Belle Grove Plantation

[L Verge]

All my life, I have driven or ridden past Belle Grove Plantation in King George County, Virginia, and wished that I could live there. Belle Grove sits on the banks of the Rappahannock River in what is now the non-existent village of Port Conway - which once overlooked Port Royal, Virginia, on the opposite bank. The plantation was also the birthplace of James Madison, whose mother was a Conway. However, I believe that I am correct that the original home in which he was born burned during the early-1800s.

Belle Grove figures into the Booth escape route because it was Port Conway where Booth and Herold crossed the Rappahannock on the pole ferry run by James Thornton, and here that the 16th NY Cavalry questioned William Rollins and his wife and was told to find Willie Jett at the hotel run by the Gouldmans in Bowling Green. Belle Grove also became a rest stop for the cavalrymen as they awaited boarding the ferry in groups small enough to be accommodated. Col. Conger, who must have been in great pain from his wartime injuries, also rested in the hallway at Belle Grove.

Sometime in the early-1980s, I convinced a group of friends to drive up the driveway to see the house. The owner was out working in her flower beds. She was about 80 years old, and I was afraid she would yell and scream at us. However, she was delighted to have company and gave us a grand tour of the interior. She was the widow of a rear admiral and the daughter of a furnace magnate. She had lived in Belle Grove for over fifty years. Within about five years, I learned that she had passed away.

The plantation has been for sale for a number of years, but I was just contacted by its new owners. A corporation has purchased it, restored it, and opened it for daily tours as well as turning it into a bed and breakfast. They are hoping that we can fit a stop there into our Booth escape route tours.

If you want to see this magnificent site - and why I wanted to live there - visit http://www.bellegroveplantation.com.