rose
Park. It is still, as it has always been, I am glad to say, completely
unimproved, unspoiled, sweet and rambling and quiet, wending its way
along the brook that empties into Rock Creek at the beginning of Oak
Hill. I suppose there is hardly a soul of middle-age living in
Georgetown who has not fond memories of Lover's Lane, for in the days of
our youth we did walk with our lovers; no automobiles or movies filled
our Saturday or Sunday afternoons, and very little golf.

Through Lover's Lane we went to Normanstone, the home of the two Misses
Barnards and their sister, Mrs. Talcott. It was a quaint little house,
which stood just about where the British Embassy now is. The name is
commemorated by Normanstone Drive. Mr. Robert Barnard built Normanstone
in 1830. It was a Devonshire cottage of clay, straw, and pebbles, with
walls four feet thick.

The turreted stone mansion nearby was built by Mr. Elverson of
Philadelphia. His daughter, Nelly, became the wife of Monsieur
Patrenotre, the French Minister. This was in the days before our foreign
envoys became Ambassadors.

Our first knowledge of the present Montrose Park was as Parrott's Woods.
Richard Parrott conducted there a "rope walk." It seems that when they
made rope it was necessary to have a long, even stretch where the
rope-makers walked up and down manufacturing the hemp into rope. And,
of course, in this town with all its ships, the making of rope was a
lucrative business.

Mr. Parrott evidently was kind in loaning his property for picnics too,
for again Mr. Gordon gives us vivid pictures of the Fourth of July
annual picnic of all the Protestant Sunday schools. It seems to have
been a huge affair, with flags and banners and rosettes of various
colors adorning the scholars of the different schools.

In 1822 the property was bought by Clement Smith, of whom I have spoken
before as being the first cashier of the Farmers and Mechanics Bank,
afterwards becoming its president. He called the place Elderslie. In
1837 he sold it to Mrs. Mary McEwen Boyce, whose daughter, Jane, married
George Washington Peter, son of Thomas Peter of Tudor Place. In a
railroad accident, both Captain Boyce and another daughter were killed.
Mrs. Boyce continued to live here the rest of her life.

It was a very sweet, homelike house, but not a particularly handsome
one. There was a conservatory opening off of one of the rooms, for Mrs.
Boyce seems to have been especially fond of flowers