Description
Belle Grove Plantation - Port Royal
Belle Grove Plantation is located on Belle Grove Drive in Port Royal, Virginia. It is the birthplace site of President James Madison. The plantation dates back to 1668 when William Berkley, the governor of Virginia, granted the land to Thomas Chetwood and John Prossor as a reward for bringing new families into the colonies. Over the years the land was broken up as it passed through the family line, eventually falling into the hands of the Conway family. By 1731 Belle Grove was owned by Francis Conway and his wife, Rebecca Catlett Conway. On January 9 of that year Rebecca gave birth to a daughter, Eleanor Rose, better known as Nelly. Local tobacco planter James Madison, Sr. met Nelly here at the plantation while conducting business at nearby Port Royal. The couple was married on September 15, 1749. Nelly moved with James to his plantation. In 1751 the pregnant Nelly moved back to Belle Grove to be near her mother for the birth. On March 3, 1751 James Madison was born here, in a structure that no longer stands. He would go on to become the 4th President of the United States and the father of the Constitution. In 1790 Francis Conway III sold Belle Grove to John Hipkins. It was Hipkins who erected the home which stands today, completed in 1791, and situated over the basement of the original plantation house. The house has changed hands many times over the years and has undergone several restorations in recent decades. The house is now operated as a Bed and Breakfast. Belle Grove was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and added to the Virginia Landmark Register in 1972.
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