[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20658]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


    IN RECOGNITION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF BELLE GROVE PLANTATION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. BARBARA COMSTOCK

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 29, 2017

  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the 50th Anniversary 
of Belle Grove Plantation, a museum of an extraordinary historic house 
located near Middletown, in the part of the 10th Congressional District 
of Virginia that includes the northern Shenandoah Valley.
  The remarkable history of this home begins in 1732, with the 
settlement of the family of Jost Hite, one of 16 German immigrant 
families, on land they obtained in two land grants. Jost Hite's 
grandson, Isaac Hite, Jr., served as Lieutenant with the Continental 
Army during the Revolutionary War. In 1783, he married Nelly Conway 
Madison, sister of a future President of the United States, and 
received 483 acres from his father, on which they built the Belle Grove 
Manor House from limestone quarried on the property. Isaac Hite, Jr. 
was eventually commissioned as Major in the Frederick County Militia by 
Governor Patrick Henry in 1785. Major Hite was evidently a highly 
successful farmer and entrepreneur who expanded the grain and livestock 
plantation to 7,500 acres and also successfully operated a general 
store, a grist-mill, a saw-mill and a large distillery. However, it is 
also self-evident that, without the labors of the many slaves who lived 
on the plantation, Major Hite would not have had this success. Family 
records compiled by the staff of Belle Grove Plantation indicate that 
the Hite family owned 276 slaves who worked in a variety of capacities 
at Belle Grove between 1783 and 1851.
  Shortly before the Civil War, Belle Grove was sold to a person 
outside of the family and during the war, it was seldom without a 
military tenant and its grounds were hardly ever without an army. Belle 
Grove was most notably used as a headquarters by Union General Phillip 
Sheridan during the Civil War Valley Campaign of 1864 and it was 
centrally located during the pivotal Battle of Cedar Creek. After a 
successful surprise attack by Confederate General Jubal Early during 
the early morning hours of October 19, 1864, General Sheridan regained 
the territory later in the day, thus securing the strategically 
critical Shenandoah Valley for the Union and significantly boosting 
President Abraham Lincoln's chances of being reelected.
  I am honored to represent a Congressional District with historical 
places such as Belle Grove Plantation that are essential to the telling 
of the story of our nation. Fifty years ago, on August 13, 1967, Belle 
Grove was dedicated as a museum and today, it is a National Historic 
Landmark, a Virginia Historic Landmark, and a historic property of the 
National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is also the most 
significant structure in the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National 
Historic Park, a partnership park comprised of private landowners, 
county governments and nonprofit organizations that was established by 
Congress under the leadership of my predecessor, Congressman Frank 
Wolf, and authorized by the National Park Service on December 19, 2002. 
Through the many interpretive programs it offers, Belle Grove 
Plantation serves the people of the Commonwealth and our nation as an 
educational center that helps Americans of all ages establish a 
stronger sense of our own identity through a better understanding of 
our past. The entire operation of the museum is funded by private 
contributions since it receives no government funding and is not a 
recipient of a regularly scheduled contribution from the National 
Trust. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and our colleagues to join me in thanking 
Belle Grove Plantation Executive Director Kristen Laise and her staff 
and volunteers, as well as the members of its Board of Directors, for 
their extraordinary purposefulness, ingenuity and resourcefulness in 
preserving Belle Grove Plantation as a special place to learn about the 
history, culture and economy of the northern Shenandoah Valley during 
the 18th and 19th Centuries.

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