Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park

Belle Grove is a one-and-one-half story manor house of locally cut limestone with a hipped roof, located south of Middletown in Virginia's northern Shenandoah Valley. The front wall is laid in hand-cut ashlar blocks, while the sides and rear use random coursing, and a one-story Roman portico anchors both main facades. Inside, the rooms are arranged symmetrically around a long central hall, with carved paneling, mantels and woodwork, an especially fine parlor, and a concealed stairway rising from a hall closet. Major Isaac Hite, grandson of early Valley pioneer and major landholder Jost Hite, built the house, which was completed in 1797. Its ties to the Hite family connect it to the settlement of this part of Virginia. On October 19, 1864, the property was at the center of the Battle of Cedar Creek, the decisive Civil War battle in the Valley, and Union General Philip Sheridan used the house as his headquarters. It now forms part of a national historical park.