Royal Parks

“ It is all very "stagy"—but, since it exists, can hardly be called unreal.
The park proper, containing more than twelve hundred hectares, is one of the largest and most thickly wooded in France. Between the parterre and the French and English garden and the park lie the Farm and the Laiterie de la Reine, the caprice of Louis XVI when he would content Marie Antoinette and give her something to think about besides her troubles. Napoleon stripped [Pg 323] it of its furnishings to install them, for a great part, at Malmaison, for that other unhappy woman—Josephine. ”

“ The sentimentalism of the epoch did its part, and accentuated the desire to carry out personal tastes rather than build on traditionally accepted lines. The taste for the English garden grew apace in France, and many a noble plantation was remodelled on these lines, or [Pg 40] rooted up altogether. Immediately neighbouring upon the dwelling the garden still bore some resemblance to its former outlines, but, as it drew farther away, it became a park, a wildwood or a preserve. ”

“ Of the celebrated French palace and chateau gardens which are not centered upon the actual edifices with which they are more or less intimately connected, but are distinct and apart from the gardens which in most cases actually surround a dwelling, may be mentioned those of Montargis, Saint Germain, Amboise, Villers-Cotterets and Fontainebleau. These are rather parks, like the "home-parks," so called, in England, which, while adjuncts to the dwellings, are complete in themselves and are possessed of a separate identity, or reason for being. ”

“ It matters not how small the deed of kindness done, it is the motive that dignifies the action.
“Providence permitting, I hope to visit Port Royal next fall, and meet once more in the flesh my friends and kindred there. If I come I will preach a sermon or two at Mount Zion. It is a dear old church to me, and the quiet spot near by, in which sleeps the dust of my father and two brothers, is dearer still. ”

“ Carney secured the release of Aleck, who gladly returned home and took up his work with Uncle Isaac in the blacksmith shop. Aleck is still in the land of the living; he [101] owns a comfortable little home on the Port Royal road leading to Clarksville, from which, by the assistance of his son, he conducts a successful blacksmith trade, and strange to say, in his shop may be seen many of the tools he bought at the Carney sale, some of which have been in use over a century. ”

“ The forester must cut trees before they are over-ripe or his crop will waste, while the park man wants the groves to become aged and picturesque. The forester pastures cattle in his meadows, while the park man has only people and romping children among his wild flowers. The park needs the charm of primeval nature, and should be free from ugliness, artificiality, and commercialism. For the perpetuation of scenery, a landscape artist is absolutely necessary. It would be folly to put a park man in charge of a forest reserve, a lumbering proposition. ”

“ Eppa Lawson Fort was born at “Riverside,” a picturesque homestead on Red River, three miles southeast of Port Royal, Tennessee, August, 1802. He was the son of a prominent Baptist minister, and a church goer, but strange to say, during a pilgrimage of nearly ninety years, never joined a church. He believed implicitly in God’s mercy, and when approached by friends, on the subject of religion, he would assure them that the Lord would manifest Himself to him in a way that he would understand, when He was ready for him to enter the Christian fold. ”

“ While the lordly old masters have drifted away with the “days that are dust,” the posterity of a fine antebellum citizenship lingers yet with us to bless and beautify the hills and vales of dear old Port Royal.
[94] CHAPTER XI.
“THERE IS NO DEATH, WHAT SEEMS SO, IS TRANSITION. THIS LIFE OF MORTAL BREATH, IS BUT A SUBURB OF THE LIFE ELYSIAN, WHOSE PORTAL WE CALL DEATH.”
Of the four most prominent members of the Carr family, mentioned in the foregoing chapters, it is a fact worthy of note that each passed from earth from as many different States. ”

“ Thirty odd years had passed, and a new generation had come, but the flight of time only served to sweeten the sound of her story. As I bade her good bye, I was deeply conscious that I would never see her again, for she was growing too feeble to leave home, and I drove off, feeling spiritually benefitted from contact with such a Christian character as Aunt Kitty Carr.
One Autumn afternoon in 1867, a large crowd of the best colored people of Port Royal and surrounding neighborhoods, assembled on the hillside where Mount Zion now stands, and organized the church. ”

“ The great park is fourteen miles in circumference, and is well stocked with deer and other game; many foreign beasts and birds are here also kept by his Royal Highness, who is continually adding new improvements. The new erected building on Shrub’s hill, adorned beneath with the prospect of the most beautiful verdure, and a young plantation of trees, is very elegant, and promises in a short time to afford the most delightful rural scene, the noble piece of water below, produced at a great expence from a small stream, is now rendered capable of carrying barges and boats of pleasure. ”

“ Along with the progress of colored churches within the past four decades, that of orders, and societies is worthy of mention.
Within a short distance of each other, they have, near Port Royal, both Odd Fellows and [69] Benevolent Society halls. Of the latter society I shall speak more in detail, from the fact that it is much older as an organization, in this community, and has done so much for its members. It was organized, October, 1872, in a little log school room, on what was called Sugar Camp Branch, on Miss Ellen Yates’ farm. ”

“ Many persons do not realize the difference between a forest reserve and a National Park. A forest reserve is primarily used for cattle-grazing and saw-mills, while a National Park is a region wholly educational and recreational for your children and yourselves. A forest reserve is a commercial proposition, while a National Park must be estimated by higher values. In a paper on the conservation of [Pg 273] scenery, in "The Rocky Mountain Wonderland," I have said:—
We need the forest reserve, and we need the National Park. ”

“ The most expensive large parks, Central Park and Prospect Park, were located without taking advantage of the magnificent natural landscapes of the rivers and bays which distinguish New York and Brooklyn. There are many similar cases. Formerly people built with the backs of their houses upon the rivers and lakes, thus not only excluding the public from continuous access to them but ruining their beauty. Where land along the banks of rivers or along the shores of a lake can, in a city, be fairly well spared from commercial uses, public squares, parks and parkways should be located upon them. ”

“ The news was quickly conveyed to the kind old master, who sent his son, the late Sugg Fort, to the scene of excitement. Young Mr. Fort approached the patrolers in a very dignified manner, and informed them that his father had sent him to tell them that their services were not needed on his premises. It was before the county line had been changed, Mr. Fort’s residence was then in Montgomery county, instead of Robertson, its present location, and the patrolers were from Port Royal. ”

“ The ground occupied by Regent’s Park is not without its interest. The old monastic house of Marylebone stood within its boundaries in former days, and had in the time of Elizabeth its park and deer. Here also was a famous bowling-green, which the Duke of Buckingham in his day visited.
The new Parks which are now forming around the metropolis do great credit to Government, and will, like charity, cover a multitude of minor transgressions; for those who legislate for the benefit of posterity must be influenced by something more noble than narrow and selfish views. ”

“ The desire for schools and churches of their [25] own was awakened, and the right kind of white people were ready, and willing, to lend them a helping hand. Among the first to lead substantially in this direction, in Montgomery county, was Dr. P. F. Norfleet, of Port Royal.
Brief sketch of this fine old gentleman: Dr. Philip Ford Norfleet was born in the early part of the past century, at his father’s homestead on the Nashville road, one and a half miles south of Port Royal. In later years the place was known as the Dr. J. T. Darden farm. ”

“ Nothing can be more striking to one who is accustomed to the little inclosures called public parks in our American cities, than the spacious, open grounds of London. I doubt, in fact, whether any person fully comprehends their extent, from any of the ordinary descriptions of them, until he has seen them or tried to walk over them. ”

“ We are living in an open-air age. The nation of outdoor livers is a nation of power, initiative, and sanity. I hope to see the time when available State lands everywhere, when every square mile from our national forest reserve, when even many private holdings are made accessible and comfortable, and become habited with summer trampers and campers. It is the way to individual power and national efficiency.
But the national parks are far more than recreational areas. They are the supreme examples. They are the gallery of masterpieces. Here the visitor enters in a holier spirit. ”

“ The congested capitals of Europe had already learnt this lesson; traveled Americans, like William Cullen Bryant, brought it home; and Central Park, planned in 1853, was the first of the great landscape parks to serve as a people’s pleasance. Conceived in contrast to the deflowered landscape and the muddled city, the park alone re-created the traditions of civilization—of man naturalized, and therefore at home, of nature humanized, and therefore enriched. And even today our parks are what our cities should be, and are not. ”

“ Beyond it the road follows the Nisqually and Paradise valleys, under glorious groves of pine, cedar, and hemlock, along ravines of striking beauty, past waterfalls and the snout of the Nisqually Glacier, finally to inimitable Paradise Park, its inn, its hotel camp, and its public camping-grounds. Other centres of wilderness life have been since established, and the marvellous north side of the park will be opened by the construction of a northwesterly highway up the valley of the Carbon River; already a fine trail entirely around the mountain connects these various points of development. ”

“ The pleasures, then, of the Lafayette National Park cover a wide range of human desire. Sea bathing, boating, yachting, salt-water and fresh-water fishing, tramping, exploring the wilderness, hunting the view spots—these are the summer occupations of many visitors, the diversions of many others. The more thoughtful will find its historical associations fascinating, its geological record one of the richest in the continent, its forests well equipped schools for tree study, their branches a museum of bird life. ”

“ There are literally thousands of these parks scattered throughout the United States, and at all and each of them roaring provision is made for the people’s enjoyment. Compared with our English parks, with their sad, uncertain County Council bands, they fire the imagination. ”

“ The late George Washington’s family contributed liberally to the support of this couple, and in speaking of the Washington home, Fronie always referred to it as “the fat house,” meaning rich people.
The young people of Port Royal neighborhood, spent many pleasant times in years gone by, masquerading in comic costumes, as Ed and Fronie Hawkins. ”

“ A general survey of the ground allotted to the park, taken with a view to arrive at the leading characteristics which present themselves as all-important to be considered in adapting the actual situation to its purpose, shows us, in the first place, that it is very distinctly divided into two tolerably equal portions, which, for convenience sake, may be called the upper and lower parks. ”

“ The wonderful advance made in the last few years, in creating four national parks in the West, and thirty forest reservations, embracing nearly forty million acres; and in the planting of the borders of streets and highways and spacious parks in all the great cities, to satisfy the natural taste and hunger for landscape beauty and righteousness that God has put, in some measure, into every human being and animal, shows the trend of awakening public opinion. The making of the far-famed New York Central Park was opposed by even good men, with misguided pluck, perseverance, and ingenuity ”

“ The occasions, when organised meetings took place, were special scenes of gaiety, and were evidently thought important events, as even among the State Papers there is preserved74 the agreement for a race that took place there. Though admitting the public so freely, and himself mixing among them, Charles still looked upon the Royal Park as a personal possession, and exercised his full authority within it. ”

“ Towards the southern extremity of the park is a beautiful and extensive piece of water, over which is an elegant stone bridge, which, together with the water, considerably enlivens and adds dignity to the whole.
The royal forest, making a circuit of about 56 miles, abounds with deer, and every other species of game, and is possessed of every attraction for the sports of the field, which, with the manly exercises of the chase, has been the favourite amusements of many successive Kings of England. ”

“ They do not propose to us one great park of a thousand acres, at an almost unattainable distance; they do not propose a great park that nobody can get to, unless he gives a day to it, and a good deal of money: but they have adopted a system based upon the natural [Pg 16] characteristics of the neighborhood of Boston. And what better could they do? At East Boston, they have given them a park upon the water-side, where they will always have the fresh breezes of the sea. ”