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Down the hill from the old cemetery, the ruts of an old “trace” led us into a grove of trees at the edge of the forest. Hidden in that grove were th6 brick and stone remains of the old Bryan home. What a thrill.
Instead of the ‘pile of bricks’ we were expecting, the stone walls of the partially submerged first floor, com: plete with door and window casings, were still standing. In addition, one full brick wall', sporting the first and second floor fireplaces and chimney, was still intact, all the way to the second floor gable.
Enough remained to give one, not only a sense of the size of the house but, also, ifs configuration. We spent tome time here, inspected the ruins from all angles and discussed the life styles of the people it once sheltered. After taking several photos, I selected a single brick to take as a souvenir of our visit to this physical reminder of our family’s distant past.
John Bryan, another of William’s children, married a Nancy Lillard. Their grandson was William Jennings Bryan. Our next stop took us on a winding, narrow, steep, dirt, mountain road to visit the LUlard’s ancestral cemetery. Years earlier, William Jennings Bryan had a native stone monument erected there in honor of his maternal grandparents.
A similar monument had been erected at the Bryan cemetery, to honor William Jenning’s paternal grandparents but it too had become building material.
On our way back from thte Lillard cemetery, Wayne asked if we had time to stop by and meet his cousin Sally who had become his genealogy partner. We said yes, so a few minutes later, we stopped at the home of Daniel and Sally Keyser. After the introductions, Sally said, “Come on in, lunch is ready.” ,
To our surprise, a hearty lunch of cabbage soup, biscuits and ham, soup beans, stewed apples, chocolate pie, and cpffee was waiting for us. During lunch, we listened to stories about the area, heard some personal histories, and looked at old pictures of the arep. Much of this area was a remote, forgotten part of Virginia until the late 1920s when the government designated a large egment of these
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