Middletown - Belle Grove Plantation

Ms. Edwards and I decided to go and visit Belle Grove on our way to our hotel in Middletown. Below you will find pictures of the outside of the building. Ms. Edwards did not take any pictures while she was having a private tour. She did purchase some post cards. Some of you might be receiving one in the mail over the next few days.

Belle Grove was originally settled by Jost Hite a German immigrant. He received two land grants amounting to 140,000 acres of land. Jost Hite built a small house on the land and raised his family there. The original house built by Jost no longer exist. Below is a picture of the foundation of the house.

Jost Hite's grandson received 483 acres of land upon his marriage to Nelly Conway Madison. Major Isaac Hite Jr. attended William and Mary College and served in the Continental Army. Nelly Conway Madison was the sister of James Madison (future president). The house that is currently standing was built by Isaac Hite Jr. and his bride in 1974. It took three years to complete.

Major Hite owned 7500 acres of land. He had 103 slaves. He had a general store, a grist-mill, a saw-mill and a distillery. Grain and livestock were the major products of the plantation.

From the outside it appears that the house is two floors. The first floor is actually the basement. It is where the kitchen is located. What is interesting about the house is that when it was built there was no way to go from the first floor to the second floor. The tour leader informed me that the basement was along the lines of the ones seen in England at that time. This was not a house that was aimed at being handicap accessible. The only way to enter the house was by one of the outside stairs. Inside the house is an amazing hallway that would give you an amazing breeze when both the front and the back doors were open. Major Issac Hite Jr. was very interested in his house appearing to be symmetrical. Many of the rooms had equal number of doors and windows to each other. One of the rooms actually had a false door to equal out a real one.

One thing that I found really interesting in the house was that the keyholes had covers on them. The family was trying to do everything they could to conserve heat during the winter. I can think of a few keyholes in my house that could use a cover.

The original house only had two bedrooms. One for the Hite's and one for their children. I was surprised by the fact that there weren't more bedrooms in the house for guest or their three children. I was not able to see the attic but it is believed that it was used for storage. The stairways going up were extremely narrow.

Nelly died in 1802 and Isaac Hilt married Ann Tunstall Maury. Isaac and Ann had 10 children. Out of the 13 children born to Isaac, ten will live to adulthood. With only two bedrooms in the house for the family an addition was needed. A west wing was added to the house.

Inside the house are portraits of family members painted by Charles Peale Polke. One way of identifying his work is by the Red Curtain hanging in the background as well as the use of books, fruit, or flowers in his pictures.

Below are pictures of Belle Grove from the front.

This building would have been used by a mason.



This would have been the home of the slave overseer


Here was a view from the front porch.