Just Interesting...

[L Verge]

If you are near Port Royal, Virginia (part of the Booth Escape Route Tours), you would do well to visit Belle Grove Plantation on the banks of the Rappahannock River. Over the past forty years or so, many of us watched the elegant home go downhill as loving owners sold out to developers. It has been saved and restored as a B&B as well as a venue for events and historical reenactments - many related to the Civil War.

The plantation (though not the house) was the birthplace of James Madison. However, it has an extensive history during the time that it stood in the river village of Port Conway (Madison's mother was a Conway) and across the river from the trading center of Port Royal. During the hunt for Booth, members of the 16th NY Cavalry rested briefly on the grounds around the current house, while Everton Conger rested inside. The war-torn officer could barely mount his horse due to old wounds. Meanwhile, less than three miles away, JWB was also resting at the home of the Garretts.

Anyhow, please enjoy the Belle Grove website and take a look at their calendar of special events - including a "July wedding" of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd. (This one will take some liberties, but it is an actual wedding of the two reenactors.)

I am sorry to see that the powerful windstorms we have experienced in this region this past spring did heavy damage to the ancient outbuildings on the property. There is a fundraising campaign to raise $200,000 to save three dependencies.

P.S. I should mention that in September of 2016, the Surratt Society held its fall meeting and luncheon on the grounds overlooking the Rappahannock (delicious food and beautiful place settings and centerpieces) before touring upstairs and downstairs in the main house.

JUST IN! WHILE I WAS TYPING THIS, I REC'D AN EMAIL IN MY WORK FILES:

We are excited to announce we have been invited to Washington D.C. to represent Belle Grove Plantation, birthplace of President James Madison for a very special Presidential Summit on August 27th to August 30th. The White House Historical Association will be hosting this 4-day national gathering of Presidential sites from all over the country. During these four days, we will be attending special presentations as well as behind-the-scene tours of the Library of Congress, the National Cathedral and the White House. It was just announced to us that we will also be attending a very special reception at the White House with President and Mrs. Trump.

We are honored to be included in this Presidential Summit and look forward to not only learning more about other Presidential Sites and some of their “best practices”, but to be able to share our Presidential Site and our county of King George, Virginia with many others. Through this opportunity, we will meet others of greater influence and let them know about Belle Grove Plantation.


https://www.bellegroveplantation.com/calendar

[RJNorton]

Fascinating, Laurie. From the Belle Grove website here's a photo of the couple getting married on July 27th:

[L Verge]

I apologize to Roger for taking up more space on the forum with a bit of history on Belle Grove, which I consider one of the most beautiful old homes I have ever visited. As a young child, my parents and I often passed Belle Grove and its wonderful little Episcopal chapel and graveyard that sits right by Rt. 301 South. Dad was stationed twice at Langley and visits home to T.B. took us right past the site. The house was at the end of a long, tree-lined drive and difficult for me to see -- and Dad was hesitant to drive up the lane to sneak a peak (something that my mother and grandmother did lots of times in the good old days when you didn't expect to get shot...).

My chance to see the house came unexpectedly about 1978 or 79, when my husband, daughter, and I were with two other couples and children in an RV en route home from a CW reenactment in Virginia. As we crossed over the bridge from Port Royal, I convinced the driver to make a left turn and go up the driveway of the mansion. The drive leads to the carriage entrance - the back of the house and the main garden area at that time. As we stopped, an elderly lady emerged from a flower bed and came towards the RV. We expected at least a reprimand and orders to depart. However, this grande dame was very happy to have company. We chatted and she invited us all (kids, too) into the house!

Only she and one son still lived there, but there was another son who was visiting from his usual abodes in Europe. While still very grand, it was obvious that the home needed TLC and money. The money had once been there, for our hostess was Mary Hooker, the daughter of a magnate in the iron ore business and the widow of a real estate mogul from Chicago. The minute we entered the main hallway, we saw silver everywhere. Read the link that I will post on the history of the place and especially during the ownership of the Hookers, and you'll see why. Mary Hooker was a collector of antique silver and an authority and speaker on the subject, especially pieces of English silver.

Mrs. Hooker took us all through the downstairs and then headed up the stairs. This was a shock, because few owners let folks upstairs to their private quarters. I think the visiting son, who was caught bare chested while doing his exercises, was also shocked that Mom was leading strangers through the bedrooms. It was also quite obvious in the way he spoke to his mother that he was just waiting for her inheritance. And yes, there was still silver everywhere - from vases, to candlesticks and candelabras, plates and platters, tureens.

Back downstairs, if we passed by one of those silver, covered platters and tureens, we passed a dozen. What was so amazing was that our children were so mesmerized by it all that they were perfect little angels. You know there is something to be said about raising children around antiques and nice things; they learn to appreciate them and consider them part of their lives. Sometimes, my daughter was actually bored going through antique shops because she had better things to look at at home (and I don't mean to be a braggard).

We were there for over an hour, and as we entered our large "carriage," Mrs. Hooker invited us to come back. Unfortunately, we never did, and this wonderful woman of the genteel, bygone eras passed away in 1981. And, yes, after a number of years on the market, the son sold to a corporation. There were plans for it to be a country club and golf course for awhile (those plans may still be on the books), but a military family staked their fortunes on a lease and have created a wonderful rebirth of this fine old home that can hold its own with any of the great Virginia plantation homes.

https://www.bellegroveplantation.com/history/

P.S. I sure hope someone hems Mary Todd's skirt before the wedding. I know that the grass is affecting the true length, but I can see the toe of her shoe going right through that lace trim at the bottom. Meow...

[Thomas Kearney]

Really wish I could make the wedding. But for now, the plan is for me to move back to the area in 2020.