Edward P. Doherty

[Laurie Verge]

I'm not certain of this, but I believe that Mr. Hall used to say on our Booth Escape Route Tours that Conger and his men were so exhausted by the time they reached Port Conway, Virginia, on the banks of the Rappahannock River, they had to rest for several hours at Belle Grove, a wonderful plantation home on the site of the birthplace of James Madison (Madison's mother was a Conway).

In the good ole days of Southern hospitality, about six of us pulled into the driveway of Belle Grove in the 1980s just to sneek a peek. The owner at that time, a wonderful lady of about 80 years, was working in her flower beds. We expected to be yelled at, but she was delighted to have company and invited us into this very large, lovely home and showed us downstairs, upstairs, and all over.

There were enough sterling silver serving trays, covered trenchards, silverware, candlesticks, etc. to outfit the Willard Hotel. We won't even start on the glassware, china, and knick-knacks from around the world. There was also a very snobby son upstairs lifting weights and quite perturbed that we were horning in on his visit home from Italy to see Mother! You could just tell that he was waiting to inherit the place.

This lovely lady was the heiress to a furnace manufacturing company and had married a man who rose to the heights of a rear admiral. It was one of the best house tours I have ever had.