Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove

Belle Grove is a dressed limestone mansion near Middletown, Virginia, surrounded by the fields where the Battle of Cedar Creek was fought on October 19, 1864. Major Isaac Hite built the house in the 1790s after marrying Eleanor Conway Madison, sister of James Madison, and some refinements are attributed to Thomas Jefferson. It has one full story over a high basement, stone quoins, keyed flat arches over the windows and four stone chimneys. Hite expanded his holdings from 483 to 7,437 acres. In 1864 the house served as General Philip Sheridan's headquarters. Confederate forces under Jubal Early surprised the Union left that morning, but Sheridan rallied his troops and the afternoon counterattack destroyed Early's army. The defeat ended Confederate use of the Shenandoah Valley as an invasion route or granary. Today the property operates as a farm and educational site, with restored porticoes, surviving earthworks and archaeological excavations.