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ABOUT BELLE GROVE
 The
History of Belle Grove
begins with the German immigration into the
Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. In 1732, Jost Hite, his partner Robert
McKay, and 16 families journeyed to the northern Valley to settle on
140,000 acres obtained in two land grants. A grandson of Jost Hite was
Major Isaac Hite Jr, who attended William and Mary College and served
in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. In 1783, his
father gave him and his bride Nelly Conway Madison, sister of a future
President of the United States, the 483 acres on which Belle Grove
house was later built. In 1794, construction began, and was completed
in 1797. The mansion was built with limestone quarried on the property,
and, as was customary in that day, was intended to display the owners'
social and financial status. |
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Isaac
Hite, Jr. by Charles Peale Polke , 1799.
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| After the death of Nelly in 1802, Major Hite married Ann Tunstall
Maury. Three children were born to the first marriage and ten to the
second. Twelve of these children lived to adulthood. In 1815, as the
family grew, an addition was made at the west end of the original house
to finish-out the one-hundred-foot facade as it stands today. The grain
and livestock plantation continued to grow until Major Hite controlled
7500 acres of land with 103 slave workers. Hite also owned a general
store, a grist-mill, a saw-mill and a distillery. He died in 1836, and
after Ann's death in 1851, Belle Grove was sold out of the family. By
the start of the Civil War in 1861, Belle Grove no longer existed as it
had during the Hite era. There was a succession of owners before the
Brumback family in 1907, and then Francis Welles Hunnewell in 1929.
Much is owed to the thoughtful preservation efforts of these 20th
century owners. |
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Belle
Grove, one of the outstanding mansions of the Valley of Virginia, shows
evidence of the cultures that came to the Valley with the early
settlers. It also identifies with ideas that were shaping architecture
at the time. Like other period houses built in the Valley, the design
shows Thomas Jefferson's influence from the Tidewater and Piedmont
areas, and also Classical Revival elements, an architectural innovation
of the day. The interior is distinguished by fine woodwork in a
transitional style ranging from Georgian to Federal periods. Outlasting
weather, war, family triumphs and tragedies, Belle Grove testifies to
the persistence and courage of those who strove to excel, and who built
their homes to make a lasting mark on future generations. As a prized
survivor of regional and national significance, Belle Grove is a
National Historic Landmark, a Virginia Historic Landmark, and a
historic property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It
serves the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia as an educational center
through the many interpretive programs it offers, and its highest
priority is to stimulate historical awareness among area residents and
all other visitors.
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Nelly Conway Madison Hite by Charles Peale Polke , 1799.
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