Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1
In the morning at about 9 o'clock, set out for Richmond which is 10. miles from London, and said to be the most Beautiful Spot in England, and perhaps in Europe. It is upon a hill, which Commands a vast plain in which Plain the River Thames runs winding about for a great ways in the midst of the Meadows, which even at this Time are covered with verdure.1 Returned to Town to Dine.
The purpose of the excursion, JA later recalled, was to visit former Massachusetts governor Thomas Pownall and Pennsylvania proprietor Richard Penn (
Diary and Autobiography
, 3:151).