Belle Grove Plantation
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Belle Grove is a name that has graced several plantation manor homes in the United States. At least two of these were in Louisiana and one yet remains in Virginia.
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[edit] Virginia
The Virginia Belle Grove Plantation is located in Middletown, Virginia. It is run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is part of the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park.
The limestone house and surrounding land was owned by Major Isaac Hite and his wife Nelly, the sister of President James Madison.
[edit] Louisiana
The Louisiana Belle Groves were quite different from one another. The smaller of the two was located on Bayou Black.
The larger home was located in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. Belle Grove has been called the "largest plantation home in the South"[1] and was built near the town of White Castle. Its owner was John Andrews, a wealthy sugar planter originally from Viriginia and its architect was the famous Henry Howard of New Orleans. Andrews built the home at a cost of $80,000 not including labor, or the plenteous cypress and hand-made bricks that were made onsite.
After the Civil War, Andrews sold the home and plantation to James Ware, whose family continued to live and farm the plantation until the early 1920s. The Wares were forced to sell the home after several bad crop years.
The post-Ware era at Belle Grove saw the beautifully-crafted home rot away through Louisiana's harsh elemental changes. Neglect allowed a leaky roof to expand and destroy the rear wing of the mansion. Several owners purchased the home, each with aspirations of restoration, but none had the means necessary in the lean years of the Great Depression and WWII to stop the onslaught of rapid decay. Finally, the "Queen of the South," the home that had the first installed bathtub and running hot water, met its end. On March 17, 1952, it was mysteriously set on fire and burned overnight.[2]
Dozens of books have been written regarding Belle Grove's beauty and charm, while hundreds of photographs have been published illustrating those narratives.[3] Famous photographer Clarence John Laughlin, described Belle Grove in his work, "Ghosts Along the Mississippi:"
"When completed, its tremendous mass rose on huge brick foundation arches over twelve feet above the surrounding earth, its walls and mantels were plastered and carved by the most expert European craftsmen money could secure, its great flight of brick steps was covered with imported marble, its door knobs and keyhole guards were of silver, its pillars bore Corinthian capitals six feet high but of the utmost refinement.
Its theatrical magnificence would have delighted the Bibiena family-seventeenth century designers of the most elaborate and grandiose stage sets for kings. Yet it was not heavy, or pompous. It managed somehow, to combine vastness with delicacy; titanic proportions with grace and warmth...."<ref>Ibid.</ref>
[edit] External links
- Virginia's Belle Grove, Official Site
- NPS Website
- Louisiana's Belle Grove, Official Site
- Historic American Buildings Survey
