Memoir, page 5: Oak Hurst garden during the Civil War, ruins of the Gibbes house
Book 2, Page 5 ·1860–1950
Transcription
remember me trying near it.
Oak hurst was my garden — The house had been burned during the Civil war — The story goes that when told that the Northern soldiers came [inserted above:] were at [end insert] to Oak hurst Mr. Barnwell refused to come outside — The officer in charge told him that they were going to burn the house — But still the old gentleman remained seated in the hall — No one could persuade him to leave his seat — so finally the officer ordered his men to go in and bring him out chair and all — But the remains of the old garden were still there. Japonica trees — big enough to climb to peek at the blooms — spirea — sweet shrub — & one azalea bush — and fields that bloomed in the most unexpected places. They were all that was left of the pre-war “Oak Hurst”. They had no care — & the trees were a tangle of vines and undergrowth.
It was only a short walk from Mt. Hope to Oakhurst & in the Spring I went there whenever I could.
Around the ruins of the Gibbes house — also burned by northern soldiers — there were flowers too, but not as many as at Oak Hurst. [Crypt] bulbs — the loveliest “Butter & Eggs”, jonquils + snow drops bloomed under and [around] the immense pecan trees. There too was [clover]
AI Notes
Continuation of Amy FitzSimons’s handwritten memoir, in blue ink. Describes Oak Hurst — Amy’s childhood garden, on the ruined house site of Mr. Barnwell — and the family story that during the Civil War Mr. Barnwell refused to leave his chair when Northern soldiers came to burn the house, so the officer in charge ordered the men to carry him out chair and all. The pre-war garden survived in part: japonica trees big enough to climb, spirea, sweet shrub, an azalea bush, and bulbs blooming wild. Amy walked over from Mt. Hope every spring she could. The page closes with the parallel story of the Gibbes house ruins, also burned by Northern soldiers, where the bulbs of ‘Butter and Eggs’ (a folk name for narcissus jonquilla or similar), jonquils and snowdrops naturalized under the pecan trees. The inserted phrase above the struck-through ‘came’ is ‘were at’ (the line reads ‘when told that the Northern soldiers came were at Oak hurst Mr. Barnwell refused’). The first word of ‘[Crypt?] bulbs’ is uncertain; ‘Butter & Eggs’ is a clear folk-flower reference.