Belle Grove Plantation is a late-18th-century

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and ...

and estate in the northern

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, USA. It is situated in Frederick County, about a mile southwest of Middletown. Built between 1794 and 1797, the large Federal-style manor house is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

and was opened to the public by its owners, the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

(NTHP), as a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

in 1967. In 2002, Belle Grove became part of the

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park became the 388th unit of the United States National Park Service when it was authorized on December 19, 2002. The National Historical Park was created to protect several historically signifi ...

, a

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

unit, although it continues to be owned and operated by the NTHP. It is part of a U.S.

, the Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove Plantation. Belle Grove is also designated a

Virginia Historic Landmark A Virginia Historic Landmark is a structure, site, or place designated as a landmark by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Inclusion process Nominations for the Virginia Landmark Register are simultaneously processed for inclusion on ...

and, as part of "Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove", is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Historically important as the home of revolutionary veteran Major Isaac Hite, Jr – President

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

’s brother-in-law – and as the headquarters of General

Philip Sheridan Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with General-i ...

during the

Battle of Cedar Creek The Battle of Cedar Creek, or Battle of Belle Grove, was fought on October 19, 1864, during the American Civil War. The fighting took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern Virginia, near Cedar Creek, Middletown, and the Valley Pike. D ...

(1864), the manor house has been little altered over the centuries and remains one of the best preserved 18th century homes in the country. Affording grand vistas of the surrounding Shenandoah Valley, Blue Ridge and

Alleghenies The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...

, the estate is situated on 283 acres of Maj. Hite’s original 483 acres. (The entire CCBGNHP, including the nearby battlefield, consists of 3,593 acres.)

Grounds

Belle Grove's plantation grounds include the large limestone manor house (which accommodates the visitor's center in its basement), an 1815 icehouse and smokehouse, a slave cemetery, a "heritage orchard", and a demonstration garden designed by the Garden Club of Virginia. At the entrance to the plantation is a monument erected in 1919 in memory of

Stephen Dodson Ramseur Stephen Dodson Ramseur (May 31, 1837 – October 20, 1864) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War, at one point the youngest in the army. He impressed Lee by his actions at Malvern Hill and Chancellorsville, where his brigade led ...

, a Confederate general who died at the plantation in 1864 following the Battle of Belle Grove.

Manor house

Exterior: The symmetrical main block (which excludes the single west wing, added in 1815) consists of three stories: a basement, a ''

piano nobile ( Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ) is the architectural term for the principal floor of a '' palazzo''. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the house ...

'' main floor, and an attic half-story. The corners are decorated with

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

s. The front (south) elevation, which is the only one in which the limestone is finished, consists of seven bays: six with main floor windows (the extreme right and left are double width) and the center one with the main entry. Twelve steps ascend the elevated front

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

, with its prominent pediment and four Tuscan-style columns, which encompasses the three central bays – of which the middle one has the main door and door surround, framed by two

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s also of the

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but wit ...

. This main block originally had neo-classical-style porticos on all four sides, but today only the front and back (south and north) porticos survive. Interior:
The interior is notable for its fine woodwork in a transitional style ranging from Georgian to Federal.

History

Jost Hite – grandfather of Major Isaac Hite, Jr – was a German immigrant to the Shenandoah Valley. In 1732, Jost and his partner Robert McKay, along with 16 other families, journeyed via the

Valley Pike Valley Pike or Valley Turnpike is the traditional name given for the Indian trail and roadway which is now approximated by U.S. Route 11 in Virginia, U.S. Route 11 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Long before the arrival of English colonist ...

into the northern Valley to settle on acquired through two land grants. One of Jost's sons – Isaac Hite, Sr – purchased in 1748, and another in 1770, just southwest of Middletown. Together, these would become the Belle Grove Plantation. The first house on the Belle Grove site (a large

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

structure later called the “Old Hall”) was built for a tenant farmer around 1750. (Its foundations are still visible adjacent to the smokehouse.) Isaac, Jr, attended

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public university, public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, William III and Queen ...

and served in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. Upon their marriage in 1783, Isaac, Sr, gave his son and daughter-in-law – Nelly Conway Madison, sister of the future President – the Belle Grove house and grounds. In 1794, construction began on the new mansion, which was completed in three years. It was constructed of local limestone quarried on the property, and, according to prevailing custom, was intended to display the owners' high social and financial status.

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

, through the agency of his friend James Madison, made a number of suggestions to the architect which strongly influenced the final design. Madison is known to have visited the plantation several times, even staying in the "Old Hall" (before the larger house was built) during his own honeymoon in 1794. After Nelly's death (1802), Major Hite married Ann Tunstall Maury. Of the three children born to the first marriage and the ten to the second, all but one lived into adulthood. In 1815, an addition was made at the west end of the house realizing the facade that exists today. As his grain and livestock holdings grew, Maj. Hite expanded his estate to include a total of of land and 103 slave workers. He eventually owned and operated a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

, grist-mill,

saw-mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

and

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

. After his death (1836), and that of Ann (1851), Belle Grove Plantation was sold out of the family. By the start of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, the estate no longer existed as it had during the Hite family era. There was a succession of owners before the Brumback family purchased the property in 1907. The Brumbacks operated an inn there in the 1920s, but sold it to Francis Welles Hunnewell of Wellesley, Massachusetts in 1929. These 20th-century owners altered the house very little. With professional assistance, Mr. Hunnewell had the house carefully restored in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon his death in 1964, he bequeathed the house, 100 surrounding acres, and an endowment of $100,000 (~$ in ) to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Belle Grove was opened as a house museum in 1967 and has been open to the public, as well as remaining a working farm, ever since.

References

External links

NTHP Belle Grove WebsiteBelle Grove, State Route 727, Middletown, Frederick County, VA
at the

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(HABS) {{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia James Madison National Historic Landmarks in Virginia Houses completed in 1797 Historic house museums in Virginia Museums in Frederick County, Virginia Plantation houses in Virginia Federal architecture in Virginia Thomas Jefferson buildings Neoclassical architecture in Virginia Palladian Revival architecture in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Frederick County, Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Georgian architecture in Virginia Houses in Frederick County, Virginia Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia Historic district contributing properties in Virginia National Trust for Historic Preservation 1797 establishments in Virginia

Grounds

Manor house

History

See also

References

External links