The story of Afton Villa is the story of a succession of people who have owned and loved it through over a century and a half, all of whom have contributed something to its beauty and in turn have left something of themselves – their vision, hopes, sorrows, joys, tragedies.  It is this intermingling of joy and sadness that gives Afton Villa a strange, haunting beauty that the visitor usually feels as he enters the gates and first looks down through the cathedral-like archway of live oaks that line the winding avenue for one-half mile.  It is this quality that endures even though the villa itself was destroyed by fire in 1963 and only the gardens remain.