There are no traditions--and no ballads.
A seven-mile stretch of the river follows the outlines of a sickle, or, if you are not familiar with sickles, of a handmade figure five.

Abingdon lies at the sickle point, prosperous Vesper at the end of the handle; Vesper, the county seat, abode of lawyers and doctors--some bankers, too.
Home also of retired business men, of retired farmers; home of old families, hereditary county officials, legislators.
Overarched with maples, the old road parallels the river bend, a mile away.

The broad and fertile bottom land within the loop of this figure five is divided into three great farms--"gentlemen's estates." The gentlemen are absentees all.
A most desirable neighborhood; the only traces of democracy on the river road are the schoolhouse and the cemetery.

Malvern and Brookfield were owned respectively by two generals, gallant soldiers of the Civil War, successful lawyers, since, of New York City.

Stately, high-columned Colonial houses, far back from the road; the clustered tenant houses, the vast barns, long red tobacco sheds--all are eloquent of a time when lumber was the cheapest factor of living.
The one description serves for the two farms.