State

The Story of Rose Hill The old mansion in Cnsucdl Coiinly lias liad an interesting history. Not only that, lint it and the surrounding grounds represent many features of genuine beauty. VISITORS to “Rom- Hill." the quaint ohl Brown homo in Cas¬ well County, are charmed with the beauty of the old garden. While the 2,000 boxwood bushes have dwindled from the original planting to a relative small number, the yard is well stocked with the giant tree box and tine specimens of the dwarf variety still stand to adorn what was once a formal garden of many acres. The unspoiled beauty of the place is most appealing, and one can almost hear bits of laughter and gay repar¬ tee from a long vanished day, when the stentorian voice of Senator Bed¬ ford Brown indulged in the genial pleasantries to amuse his many guests. Rose Kill was built in 1802 by Colonel Jethro Brown who married Lucy Williamson; and lineal descend¬ ants live in the ohl home today. Their eldest son was Bedford Brown, the statesman, who graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1813. Upon his marriage to Mary I.umpkin Glenn, a member of the same family which produced Governor Robert Glenn, Colonel Jethro Brown sent the happy couple to England for their wedding trip. A Wedding Present Upon their return, they were given Rose Hill as a wedding present. The estate consisted of more than a thou¬ sand acres, together with a number of slaves. It was Alary Glenn Brown who drew the plnns for the formal garden, using ideas -he had -*чч1 and copied from old Kugli-h gardens. While the garden at Rose Hill was considered very beautiful, it was the master. Bedford Brown, who made the estate famous. Lawyer, scholar, and extensive traveler, Brown's greatest ability and power came from a very careful cultivation of his line intel¬ lect. His extensive library shows that he was a lover of the classics. He read fluently four or live languages, spoke most of them with some facility. He was particularly fond of French and German works, and read Goethe ex¬ tensively in the German. He also knew Latin and Greek. Born in Caswell County in 1795, By II Alt It Y Z. T(J('K Fit Bedford Brown ciiil>arkcd early in political life, lie was a member of the House of Commons as early as 1815. and was a colleague of the dis¬ tinguished Romulus M. Saunders. Regarded as a very able man. he was elected to the senate in 1828 and was chosen its president. When John Branch resigned his office in the United States Senate to become Sec¬ retary of the Navy, Bedford Brown was appointed to succeed him. He served until 1810. when he resigned because he felt that he could not conscientiously follow the instructions of the state legislature. In 1842, again a candidate for the United States Senate, he was beaten by W. H. Haywood. Being a man of firm риг|н.«е and unyielding tenacity, honest and al¬ ways patriotic, Bedford Brown could not be otherwise than true to his own convictions. For this reason, perhaps, he removed to Missouri in the fall of IS44. He was received there with noble enthusiasm, hut the country was not appealing to Ь i- family; there¬ fore, after a stay of five years, he re¬ moved to a fine ohl estate near War- ronton, Virginia, lieeause of its loca¬ tion near commercial cities. Here, he lived within a few miles of a railroad, and just three hours from Wash¬ ington. Returning to Caswell County in 1858, he became a legislator. In the same body in 18150 he made a number of enemies by leudiug the opposition to secession. He once told n friend that the; South would eventually cut her own throat. However, when North Carolina was at last forced out of the Union. Bedford Brown was u staunch supporter of the Confederaey. From this fact, when lie was elected to the United States Senate in 18110, he was not allowed to take his seat. The house, a lowering two-storv structure, has a circular driveway in front, lined with beautiful old trees and boxwoods. Along this drive, where the plantation carriages of friends and relative» used to halt, one notices japoinea, iiuuiosn, crepe myrtle. These merge with the oaks and box and cedars and holly that line the path to the family cemetery, where many Browns are buried. The old Senator lie- here; hi- wife, rle-ir son Livingston Brown, and many others. Large Number of Heirlooms In the house, where original carpets and wallpaper and curtains still serve, are many heirloom-. One i- im¬ pressed with the bountiful mantels, for which enormous sums of money have been offered. Kxquisitc pieces of early Anierieun furniture are to be seen here. A handsome mirror, tall and handsomely framed in gold-leaf, hangs in the old parlor. A ro.-cwood piano. And books. Kngli-li 1н>ок<. are evident everywhere. Numerous volumes. Gibbon's *‘ 1 1 istory of Rome,” Allison's “History of Kurope.*' There are any number of volumes hv Burke. Scott, I'ope, Boswell. Hrydcn. These books, with many others too numerous to mention, fill the parlor shelves. Here are rare books; first editions, prized by a long line of Browns. These books fill the parlor, one side of the dinner hall; they overflow the place. Books are dear to the present mistress of Rose Hill, Miss Mary Brown who is a teacher in a near-by consolidated school. Yes, there are roses at Rose Hill. In fuel, the place received it- name because they grew so well here. But the giant box bushes an1 much more interesting than rose-. One can have roses in a year; it takes a life-time to grow a box hush. The visitor will hear about Corn¬ wallis drinking water from the spring back of the old mansion ; lie will see where the slaves lived, some of them; for not many of the slave cabins are left standing. But when lie looks down that long avenue of boxwoods, and can see no place for more box, it seem- strange that from this old garden were taken all those mammoth box hushes which adorn the famous Metcalf K-tntc near War¬ ren ton. Virginia, one of the show places of that storied section of Virginia.