Springfield Tour

[L Verge]

Speaking of tours... The Surratt Society held its annual fall meeting and election of officers at a beautiful site yesterday on the banks of the Rappahannock River in the Northern Neck of Virginia. Belle Grove Plantation, birthplace of James Madison, had also fallen on hard times such as we discussed in another thread about Mount Vernon and Monticello. Over the past decade or so, it has been restored as one of the most beautiful and gracious bed and breakfast (weddings, tea parties, luncheons, etc.) venues that you can imagine. It is the last vestige of the town of Port Conway (Madison's mother was a Conway). Across the river stands Port Royal.

The site was chosen for the Society's function, however, because of its role in the pursuit of John Wilkes Booth. Fifty members of our group arrived by bus and car at 1:30 pm on a lovely afternoon with a gentle breeze wafting up the banks to our luncheon tents set up on the river front of the mansion. After a tasty repast, a brief business meeting and election of officers followed before the group divided in half for a tour of the restored house. And what a grand tour!

The couple who are now the business owners of the venture have exquisite taste in antiques and buy what they like and what feels appropriate to the various periods of history reflected in the home's past. I had been in the house about thirty years ago when the last private owner was struggling (due to age) to keep the large building maintained. What a difference youth and money - and love - have made. Many pieces throughout the house have a story behind them - including a large sideboard in the dining room that had come down through Chief Justice John Marshall's family. A matching loveseat pair in a sitting room was borrowed for the making of the LINCOLN movie so that Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field could sit together as Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln.

The house also has ghost stories and six comfortable guest rooms for bed and breakfast customers. The history that the Surratt Society was interested in pertains to the 16th New York Cavalry's pursuit of John Wilkes Booth in April of 1865. The troopers rested on the grounds, and Col. Everton Conger (a veteran of the war who had been badly wounded three times) came into the house and rested in the hallway before continuing the chase, which ended just hours later when Booth was cornered at the Garrett farm, about five miles up the road.

Good friends, good supporters, good food, good day, good ambience, good history. Just what this world needs a little more of.