I’m researching the life of novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes and would be
very grateful for any information concerning the setting of what may be her
most autobiographical novel. In 1936, Mrs. Keyes began her novel Honor
Bright with an author's foreword that stated:

 "The old plantation of Solomon's Garden, described in Honor Bright,
has its prototype in reality.  It is presented in fiction form with the
knowledge and approval of its present owner, the nearest living 'kin' to
George Washington."

There is no other information in the forword.  In fact, Mrs. Keyes was
uncharacteristically coy about the identity of this plantation and its
inhabitants. She typically shares much more about such settings with her
readers.  Mrs. Keyes goes on to say another, nearby plantation actually
bore the name Solomon's Garden “but that [place] is now obsolete.”  It was
definitely another estate which served as the model for the plantation in
Honor Bright

Can anyone enlighten me as to the name of the estate in question? Or the
names of its inhabitants in 1934-36? Moreover, can you think of any reason
Mrs. Keyes would be so mysterious about this place?

A careful reading of the novel itself gives this information about the
estate: It is--or was --a white clapboarded, green-shuttered house with a
wide brick walk leading up to it and four white outbuildings arranged in a
symmetrical square. It sits atop a knoll or slight rise in the ground.  It
may be the older of two homes on one property. However, if Mrs. Keyes is
true to form, she also used factual information to describe the history of
the place--and in that case, it was built around 1678 by James Fitzhubert
for his bride, Sally Hunter.  Its most famous attribute may be a Painted
Parlor -- a formal sitting room outstanding in its hand-painted panels.
That parlor was decorated by a Hessian soldier rescued (from drowning?) by
the plantation owner/another Virginia landowner.  In gratitude, the Hessian
made his own paints from clay on the grounds and decorated the room in the
European "fashions of the day."

Mrs. Keyes has used the Fielding name in several of her novels, both as
main characters and in minor, supporting roles.  In Honor Bright, a ghost
named Lucy Fielding is said to haunt Solomon's Garden.  In her foreword,
Mrs. Keyes' says she appropriated the haunt--name and all -- from the real
Solomon's Garden, the one that is NOT the setting of the novel -- but which
is nearby.

Again, I'd be most appreciative of any information or even supposition in
this case.

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