becker, 90.
103
Becker, 97-100.
104
Maurer, 1.
Peter Pennoyer and Anne Walker, The Architecture of Delano and Aldrich (New York:
105
106
Becker, 121-124.
Angus McDonnell, Mirador, VA, to Nancy Astor, England, 16 May 1942, typed by
107
Nancy Lancaster, in Nancy Lancaster, Papers, 1933-1967, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
108
Pennoyer and Walker, 186.
The farm manager’s house is in line with a southeast northwest axis created by the
109
Jeannie (Scott) Rutherfoord Collection, [Collection of Photographs, Plans, and Written Manu-
scripts Concerning Mirador], Georgetown, DC.
111
Ibid.
Dinah (Brand) Fox Bridge, Mirador, VA, to Nancy Lancaster, England, 18 April 1942,
112
typed by Nancy Lancaster, in Nancy Lancaster, Papers, 1933-1967, Virginia Historical Society, Rich-
mond, VA.
113
Becker, 124.
115
Ibid.
116
Annette Hoyt Flanders, Landscape Architecture (New York: Privately published, 1932),
Job #53.
122 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Endnotes
117
Annette Hoyt Flanders “Rose Garden Plan,” no date, in Jeannie (Scott) Rutherfoord
Collection, [Collection of Photographs, Plans, and Written Manuscripts Concerning Mirador],
Georgetown, DC.
118
“Aunt” Irene Langhorne Gibson, Mirador, VA, to Nancy Lancaster, [England], 4
April [194-], typed by Nancy Lancaster, in Papers of the Langhorne Family, 1899-1984, Accession #
10758, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA.
119
Bessie M. (Martin) Hobson, various letters to Nancy Lancaster, [England], no date,
5, typed by Nancy Lancaster, in Nancy Lancaster, Papers, 1933-1967, Virginia Historical Society,
Richmond, VA.
120
Becker, 126.
121
Nancy Lancaster, [Notes on Mirador Gardens], in Jeannie (Scott) Rutherfoord
Collection, [Collection of Photographs, Plans, and Written Manuscripts Concerning Mirador],
no date, Georgetown, DC. The final area of the garden, was only partially legible, and a blank
space was left in its place.
122
Ibid.
123
Ibid., 7.
124
Phyllis (Langhorne) Brooks Brand, Mirador, VA, to Nancy Lancaster, England, no
date, typed by Nancy Lancaster, in Nancy Lancaster, Papers, 1933-1967, Virginia Historical Society,
Richmond, VA.
125
Gibson to Lancaster, 4 April [194-], 1, and Bridge to Lancaster, 18 April 1942.
126
Becker, 127.
October [19—], typed by Nancy Lancaster, in Papers of the Langhorne Family, 1899-1984, Accession
# 10758, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA.
128
Gibson to Lancaster, 4 April 194-, 1.
129
Elizabeth Langhorne (Perkins) Varner, Mirador, VA, to Nancy Lancaster, [England],
6 May 1946, typed by Nancy Lancaster, 1, in Nancy Lancaster, Papers, 1933-1967, Virginia Historical
Society, Richmond, VA.
130
Gibson to Lancaster, 4 April [194-], 1, and Gibson to Lancaster, 14 October 19—.
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 123
Endnotes
131
Gibson to Lancaster, 14 October [19—], and Arthur Ronald Lambert Field Tree,
Mirador, VA, to Nancy Lancaster, [England], 26 April 1942, typed by Nancy Lancaster, in Nancy
Lancaster, Papers, 1933-1967, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
132
Tree to Lancaster, 26 April 1942.
133
Gibson to Lancaster, 4 April [194-].
134
Tree to Lancaster, 26 April 1942.
135
Gibson to Lancaster, 4 April [194-].
136
Bridge to Lancaster, 18 April 1942.
137
Tree to Lancaster, 26 April 1942.
138
Gibson to Lancaster, 14 October [19—], and Gibson to Lancaster, 18 – 1937.
139
Gibson to Lancaster, 18 — 1937 and Brand to Lancaster, no date.
140
Becker, 129.
141
Tree to Lancaster, 26 April 1942.
142
Brand to Lancaster, no date.
143
Becker, 159.
144
Ibid., 176.
145
Ibid., 249.
146
Jane Brown, Lanning Roper and his Gardens (New York: Rizzoli, 1987), 112.
147
Becker, 3.
148
Mirador Photograph Album 1947-1953. Accession #12643. Special Collections, Univer-
sity of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA. Because of logistical problems, the author could not
obtain copies of any photographs in this photo album. It is important to note that the Marrans
and Colonel Newhall had a unique living arrangement within the main house.
149
Ferol Briggs, Jr., Albemarle County, Book B, 1998. Albemarle County Historical
Society, Charlottesville, VA. While it was possible to obtain copies of these pictures, the quality
and content was such that the author felt it unnecessary.
124 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Endnotes
150
Lancaster to Scott, 31 October [198-], 1.
151
Ibid.
152
Jane Brown, Lanning Roper and His Gardens (New York: Rizzoli, 1987), 18, 22, 37, and
50.
153
Ibid., 115, 206.
154
Lanning Roper, “Report on the Gardens at Mirador,” 13 October 1982, in Jeannie
(Scott) Rutherfoord Collection, [Collection of Photographs, Plans, and Written Manuscripts
Concerning Mirador], Georgetown, DC.
155
Ibid., 7.
156
Ibid., 7-11.
157
Vernon Russell-Smith, “Suggested Layout for Garden,” June 1985, in Jeannie
(Scott) Rutherfoord Collection, [Collection of Photographs, Plans, and Written Manuscripts
Concerning Mirador], Georgetown, DC.
158
Ibid.
159
Ibid., and Roper.
160
Jeannie (Scott) Rutherfoord, interview with author, 10 August 2004, Georgetown,
DC, oral interview.
161
Ibid.
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 125
Appendix One: Mirador Chronology
Owner:
Mirador,
Owner: Owner: Inc. Owner: Owner:
Owner:
Phyllis Morton L. James Scott Hope
Bowen Owner:
Owner: Langhorne Newhall Pres. of and Paul
Heirs Mona
C.D. Brooks Mirador, Inc Burghardt
Owner: Owner: Owner: Marran
Langhorne
William James M. Nancy
Ramsey Bowen Tree
(Lancaster) Falls into
Disrepair
180+ Acres
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Fravretti Felllowship 2004 126
Appendix Two: Langhorne Famiily Tree
Elizabeth m. T. Moncure Perkins Irene m. Charles Dana Gibson Nancy 1. m. Robert Shaw Phyllis* 1. m. Reginald Brooks Nora 1. m. Paul Phipps
(1867-1914) 1885 (1861-1914) (1873-1956) 1895 (1867-1944) (1879-1964) 1897 (1871-1930) (1880-1937) 1901 (1876-1945) (1889-1955) 1909 (1880-1953)
2. m. "Lefty" Flynn
2. m. Waldorf Astor 2. m. Robert Brand 1932 (1880-1950)
1906 (1879-1952) 1917 (1878-1963)
* Phyllis Was Given Mirador by her Father Chiswel Dabney Langhorne in 1914.
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Fravretti Felllowship 2004 127
Appendix Three: Bibliography
Books
Becker, Robert. Nancy Lancaster: Her Life, Her World, Her Art. New York:
A.A. Knopf, 1996.
Brown, Jane. Lanning Roper and His Gardens. New York: Rizzoli, 1987.
Christian, Francis Archer and Susanne Williams Massie, eds. Homes and
Gardens in Old Virginia. Richmond, VA: J. W. Fergusson and Sons,
1931; reprint, New York: Bonanza Books, 1981.
Fox, James. Five Sisters. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000.
Grigg, John. Nancy Astor, a Lady Unashamed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980.
Griswold, Mac and Eleanor Weller. The Golden Age of American Gardens.
New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1991.
Koons, Kenneth and Warren Hofstra, eds. After the Backcountry: Rural Life in
the Great Valley of Virginia, 1800-1900. Knoxville, TN: University
of Tennessee Press, 2000.
Langhorne, Elizabeth Coles. Nancy Astor and Her Friends. New York:
Praeger, 1974.
128 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Mirador: A Virginia Historic Landmark in Celebrated Albemarle County. No
date. Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,
Charlottesville, VA.
Pennoyer, Peter and Anne Walker. The Architecture of Delano and Aldrich.
New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003.
Sale, Edith Tunis, ed., The James River Garden Club. Historic Gardens of
Virginia. Richmond, VA: The William Byrd Press, 1930.
Sykes, Christopher. Nancy: The Life of Lady Astor. London: Collins, 1972.
Journal Articles
Delano and Aldrich. “Mirador, The House of Mrs. Ronald Tree, Green-
wood, Va.” Southern Architect and Building News (June 1928): 41-46.
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 129
Bibliography
Green, Bryan Clark. “Mirador, Virginia: The Home of Mr. and Mrs. Paul
Burghardt.” Country Life (16 October 2003): 78-83.
Taylor, Katie. “Retreat for the Gibson Girl.” Virginia Living 2, no. 2
(February 2004): 80-87.
Newspaper Articles
Friedman, Dan. “Mirador Radiates the Aura of the Old South.” The Daily
Progress, 21 August 1977, Sec. F.
130 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Government Documents
Electronic Resources
Government Documents
1850 Albemarle County Slave Schedule, 351. The Library of Virginia, Rich-
mond, VA.
1860 Albemarle County Slave Schedule, 105. The Library of Virginia, Rich-
mond, VA.
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 131
Bibliography
Unpublished Manuscripts
Baylor, Ellen Carter Bruce. Commonplace Book 1752, 1906. Virginia Histori-
cal Society, Richmond, VA.
132 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Unpublished Manuscripts
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 133
Bibliography
Letters
134 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Letters
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 135
Bibliography
Photographs
136 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Collections
Interviews
Collections
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 137
Bibliography
138 Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004
Hidden Jewel: The Mirador Landscape Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship 2004 139