A Virginia family turns to faith, food and a mustard seed to preserve a piece of American history
I had a very special and important conversation with Casey on the Sabbath as I prepared to share her family’s story with our readers today. Beneath the charming images of scones, embroidery and a family rallying together is something quite serious.
by Jennifer Rae Vliet
There are corners of Virginia where the history of America seems almost close enough to touch. Orange County is one of them…a landscape of rolling fields, old estates and country roads where the lives of presidents, soldiers and generations of American families have left their mark.
Standing among that history is the magnificent Mayhurst Estate in Orange, Virginia.
Built beginning in 1859 for Col. John Willis, a great-nephew of President James Madison, Mayhurst once adjoined Madison’s Montpelier estate. During the Civil War, Confederate Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill established his headquarters on its grounds during the winter of 1863–64. Today, the extraordinary Italianate estate remains remarkably intact and is recognized on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
But history such as this survives only when someone is willing to fight for it.
Readers of The Plain Truth may remember that we have covered the story of Jason and Casey Cashell and their family’s determined effort to protect Mayhurst and the historic countryside surrounding it. They have already faced the prospect of a massive solar development that threatened to forever alter the landscape and viewshed around this remarkable piece of Virginia history. For the Cashells, protecting Mayhurst has become much more than preserving a beautiful old house. It has meant standing guard over a little piece of the American story.
And that story is especially meaningful to us at The Plain Truth.
We have long taught of the extraordinary promises God made to His friend Abraham…promises handed down through Isaac and Jacob and ultimately bestowed upon Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. We have shown our readers why we believe the United States represents modern-day Ephraim and that the extraordinary blessings that made America great are connected to those ancient promises.
Perhaps that is one reason places like Mayhurst stir something deeper within us. They are physical reminders of an inheritance of generations who came before us, of the building of this nation, and of a history that cannot simply be recreated once it has been bulldozed or paved over.
Jason and Casey Cashell seem to understand that responsibility profoundly.
For six years, their family has poured its heart, labor and faith into Mayhurst, transforming this historic estate into a place of hospitality while fighting to preserve the history and beauty surrounding it. More than once, they have found themselves looking to God when the odds of protecting it seemed overwhelming.
And now, the Cashell family finds itself facing yet another threat to the historic gateway of Mayhurst.
This time, however, Casey Cashell and the women of Mayhurst are answering that threat in a way particularly fitting for our Sunday food pages:
They are heading into the kitchen.
I had a very special and important conversation with Casey on the Sabbath as I prepared to share her family’s story with our readers. And beneath the charming images of scones, embroidery and a family rallying together is something quite serious.
The Cashells need to raise money toward preserving the historic gateway to Mayhurst. If they cannot raise the money, Casey told me plainly, they cannot afford to secure and preserve the land.
For this family, that means potentially losing far more than acreage.
“We want to preserve history and preserve the land,” Casey told me.
Their goal is to protect the gateway from development and preserve the character of the land surrounding this historic American estate. Casey also spoke passionately about protecting the property from the possibility of an encampment and, more broadly, about preserving our American heritage.
So the Cashell women have gone to work.
Casey’s mother and 13-year-old daughter devised a plan that sounds almost impossibly homespun for the size of the challenge before them: help save Mayhurst through scones, embroidery kits and lockets.
But don’t mistake the sweetness of the idea for a lack of seriousness.
Food is already part of the heart of Mayhurst. The estate operates as a bed-and-breakfast, where hospitality and beautiful food are part of the experience of staying within this remarkable piece of Virginia history. Now the family is sharing some of that hospitality beyond Mayhurst’s gates.
Their Mayhurst teatime recipes include “Rammy’s Better Than England’s Scones,” Rammy’s Devonshire Cream, and Mayhurst Estate Lemon Blueberry Scones… recipes carrying something of the home, family and traditions they are trying so desperately to protect.
And behind every scone, every stitch and every locket is something even more important to Casey: a mustard seed.
Casey told me today that God has placed a particular burden on her heart to help people understand the reality of Christ’s teaching about faith the size of a mustard seed.
Her insight was beautifully simple: we can become so focused upon whether our faith is big enough that we miss the most important part.
The greatness isn’t in us. The greatness is in God.
“You don’t have to have great faith,” Casey explained to me. “It can be so tiny, but there is a great God that answers the prayers of His people.”
As she put it so beautifully, “We get focused on the faith part and miss out on the God part.”
That is what God has been teaching the entire Cashell family through their years at Mayhurst.
“God began teaching our whole family that we need only have the faith the size of a mustard seed in a God who is powerful,” Casey said.
And so this isn’t merely a campaign to sell enough things to reach a number on a fundraising page. Casey hopes that something much larger can happen through it…that the effort to save this land can itself become a testimony.
The family is praying that God will use truth…and, in Casey’s words, “every stitch and scone” to build faith in the hearts of friends around the world.
I think there is something rather beautiful about all of this.
An American estate that has stood since the eve of the Civil War. A family determined that the historic land surrounding it will not disappear on their watch. A grandmother, mother and 13-year-old girl answering a very grown-up financial problem with recipes handed down through family, needle and thread, and faith in a God far greater than the obstacle before them.
And perhaps there is a challenge here for the rest of us as well.
The Cashells have their mustard seed.
Perhaps we can bring ours.
For this Sunday’s food feature, I am asking The Plain Truth readers who cherish America’s history and who wouldn’t mind a truly wonderful scone along the way… to visit Mayhurst, learn about this family’s effort, purchase the recipes and other special offerings if you are so inclined.
Because history cannot protect itself. Sometimes ordinary families must decide that something is too precious to surrender.
And sometimes the tools God gives them for the fight are wonderfully unexpected:
A prayer. A needle. A mustard seed. And a plate of scones.
Want to Help Save Mayhurst?
Please take a moment to visit the Mayhurst Instagram post embedded above, where Casey Cashell and her family share this latest chapter in their fight to preserve the historic gateway to Mayhurst.
There you can connect directly with the Cashell family, learn more about what they are facing and discover the different ways you can help support their effort.
Whether through a recipe, a stitch, a locket, a prayer or simply sharing their story, this is an opportunity to stand alongside a family working to preserve a beautiful piece of our American heritage.