Last updated: July 26, 2022
Article
Plantation Slavery
NPS Artwork by Keith Rocco
In the Shenandoah Valley, small family farms were the norm but plantations did exist, including Belle Grove. Major Isaac Hite, Jr. and his family recorded 276 enslaved people that they owned between 1783 and 1851. Some worked raising crops of wheat, corn, flax, and other grains or tended livestock. Others worked in Hite’s industries, of which there were a blacksmith shop, saw mill, grist mill, and distillery. Enslaved workers were involved in every household task or income-producing venture and their labor was critical to the plantation’s success.
People, Places, & Stories
Showing results 1-2 of 2
- Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
Belle Grove Plantation
- Type: Place
- Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
Belle Grove is located in the northern Shenandoah Valley near Middletown, Virginia. It was the home Major Isaac Hite and his wife Nelly Madison Hite. Major Hite used enslaved labor to expand his original 483 acres to a prosperous 7500 acre plantation, growing wheat, raising livestock, and operating a large distillery and several mills. The Manor House, completed in 1797, was the centerpiece of the property and is open for touring today.
- Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
Enslavement in the Shenandoah Valley
- Type: Article
- Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
The Shenandoah Valley had small family farms that owned none, one or a few enslaved people. The Valley also had larger plantations with many enslaved people. White residents of the Valley were all economically connected to slavery. Therefore, their culture, like that of the rest of the United States, was part of a system of race-based slavery and they used racism, violence, and fear to maintain it.
Tags:
slavery plantation