Belle Grove Plantation (Middletown, Virginia) facts for kids
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Belle Grove Plantation
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U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Contributing Property |
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The manor house at Belle Grove Plantation
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 Location in Virginia
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| Location | On I-81 between Middletown and Strasburg, near Middletown, Virginia |
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| Area | 283 acres (1.15 km2) |
| Built | 1794–97 |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| Part of | Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove (ID69000243) |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Designated NHLDCP | August 11, 1969 |
Belle Grove Plantation is an old house and farm from the late 1700s. It is located in northern Virginia, in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. You can find it in Frederick County, close to Middletown.
Built between 1794 and 1797, this big house is a special historic place called a National Historic Landmark. It's built in the Federal style. The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) opened it as a museum in 1967. Since 2002, it's also part of the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, which is managed by the National Park Service. However, the NTHP still owns and operates the house.
Belle Grove is part of a larger National Historic Landmark that includes the Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove Plantation. It is also recognized as a Virginia Historic Landmark. The entire "Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove" area, which is about 900-acre (3.6 km2), is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This plantation is important for a few reasons. It was the home of Major Isaac Hite, Jr., a soldier from the American Revolutionary War. He was also the brother-in-law of President James Madison. Later, during the Battle of Cedar Creek in 1864, General Philip Sheridan used the house as his headquarters. The house has not changed much over time. It is one of the best-preserved 18th-century homes in the United States. The estate covers 283 acres and offers amazing views of the Shenandoah Valley, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the Alleghenies.
Contents
Exploring Belle Grove Plantation
Belle Grove Plantation has many interesting areas to explore. These include the main house, which is made of limestone. The visitor's center is in its basement. You can also see an old icehouse and smokehouse from 1815. There is a cemetery for enslaved people and a special "heritage orchard." A beautiful demonstration garden, designed by the Garden Club of Virginia, is also on the property.
At the entrance, there is a monument from 1919. It honors Stephen Dodson Ramseur, a Confederate general. He died at the plantation in 1864 after the Battle of Belle Grove.
The Manor House: Outside Look
The main part of the house is symmetrical, meaning it's the same on both sides. It has three levels: a basement, a main floor, and an attic. The corners of the house have special decorative stones called quoins. The front of the house faces south and has seven sections. Six of these sections have windows on the main floor. The middle section has the main entrance.
Twelve steps lead up to the front porch, which has a triangular top called a pediment. Four large columns support this porch. These columns are in the Tuscan style. The main door is in the middle of the porch. It has decorative elements around it, including two flat columns called pilasters. Originally, the house had porches on all four sides. Today, only the front (south) and back (north) porches remain.
The Manor House: Inside Look
The inside of Belle Grove is known for its beautiful woodwork. The style is a mix of older Georgian and newer Federal designs.
A Glimpse into History
The story of Belle Grove begins with Jost Hite. He was a German immigrant who came to the Shenandoah Valley in 1732. Jost and his partner, Robert McKay, traveled with 16 other families. They settled on a large area of land they had acquired.
One of Jost's sons, Isaac Hite, Sr., bought land in 1748 and 1770. This land, southwest of Middletown, would later become Belle Grove Plantation. The first house on the property was built around 1750 for a farmer. You can still see its old foundations near the smokehouse.
Isaac Hite, Jr. went to the College of William & Mary. He fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. In 1783, Isaac Sr. gave Belle Grove to his son and his new wife. Isaac Jr.'s wife was Nelly Conway Madison, who was the sister of future President James Madison.
Construction on the new, larger mansion began in 1794. It took three years to complete. The house was built using local limestone from the property. It was designed to show the family's important social and financial standing. Thomas Jefferson even gave some ideas for the house's design. He shared his thoughts through his friend, James Madison. James Madison visited the plantation several times. He even stayed in the older house during his honeymoon in 1794.
After Nelly passed away in 1802, Major Hite married Ann Tunstall Maury. They had many children, and most of them lived to be adults. In 1815, an addition was built on the west side of the house. This made the house 100-foot (30 m) long, which is how it looks today.
Major Hite's farm grew bigger over time. He had more grain and livestock. His estate eventually included 7,500 acres (30 km2) of land and 103 enslaved workers. He also owned and ran a general store, a grist-mill (for grinding grain), a saw-mill (for cutting wood), and a distillery. After he died in 1836, and Ann died in 1851, Belle Grove Plantation was sold outside the family.
By the time the American Civil War started, the estate was no longer the same as when the Hite family owned it. Several owners came and went before the Brumback family bought the property in 1907. The Brumbacks ran an inn there in the 1920s. In 1929, they sold it to Francis Welles Hunnewell.
Mr. Hunnewell, who lived in Wellesley, Massachusetts, changed the house very little. He had it carefully restored in the 1930s and 1940s with professional help. When he died in 1964, he left the house, 100 acres of land, and money to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Belle Grove opened as a house museum in 1967. It has been open to the public ever since, and it still operates as a working farm.
See also
- Jeffersonian architecture
- Mary Briscoe Baldwin
