While the current Tayloe generation might choose to refer to themselves as farmers , it's unlikely that the builder of Mt. Airy, who was probably the richest man in VA at the time with hundreds of slaves in his possession and thousands of acres of land would have styled himself as such. If he chose any moniker, it would have been *gentleman* and although he may have thought of himself as a planter, he wouldn't have ever thought of himself as a farmer. The whole concept of calling a place like Mt Airy a "farm" is similar to calling the sprawling robber baron mansions of Newport, RI "cottages". I agree, Mt Airy does NOT look like a plantation, I think most architechtural historians would say it looks more like an English or Irish manor house :-) Geffrei