Ayrfield and Williamsburg

[damont]

montuos and I are currently at Ayrfield, where she grew up and where her mother (who also grew up here) lives. We spent last night here, and are shortly heading down to Williamsburg for W&M Homecoming Weekend.

ayrfield (montuos's mother) points out Ayr Mount (and the old Occoneechee-Orange NASCAR Speedway) in Hillsborough NC with this note: "Notice any resemblance to Ayrfield?" (meaning the 1806 house which burned down in 1994). To me it looks more like The Grove, which is nearby on the way to Kinsale village proper; that house still exists, and was in the Bailey family (cousins of variable degree to montuos) for many years. The Grove has a center door and single chimneys, like Ayr Mount; Ayrfield had a double chimney and the front door was near a side wall. ayrfield notes: "My mother and I visited there once in the fifties. The last owner, Sam Kirkland, had married a cousin of ours, Emily Davis Young who came down from Emily Ann Davis who married T.L.H. Young from NC. That Emily [E.A. Davis] was a sister of Hope Alice the first" (montuos's great-great-grandmother) "to put things in perspective for you."

Also via ayrfield (article from the Richmond Times-Disgrace): Williamsburg Dig reveals rare 17th-century structure

Speaking of the 'Burg, we're headed there now. I'll likely be offline until some time Sunday. Have a good weekend, and safe travels to everyone!

Comments

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Re: Ayr Mount... after speaking to ayrfield further, the interior layout of Ayr Mount differs from The Grove. Ayr Mount has a front hallway stretching the entire width of the house, with the space behind it aplit down the center into two rooms. This makes it resemble in interior of Ayrfield... *if* you treated Ayrfield's side (south) door as the front door (which, for much of the latter part of the house's life, it effectively was). The Grove has a center hallway running from front to back, separating the rooms on either side of the first floor.