By Ed Simmons, Jr.
cpreporter@lcs.net
Joining the cheerful daffodils and their friendly forsythia cousins now lining the back roads of Caroline, a magnificent collection of pink cherry blossoms has been on display at the fork of Mattaponi Trail and Old Stage Road.
Here at "Green Falls," the home of county historian Herb Collins, 40 cherry trees of the same type that border the Tidal Basin dot the crest of the hill nestled in the fork, once a stagecoach junction in Colonial times.
Planted 29 years ago, the grove commemorates the life of Collins' mother, Dorothea Hawes Campbell Collins, who lived continuously at the home since she was five years old. A direct descendent of Dolly Roy who kept a Port Royal tavern circa 1720, Dorothea died May 21, 1981, at the age of 75. "I planted them the year Mother died," said Collins, who is leaving the home built in 1711 and its 600 acres to Preservation Virginia to become a museum open to all.