While we hated to leave Chippokes Plantation, we were excited to head to our next stop — the incomparable Wild Hare Farm in Hanover VA, the home of my niece Alyson, her husband Matt, son Christopher, daughter Madelyn, three dogs (Punky, Willard and PJ), four pigs (Louise, Chicklet, Palin, and Boss), 12 chickens (one named Worms), five rabbits (Myrtle, Teddy, Gus, LeBrown James, and Morty), one draft horse (Blossom), and a fish named Fancy.  As the farm is not far from Richmond, we had time to nip by Smith’s Fort Plantation on the way, although we did not take time to do the full-blown tour.  SFP was the location of Captain John Smith’s fort built in 1609 directly across the James River from the Jamestown colony.  The original fort was quickly abandoned due to dry rot and rat infestation, but the house, built in 1751, is beautiful and is now a museum with furnishings from the late 16th century.   At one point in history, the land was given by Chief Powhatan to John Rolfe as a dowry for the hand of Pocahontas.  Small world!

Wild Hare Farm is a wonderful place, full of the activities of a young family into just about everything!  The farmhouse is new — built by Alyson and Matt just last fall, although they have owned and played on the farm since 2007.  Quite beautiful, as you can see below. My favorite room is the kitchen, with a refurbished 1940 Wedgwood stove and a fabulous sink with “running boards” as I call them and a skirt that Alyson made.   The pasture near the house has all kinds of interesting delights, including an elaborate colony of animal pens and a vintage Airstream (1973 model), which they lived in during the construction of the farmhouse.  When Madelyn arrived home from school in the mid afternoon, she made a bee line for the chicken yard, making sure all were fed, watered and entertained, and collecting five small light brown eggs.   By the time we leave tomorrow, she’ll have collected a dozen for us to take on our voyage.  Christopher was on a mission last night selling ear plugs at the huge Nascar race in Richmond this weekend.  Last time he sold $2,000 worth of earplugs!  I don’t know how many that is, but I would gladly pay $1,000 each if I were at a Nascar race with naked ears!  We had a wonderful spaghetti dinner and stayed up late catching up.   What a great treat to be here.