The most unusual feature of Salona is its wide T-shaped hall which runs the full width of the north front of the central house, with the main stairway rising at its west end directly across one of the front windows. The long hall originally led to the wings on either end, but these were apparently destroyed during the Civil War and only the east wing was rebuilt in 1866. There is a fireplace in every room, although most of the Federal-style mantels have been recently installed in Salona and have come from old houses in North Carolina and New England. There are chair rails on the walls of the living room, dining room, and the first floor hallway. Extensive remodeling was done by the present owners.[132] The T-shaped hall ends on the solid wall behind the stairway on the west side, and on the east leads directly into the post-Civil War wing which contains a small sitting room, bathroom, and the kitchen. The smaller hall, the stem of the T, runs perpendicular to the main hall with opposing entrance doors at each end. The spacious living and dining rooms flank the smaller hall, with entrances from the main hall. [Illustration] It is a Smoot family legend that Constantino Brumidi, the Italian immigrant who painted many of the murals in the U. S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., was given shelter by the Smoots, probably after the Civil War, when he was destitute. As a token of his gratitude, he decorated the ceilings of the living room and dining room with flowers and fruits. No trace of these paintings now exists. However, when the DuVals purchased Salona in 1952, there were clearly remains of paintings on the walls and ceilings. But the plaster was in such poor condition that it had to be completely replaced. On the second floor, an upper hall, slightly smaller than the one below, runs across the north front. It may once have been an open "T" before modernization and the addition of two bathrooms by the DuVals. To the right from the head of the stairs is the master bedroom with a brick hearth and brick and wood mantel. The next bedroom, almost as large, also contains a brick and wood mantel. In the east wing, the hall leads directly into a den from which a stairway goes up to an attic bedroom and bath, both added by the DuVals. The den also serves as a passageway to a secondary hallway from which open two smaller bedrooms separated by another stairway leading to the first floor close to the kitchen. The unfinished portion of the attic is used for storage. There is a partial basement, primarily under the east wing. No copy of the original floor plan has been found. Records of the Virginia Mutual Assurance Society in Richmond show that no fire insurance was ever purchased from them on Salona, hence no floor plan drawings are on file there.[133]