Sunday, June 21, 1981
HE POTOMAC LOOKS different down in Virginia near where Popes Creek joins the river. More serene, wider of course, tree-fringed and offering vistas that stretch the eye. It must have looked much the same when Thomas Lee, planter, burgess and acting governor of Virginia, built Stratford Hall in the 1720s and Augustine Washington built the house, upriver a bit, where George was bom.</br></br>Û¢	Tucked away off the beaten track in Westmoreland County, these two famous plantations are ohly a little more than a couple of horns from Washington and a nice excursion into the rural countryside. Both afford a glimpse into domestic life in the early 18th century that surprises us 20th-century voyeurs. Drive onto the roads that, lead to these houses from Rte. 3E and you drive clean out of our era ÛÓ not because of the oxen and the costumed employes, but because this land was part of the beginning of America.</br></br>The Lees, of course, are as close as we come in this country to aristocracy, and the ancestral home .ia as impressive in its setting as any English castle. Stratford has had no majt.Ûª- changes since 1730. It was occupied until L822 by members of the Lee family, that remarkable line that produced two signers of the Declaration of Independence and a general of the Annies of the Confederacy. The lineage is all set forth in the re- ception center through which you pass before entering the house, and itÛªs worth a quick look; the generations do confuse. You may, however, get sidetracked looking at the family christening dress and some of the Lee jewelry, like the mourning locket, in the adjacent cases.</br></br>There are only a few actual Lee pieces among the furniture in Stratford, but everything is authentic to the period, 1630-1810. The costumed hostesses, steeped in the Lee genealogy and each wearing a necklace featuring the squirrel so prominent in the Lee coat of arms, are full of wonderful stories about life in the old house.</br></br>Surely the most touching is the one about Robert E. Lee, not yet 4, who had to leave home with his mother and younger brothers when his half-brother inherited the house. With the coach waiting in the courtyard to take them to a new home, Robert turned up missing. After an extensive search, the child was discovered crouching in the nursery, whispering goodbye to the angels embossed against the back of the fireplace. Get down on your knees and look at the angels or you will regret it.