ust
have stood among handsome trees, for it was called Peter's Grove, and we
can look at the oaks still standing in near-by places and visualize
those which surrounded this house.

David Peter was a son of Robert Peter. He married Sarah Johns, and had
two daughters and one son, Hamilton. After his death Mrs. David Peter
married John Leonard, and the place was sold, in the thirties, to
Colonel John Carter, Representative in Congress from South Carolina. His
wife was Eleanor Marbury, one of that large family of girls in the old
house on Bridge (M) Street. The house was then renamed Carolina Place.

For a while it was occupied by the Honorable John F. Crampton, Minister
from England. It was during this time that a treaty was settled by him
with Daniel Webster concerning the Newfoundland fisheries. A little
later Count de Sartiges, the French Minister, lived here.

About that time the house was destroyed by fire and the land was sold by
John Carter O'Neal, of the Inniskillen Dragoons, son of Anne Carter who
had married an Englishman, to Henry D. Cooke.

The western part of this square was bought in 1805 by Mrs. Elisha O.
Williams. She was Harriot Beall, daughter of Brooke Beall, the third of
these sisters to settle on The Heights, and she also bought her home
with money inherited from her father's estate.

[Illustration: HOME OF BROOKE WILLIAMS]

Six months after buying the property Mrs. Williams was left a widow. She
built a home and lived there with her small children, and thirty years
later gave the northern part of her land to her son, Brooke Williams and
his wife, Rebecca. It was on the spot where the Home for the Blind now
stands.

Mrs. Rebecca Williams was a very beautiful woman and all her children
inherited her beauty. The daughter who was named Harriot Beall for her
grandmother became the most famous girl who ever grew up in Georgetown.
The romantic story of her marriage to Baron Bodisco, the Russian
Minister, runs thus:

It all started with a Christmas party which the baron gave for his
nephews, Waldemar and Boris Bodisco. To this party all of the boys
and girls were invited, and great bonfires lighted the way, for
there was little gas in those days.

Among those who came was Harriot Beall Williams, the beautiful
sixteen-year-old daughter of Brooke Williams, senior. Baron Bodisco, a
bachelor of sixty-three, became completely enamored of Miss Williams
that evening, and it is said tha