On Friday, we took deliver of two canopies for the Hipkins-Bernard and Conway Junior Suite as well as the valances for the Turner Master Suite. We are almost done with all the curtains for the bedrooms! We just need to wait for the finally curtains for the Turner Master Suite as well as the half canopy. Then we just have to get the curtains for the Parlor, Formal Dining Room, Small Dining Room, Library, Common Room and the Foyer Room. But the ones we have gotten is a huge step towards finishing!

Not only does it help us cover the windows, but with them in place, we can better able to see what kind of decor we want or need for the room. Knowing that, we can find those pieces and complete the room. The Madison Master Suite, which got its curtains and canopy first is almost done. We just need to find a few portraits of James and Dolley Madison as well as some smaller decor and we can call it done!

Enjoy the pictures of the new arrivals!

Here is the “Before” of the Hipkins-Bernard Junior Suite

Here it is now!

Here is the “Before” of the Conway Junior Suite

Here it is now!

Here are the Valances for the Turner Master Suite

(This is the window with Carrie Turner’s etching in it)

This is the Turner Master Suite Bathroom Valance

Who says the details don’t matter??

As we prepare for our busy weekend of ghost hunting, we thought it would be fun to share some of the spooky happenings in and round Belle Grove Plantation. Just to get you in the mood for some chilling and thrilling fun we have in store for you tonight!

Make sure you watch your Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for updates through the day and night as we share in all the fun!

Lamb’s Creek Church – King George, Virginia

This story is taken from “Virginia Ghosts” by Jenny Lee, Marguerite du Pont Lee

In King George County on the King’s Highway about thirteen miles from Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock River side, an interesting Colonial building may be found called Lamb’s Creek Church. Erected in 1769 it is now six miles from a lone gravestone on Muddy Creek marking the site of the Mother Church in use as early as 1710.

In Brunswick parish extending up to Stafford County, in days almost forgotten, far beyond the tide of the years in which we live, Sunday mornings the coaches of the aristocracy rolled from far distant points and over rough roads to the door of Lamb’s Creek Church.

In the company of family and friends and surrounded by retainers a large congregation listed to the delights of paradise glowingly painted, and hell pictured as very real and very hot! The lessons were read from the priceless old ‘Vinegar Bible’, so called owing to a typographical error in the edition, the heading of the Parable of the Vineyard made to read ‘Parable of the Vinegar.’ This Bible was given to Muddy Creek Church about 1716. Stolen after the Civil War, by great good fortune it has been recovered and is in use one each year when a service is held in the church. The old prayer book, also inherited from the Mother Church was printed in 1739 when George II was King.

The devastating War of the Revolution scatted the faithful an altered the lives and fortunes of the people. For fifty years the church doors were closed.

Not until the Civil War did man’s hand shatter and desecrate this relic of a civilization of which the despoiler did not even dream, and could not possibly appreciate. The woodwork was pulled out, the windows and doors broken, and the church used for a stable.

In a bend of the road this large country church may be seen from quite a distance. A vital need in the lives of a generation long passed away, it stands in an isolated spot abandoned and by the world forgot-a mute witness to the  transitoriness of all human religious expression.

Just prior to the desecration of this house of worship by Federal soldiers two Confederate officers, one named Hunter, are said to have entered the church one night seeking refuge from a heavy thunder storm. The flashes of lightning were very vivid, and the thunder deafening. Running in they seated themselves at the door facing the chancel. Presently, for one brief moment the inky darkness was relieved by a great flash of lightning. The two men were dunfound to see kneeling at the chancel rail as if in prayer a woman dressed in white! In pitchy darkness, silently and breathlessly they awaited the next flash. There still kneeled the woman! A third view of the figure was sufficient and both soldiers made a hasty exit into the teeth of the furious storm!

Mr. Thomas Lomax Hunter, a lawyer of King George County, very courteously makes rely to my letter of inqury as follows:

‘My father and uncle were the only Hunters in the Civil War from this county, but I have never heard the story you relate of them and Lamb’s Creek Church.

Lamb’s Creek Church has however been long looked upon by the natives here as haunted, and while I cannot recite any detailed story about it I have no doubt that reputable witnesses of its neighborhood could be put upon the witness stand to prove its ghostly character.’

(One note – Thomas Lomax Hunter was the son of Frederick Hunter and his wife Rose Turner Hunter. Rose was the daughter of Carolinus and Susan Turner, owners of Belle Grove Plantation from 1839 to 1894.)

There are a couple more stories about Lamb’s Creek Church.

It is said that two civil war soldiers can be seen resting on a rainy night. This usually happens on rainy nights and that the church’s windows glow from the inside around the 27th of October. There is also a ghost of a young girl who died of pneumonia. You can see a strange blue light and an apparition of the girl running and playing.

Marmion – King George County, Virginia

This  story is taken from “Virginia Ghosts” by Jenny Lee, Marguerite du Pont Lee

“Marmion, in King George County, Virginia, has been in the family of Mrs. Lucy Lewis Grymes for more than 150 years. Lord Marmion was the last of the title in England, and in his honor William Fitzhugh, emigrated to the Colonies in 1670, named this portion of his vast estate, erecting in 1674, between two splendid springs flowing in the primeval forest, the mansion still standing. One finds to the north the little house from the depths of which countless juleps were cooled; not far distant the old kitchen to which, from smokehouse and dairy, still standing, bacon, butter and cream flowed in a constant stream throughout the generations.

Behind the house the lovely old office stands in a garden, carpeted in spring with single blue hyacinths and yellow primroses, hardly descendants of flowers brought from England long ago. In the attic of this office quite recently Mrs. Grymes found a roll of Colonial money, signed by her husband’s ancestor, Robert Carter Nicholas.

In 1719 John Fitzhugh took unto himself a wife, and Marmion was their home. A grove of pecans, walnuts and maples stand close to this sturdy and picturesque relic of a bygone age; its two secret rooms, one built in the huge chimney about the other, speaking to us of turbulence and of dangers unknown to our generation.

Marmion in 1785 became the property of Major George Lewis, son of Col. Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington. Their great granddaughter, Mrs. Lucy Lewis Grymes, is the fortunate owner today. A mile and a half beyond flows the Potomac River, and in 1782 Philip Fitzhugh, the last of his name at Marmion, is said to have brought to his home, one day, one of those accomplished artisans, contributing by their skill to some of the most beautiful decorations remaining with us from their day. This Hessian soldier was in a dying condition when found by Philip Fitzhugh on the banks of the river. Recovering his health in course of time, the stranger was then desirous of contributing evidence of his skill in return for the kindness shown him. He decorated the walls of the parlor in lovely landscapes and cornucopias filled with flowers, making from Virginia clay and plants the paints he used – clear and beautiful after the passing of 150 years! Owing to Mrs. Gymes’ willingness to share with countless others her treasures, the superb paneling, decorations and mirror in this beautiful parlor at Marmion were transferred into the keeping of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

In the long age when dangers threatened, before cannon balls from two wars were left embedded as relics in the brick walks leading from the mansion, a chest of valuables was buried. Whether discovered and carried off nobody knows. But Marmion possesses a charming ghost; thieves cannot break in and steal.

Some of the old darkies whose forefathers lived in the ‘Quarters’ on the plantation claim today to have seen the ‘white lady’ walking among the roses and honeysuckle in the little cemetery.

Mrs. Grymes writes: ‘Since my childhood, every now and then guests have spoken of a lovely young girl they have seen from time to time in the house. Twice, I myself, when in the guest-room, have felt there was someone in the room, but have never seen the ghost. During the summer of 1928 Miss Edmonia Goode, an elderly lady from Chase City, Virginia, was staying at Marmion with a group of young people whom she had been chaperoning at a house party in Fredericksburg. It was in the afternoon of a bright sunny day. Miss Goode was lying down on her bed resting, when the door opened an a very beautiful young girl came in and started to open the wardrobe. Miss Goode sat up and exclaimed: ‘Why, how do you do? I did not know there was another guest in this house beside our party.’ The girl turned and looked squarely at her. The face of the Spirit, Miss Goode would recognize anywhere. She arose advancing towards the visitor in order to shake hands….”

(This is where the story ended in the book… sorry)

Stratford Hall – Home of the Lee Family and Robert E. Lee

This story taken from HouseandHomeMagazine.com

The Spirits of Stratford Hall 

Paranormal experts, if there are such things, are in general agreement that Virginia is one of the most haunted states, perhaps the most haunted, in the nation. And for good reason. It is the oldest colony in America and there are more surviving old houses here than anywhere else. Plus, since the experts contend that tragic and traumatic deaths are a leading cause for the existence of ghosts, if there are such things as ghosts, then Virginia surely ranks at the top of the list since there has been more blood shed here over the past 400 years dating from Indian attacks on the early settlers on up through the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

Accounts of lingering spirits blanket the entire map of the Old Dominion, from Winchester south to Bristol, and from Monterey east to Virginia Beach. The Northern Neck is not excluded from this questionable list and, arguably, one of the most haunted houses in this historic area is Stratford Hall. It was here, of course, that Robert E. Lee was born in 1807. The mansion itself dates to the late 1730s. Among its long-ago occupants are some of the most famous names in American history, including Richard Henry Lee, a leader of the Continental Congress, and Light Horse Harry Lee, a hero of the Revolutionary War, and Robert’s father.

As with so many antique estates, there is ample justification for ghostly encounters at Stratford Hall, for along with its majestic eloquence, family members through the centuries have had their share of tragic events. If a visitor to the house today asks a tour guide about ghosts, he or she is told they are not part of the narrative. The guides are trained to “protect” the historical integrity of the site. The key to finding a more positive answer to such a provocative question is to query others. Find a maid, janitor, or better yet, a night security guard, and they may well reveal some of Stratford Hall’s most guarded secrets.

That is precisely what the author did some years ago, and the results were quite surprising. Here are some examples. A domestic worker walked into the library one day to clean it, and then promptly retreated. Her supervisor asked what happened and she replied that she didn’t want to disturb the gentleman inside. What gentleman the supervisor replied. The worker said she saw a figure in old fashioned clothes checking over some papers. The two women then reentered the library. There was no one there. The worker became very frightened and fled the house.

Once, a well known psychic visited. When she passed through the great hall on the second floor, she stopped and said she felt “so many good impressions.” She claimed to see the room full of Lees and that there was dancing, music and entertainment. She added that the Lees were pleased with how the house was being taken care of.

A hostess said her encounter came on a dismal, dark winter afternoon. During a tour, she saw a woman and a child in a room in colonial period costume. She thought it was another hostess but when she later asked the hostess about it she was told she hadn’t even been upstairs. Then she lifted her hand and covered her mouth and said that the first hostess “had finally seen them.” Who? She has seen Ann Lee, the distraught and broken hearted wife of Black Horse Harry Lee, and their little daughter, Margaret, who had died in the house at age two in 1820 after falling down the stairs! Others, including tourists, have reported hearing a phantom woman calling for a child, the sound of a child running, and then both of them laughing, as if they were playing together.

Security guards, too, have experienced various forms of psychic manifestations. One said a lot of mysterious things happen here, especially strange noises at night. Like what? “Loud racket,” he emphasized. “The sounds of heavy furniture being moved around when no one is in the room. Other times we heard rustling sounds, like petticoats and skirts rubbing against chairs and tables, but you never see anything.” One officer said he heard fiddle and harp music on occasion.

Another guard said one night he was sitting in a chair when something unseen grabbed his sleeve and lifted his arm straight up. Also, he added, when he was alone one night reading a book, he got up to make his rounds and when he came back the book had flatly disappeared. One guard told of a new man on the job. “He quit after one hour and wouldn’t even talk about what happened to him.”

Two officers said that on multiple occasions they had seen the apparition of a small boy, about three or four years old, wearing dark purple britches and a light colored purple shirt with ruffled sleeves. Each time they approached the figure, he evaporated before their eyes. One said, “I believe he was a spirit. If he wasn’t, where did he go?” Could it have been the ghost of Robert E. Lee, who moved out of Stratford Hall when he was just three and a half? Another clue suggests that it might be the son of Philip Ludwell Lee, himself the son of Thomas Lee, the founder of the house. According to family tradition, this boy fell down the stairs in the mansion one day in 1779. He was four years old!

Possibly the most terrifying encounters were experienced by J.R. “Butch” Myers, a leather craftsman who lives in Richmond. He travels about demonstrating how 18th century shoes are made. In June 1989, he was at an exhibition at Stratford Hall. He spent the night in a dependency building near the main house. Getting ready for bed, he lit six candles in stands, then heard approaching footsteps outside and assumed it was the security guard making his rounds.

Myers recalled: “I took a couple of steps toward the door when a sudden down draft of freezing cold air hit me, taking my breath away. It was like walking into a cold storage locker. I got goose bumps all over. Just as this happened, there was a thunderous noise in the chimney. It sounded like the whole building was going to collapse. I didn’t find this out until later but the chimney was sealed top and bottom. There was no way anything alive could be in it.”

“If this wasn’t scary enough, and believe me it was,” Myers continued, “I turned around just in time to see the candles go out. They didn’t go out at once, as if blown out by a down shaft of air. They went out one at a time, in sequence, as if someone was snuffing them out!” At first Myers thought someone was playing a joke on him, but then he realized he was alone in the room. He told a security guard what happened, and the man didn’t seem surprised. He just said, “Oh, you’ve just met our friend.”

Myers returned to his room and relit the candles. He said, “Now you can believe this or not, I don’t care, but the icy coldness hit me again, and the racket kicked up in the chimney, which really scared me now, because the guard had told me about it being sealed. Then, someone or something very methodically extinguished each candle again, this time in reverse order!”
“There definitely was something there, a presence or whatever you want to call it. It was enough for me. I said, “Listen, you can have the room. Just let me get my pillow and blanket and I will get out of here.” And I got out of there as quick as I could and went over to another dependency, where the guard was, and I told him I was spending the night with him!”

Myers went back to Stratford Hall five years later for another craft show on the grounds. He refused to stay in the dependency where he had been before, but one evening he walked over to it. “It was a nice gentle breeze blowing,” he says, “but when I got in front of the building, everything was deathly still. Nothing was stirring. It was an eerie feeling. I put my hand on the doorknob and it was like clutching an icicle. That’s as far as I got. I wouldn’t go back into that room. There was something in there that didn’t want me inside.”

“The guards told me it wouldn’t hurt me, but they hadn’t felt what I had in that room. I’m not saying definitely that it was something evil, but I didn’t want to stick around and find out. It had made its point with me. I’m not psychic or anything, but I believe there is something to ghosts and spirits and there’s a lot we don’t understand about all that yet. But I can say for sure that I am certain there is something other worldly at Stratford Hall. There was something unexplained in that room, and one experience with whatever it was, or is, was enough for me!”

If you are interested in seeing Stratford Hall at Halloween, they are hosting a “Spook-tacular Halloween” as part of their annual Halloween program. It will have something for everyone this year. L.B. Taylor, author of over 13 books on the Virginia paranormal, will present a talk on the ghosts of the Northern Neck in the duPont Library. There will be ghost tours, refreshments, craft making, palm and Tarot card readings. You can check their event out on their website at http://www.stratfordhall.org/

The Time is Fast Approaching and there is a nervous tension in the air!

Friday Night starts our Halloween Ghost Hunts at Belle Grove Plantation!

If you can’t be here, don’t worry, we will be sending out updates throughout the weekend on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!

TIME TO HAVE SOME FUN!!

We are going to give away one Ghost Hunt Ticket for Saturday, October 26th or Halloween, Thursday, October 31st!

We want to hear YOUR best Ghost Experiences!

Starting Now until 3pm, Friday, October 25th, write your best ghost experience story. Don’t forget to include where it happened it! (City and State or Country) The best story will win the free Ghost Hunting ticket! This is a $50 value!

Since our comment section isn’t working here on our new website blog, you can post your story on our old blog or Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Belle-Grove-Plantation-at-Port-Conway/271783509524776

http://virginiaplantation.wordpress.com/

Either way make sure you get it in before the “dead” line!

No ghost writers please!

On Wednesday, the King George Journal released an article about Belle Grove Plantation!

How awesome is this!

by Richard Leggett

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Halloween Season brings ghost hunters to Belle Grove

Historic Belle Grove Plantation, the birthplace of President James Madison that is now King George’s most luxurious bed and breakfast, will host paranormal investigators and ghost hunters for the next week as it participates in Halloween activities.

“Is Belle Grove Plantation haunted? Since arriving on the property, we have had several personal experience as well as stories told to us about others experiences,” said Michelle Darnell, who operates the bed and breakfast and event venue with her husband, Brett.

“In the time we have lived at the plantation, we have to say that none of the experiences are evil or malicious in nature. We feel they are just those that came before us that loved this plantation and never wanted to leave,” Darnell said.

The Darnell’s are hosting a Paranormal Workshop and Ghost Hunts Oct. 25, 26 and 31. The workshop will be Saturday, Oct. 26 featuring investigative medium Laine Crosby from 10:30 am to noon.

From 1pm to 6pm a Paranormal Team called Southeast Virginia Paranormal Investigations will be at Belle Grove to teach would-be ghost hunters how to hunt for ghosts the right way.

On Oct. 25, 26 and 31, the SVPI team will host a Ghost Hunt at Belle Grove to see if the historic plantation is actually haunted. “We have had them here before and have gotten lots of results.” Darnell said. “And the funny thing is, ‘Are you haunted’ seems to be the second question we are asked on our tours.”

The SVPI ghost hunters hosting the Ghost Hunt at Belle Grove are from Newport News. “This paranormal team of investigators has years of experience and is working on a new television pilot, ‘Paranormal Apprentice’. Belle Grove Plantation will be their second episode.” Darnell said.

“If you have ever watched shows like ‘Ghost Hunters’ or ‘Ghost Adventures’ and wanted to be a part of a real paranormal investigation, then this is the event for you!,” Darnell declared.

SVPI will bring all their paranormal equipment and will be taking Belle Grove visitors and guests o nighttime paranormal investigations. The Ghost Hunters will be conducted from 8pm to 4am. Darnell said suites for overnight guests are still available, but urged visitors to call to book a suite or check availability.

“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
― Mother Teresa

The last few days have been so amazing for us. Not just because we have been busier than we have in the past or that we have met some of the most wonderful people. But because we have received so much this week that it has really taken our breath away.

We have received some of the most meaningful things at the plantation that we can’t even begin to put them into word. It is beyond our greatest expectations and has caused our hearts to burst with all the love and support we have gotten from others.

The first to arrive on our door step was two boxes of books from Robert in Nevada. He had written to me and told me about these books that belonged to his father. His father, John M. Wilson MD,  had a deep love of the Civil War and History and was a member of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. Now that his father has passed, Robert wanted them to go somewhere others like his father could enjoy them. We asked Robert to place his father’s name in each of the books before sending them so in the future, his father and his name would be part of the historic library.

When I opened the box, I didn’t expect what we got! These books are just beautiful! Each one is leather tooled covers with a picture of the subject on the front. It color is a silver-gray and gives these books a wonderful finish. These books have now found a place among our “American History” section of our “James Madison / Belle Grove Plantation Library”.

 

American History Section

American Life Section

General Interest Section

Found Fathers /  Founding Mothers / Revolution / Constitution Section

This section could really use some books if you have any on these subjects!

James Madison Section

Of all the sections this one is in the most need!

If you have any books on James Madison, please consider donating them to our historic library!

The next gift was just as wonderful. Dorothy was part of a group of ladies that came to the plantation last week for a tour. She and the ladies had a wonderful time. I personal enjoyed sharing Belle Grove with them and got just as excited seeing their faces as they saw each room.

Dorothy had told me that her husband, John Halpin, who had passed away was a fan of chess. She had caught sight of our chess set in the library and had told me that her late husband had a set that she would like to give to Belle Grove. She told me then that it was a better set than our crystal pieces and that it would look wonderful in the library.

She came over on Tuesday, after missing me on Monday to deliver the set. I was again blown away by the gift. This set is so elegant and so well made! The detail in each piece shows the love and care the creator use in making it. And to know that her husband spent hours enjoying such a set as well as knowing our guests will be just as fortunate just warmed our hearts. It now graces our library on a game table with two chairs waiting for players to come along and love them.

Our next gift came today and has brought such beauty to our Madison Master Suite. Trish Bailey of Trish Bailey Designs brought us two wonderful flower arrangements to place in our Master Bath. They are unique and colorful and fill the space just as we had hoped. It was such a wonderful gift, not only the flowers, but her talent that she gave us free of charge. They are just … beautiful.

https://www.facebook.com/TrishBaileyDesigns

Our last gift surprised me this afternoon. After running some errands, I arrived back at the plantation to two very large boxes on our porch. I started running through my head wondering if we had something coming. And for the life of me, I couldn’t think of what I missed.

I pulled them into the kitchen and cut away the ties and opened the first box.

Inside I found two canvas wrapped in paper.

Still I wondered what it could be.

After I pulled out the first canvas, I still didn’t know what I had.

It was on opening the second box did I realize that these canvas were all one picture cut into three parts.

When you place them together, you have …

James Madison!

The gift was from our daughter, Alexa and her boyfriend, Young for our 27th Wedding Anniversary on Friday. The pictures all together measure 4 feet tall and 2 feet, 8 inches wide! It is so big! The photo is of a statue of James Madison.

I tried the three parts over the mantle in the Parlor, but I think it looks a little too big for that space. I think we are going to place it in the library on the large wall between the two Common Room doors with the accent lights on it. What better place for a large picture of James Madison than in the “James Madison / Belle Grove Plantation” Library!

We can’t even begin to tell you how blessed we feel!

It is just beyond any words we can say. We do want to thank everyone that have supported us, given of their time or resources or both and have followed along with us each and every day. This has been an amazing journey that still to this day brings me to tears. In my mind all I can keep saying is, “How did I ever get so lucky, so blessed to be here? How did I ever desire all this and more?”

“Encourage, lift and strengthen one another. For the positive energy spread to one will be felt by us all.

For we are connected, one and all.”

― Deborah Day

Thank you with all of our hearts!

Brett and Michelle Darnell

As many of you know we have been conducting a “Virtual Housewarming Party” in an effort to fill our historic library. We have had a wonderful and generous outpouring of donations! Below are the books we have already received! 

But…

One section is lacking more than the rest… our James Madison Section.

These are books that would have been read or owned by him or books about him. To date we have less than 15 books in his section. So we would like to ask, if you would like to donate a book or two to our Historic Library which will become part of the history our this Mansion and Plantation, please check the list below. Please send your dontations to:

Belle Grove Plantation Bed and Breakfast

9221 Belle Grove Drive

King George, Virginia 22485

Thank you so much to all who have donated. It is very much appreciated and truly makes our Historic Library very special!

Wish List

These are books we would like to have for the library.

Author	Title
Adams, John	Defence of the Constitutions
Burns, Robert	Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
Crevecoeur, J. Hector St. John de	Letters from an American Farmer
Filson, John	Discovery, Settlement, & Present State of Kentucky
Gibbon, Edward	History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
A. Hamilton, J. Jay, and J. Madison	The Federalist – RECEIVED!
Jefferson, Thomas	Notes on the State of Virginia
Ledyard, John	Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean
Locke, John	Treatises on Government
Longacre, James Barton	National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans
Montesquieu	The Spirit of the Laws
Morse, Jedidiah	Geography Made Easy
Shakespeare, William	Hamlet
Plato	The Republic
Raleigh, Sir Walter	History of the World
Ramsay, David	History of the American Revolution
Vattell, Emerich de	The Law of Nations
Warville, J.P. Brissot de	The Commerce of America with Europe

 Books about Madison

Ketcham, Ralph	James Madison: A Biography
Banning, Lance	The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the founding of the Federal Republic
Brookhiser, Richard	James Madison
Burstein, Andrew and Nancy Isenberg	Madison and Jefferson – RECEIVED!
Madison, James	Notes of Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787
Mattern, David and H. Schulman	The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison
Mattern, David B.	James Madison’s Advice to My Country
Rakove, Jack	James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic
Stagg, J.C.A.	Mr. Madison’s War: Politics, Diplomacy, & Warfare in the Early American Republic
Wood, Gordon	Empire of Liberty

Here is what we have so far:

The Asent of George Washington – John Ferling

Madison Writings – Jack N. Rakove

A Slave in the White House – Elizabeth Dowling Taylor

The Debate on the Constitution – Bernard Barilyn

James Madison – Garry Wills

War at Our Doors – Rebecca Campbell Light

Images of America Virginia Presidential Homes – Patrick L. O’Neill

Places I Have Known Along the Rappahannock River – Beverley C Pratt

Come Retribution – William A Tidwell

A Perfect Union – Catherine Allgor

Gordonsville Virginia – William H.B. Thomas

Orange Virginia – William H.B. Thomas

Dearest Friend  A Life of Abigail Adams – Lynne Withey

Patriots of the UpCountry – William H.B. Thomas

The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

Dolores Claiborne – Stephen King

The Dead Zone – Stephen King

Pet Sematary – Stephen King

The Tommyknockers – Stephen King

Diana Her True Story – Andrew Morton

Memoris of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

Favorite Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables

Selected Poems – Walt Whitman

Autobiography – Benjamin Franklin

The Law of War and Peace – Hugo Grotius

Fathers and Sons – Iva S. Turgenev

Five Great Dialogues – Plato

On the Nature of Things – Lucretius

Essays and New Atlantis – Francis Bacon

Paradise Lost and Other Poems – John Milton

Anne Boleyn – Anthony Crowell

Selected Lives and Essays – Plutarch

Discourses – Epictetus

Utopia – Thomas More

The Iliad – Homer

On Man in the Universe – Aristotle

Jake Lingle – John Boettiger

The Letters of Madame – Volume I and II – Gertrude Scott Stevenson

100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories – Weinberg, Dziemianowicz, and Greenberg

Best Little Stories of Virginia – C Brian Kelly

Titanic – Colonel Archibald Gracie

Rhett Butler’s People – Donald McCaig

The Gold of Exodus – Howard Blum

The Sum of All Fears – Tom Clancy

Faith of our Founding Fathers – Tim LaHaye

Gun – A Visual History – Dr. Chris McNab

American Soldier – General Tommy Franks

Wild at Heart – John Eldredge

How Did You Do It, Truett – S. Truett Cathy

Gettysburg – Newt Gingrich and William R Forstchen

Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All – Allan Gurganus

Me My County My God – Dr. C Thomas Anderson and Don Enevoldsen

Lincoln on Leadership – Donald T. Phillips

The Civil War Battlefield Guide – The Conservation Fund – Frances H Kennedy

Gettysburg  An Alternate History – Peter G. Tsouras

Leadership Lessons of Robert E. Lee – Bil Holton

Run to the Roar – A Fable of Choice, Courage and Hope – J. Randy Forbes

His Excellency George Washington – Joseph J Ellis

Dear Catherine, Dear Taylor – The Civil War letters of a Union Soldier and his Wife – Richard L Kiper

Debt of Honor – Tom Clancy

Tale of a Tiger – R.T. Smith

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger – David Gregory

Command Attention – Col. Keith Oliver USMC (Ret)

Leadership Excellence – Pat Williams with Jim Denney

War – Sebastian Junger

How – Why HOW we do anything means everything – Dov Seidman

Psalm 91- Peggy Joyce Ruth

Team of Rivals – Doris Kearns Goodwin

No Higher Honor – Condoleezza Rice

Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams – Pat Williams

The Ambition – Lee Strobel

Secrets of the Millonaire Mind – T. Harv Eker

Rembrandt – The Old Testament – Thomas Nelson Publishers

Rembrandt – Life of Christ – Thomas Nelson Publishers

Profiles in Courage – John F. Kennedy

Lady Bird – Jan Jarboe Russell

Dawn’s Early Light – Elswyth Thane

Ronald Reagan and the American Ideal – Steve Penley

Jane Austen’s Persuasion – Jane Austen

Back in the Day – Michael Powell

Enough Good Men – Charles Mercer

Presidential Campaigns – Paul Boller Jr

To Make a Nation – Samuel H. Beer

Turning the World Upside Down – John Tebbel

Washington’s Crossing – David Hackett Fishcher

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company, A Novel of Lewis and Clark – Brian Hall

Undaunted Courage – Stephen E. Ambrose

Legion of the Lost – Jaime Salazar

The American Patriots Almanac – William J. Bennett & John T.F. Cribb

Almost A Miracle – John Ferling

Hurricane of Independence – Tony Williams

The Bold & Magnigicent Dream – Bruce Catton & William B Catton

One Day of Civil War, April 10, 1863 – Robert L Willett Jr.

Grant – William S. McFeely

The Bedford Introduction to Literature – Michael Meyer

A Man on the Moon – Apollo Astronauts – Andrew Chaikin

Einstein – Walter Issacson

Atlas of the World

Law in America – American Hertiage

Don’t Stop the Carnival – Herman Wouk

The Hunt for Red October – Tom   Clancy

At Dawn We Slept – Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor – Gordon W. Prange

The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown

The National Geographic Society – 100 years of Adventure and Discovery

Civil War Parks – The Story Behind the Scenery

Life (or something like it) at Mallard High – Greg Martini and Lisa Chelkowski

James Madison – Champion of Liberty and Justice – John P. Kaminski

Slavery at the Home of George Washington – Philip J. Schwarz

50 States of Amercia  – Rosanna Hansen and Jan Bloom

Slaver and Freedom in the Age of the American Revolution – Ira Berlin and Ronald Hoffman

The Negro in 18^th Century Williamsburg – Thad W. Tate

Race and Revolution – Gary B. Nash

The Federalist – Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay

Madison and Jefferson – Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg

Civil War Letters of Major (Chaplain) James McDonald Campbell – James McDonald Campbell

Don Quxote – Miguel De Cervantes

Our Times – The Twenties – Mark Sullivan

Take Our Advice: A Handbook for Gardening in Northern Virginia – Margaret Fisher & Friends

The American Revolution and the Craft – I. Lewis Langley

Keep What you Earn – Terry Coxon

See I Told You So – Rush Limbaugh

A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-Central North American – Roger Tory Peterson and Margaret McKenny

Island in the Sun – Alec Waugh

Miss Manners – Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior – Judith Martin

The Best and the Brightest – David Halberstam

Pentagon – Allen Drury

The Family – The Real Story of The Bush Dynasty – Kitty Kelley

Personal History – Katharine Graham

The Rivalr – Mystery at The Army-Navy Game – John Feinstein

Home Front – Patti Davis with Maureen Strange Foster

Meditations – Marcus Aurelius

A Field Guide to the Birds – Eastern Land and Water Birds – Roger Tor Peterson

Washington Behind Closed Doors – John Ehrlichman

The Puzzle Palace – James Bamford

The James River in Richmond – John Bryan

Virginia Living – February 2011

Virginia Living – April 2011

Old Town Crier – January 2013

O Zahir – Paulo Coelho

The New York Times Magazine – June 2013

The Living White House – White House Historical Association

Biblia Sagrada – Nova Traducao and Na Linguagem De Hoje

Dear Socks, Dear Buddy – Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Wit and Wisdom of the Royal Family – Marianne Sinclair and Sarah Litvinoff

New Complete Guide to Executive Manners – Letitia Baldrige

The Art and Etiquette of Gift Giving – Dawn Bryan

Whitehall – Peter Hennessy

The Book of Virtues – William J Bennett

Ike – An American Hero – Michael Korda

Dearest Friend – A Life of Abigail Adams – Lynne Withey

Harry S. Truman – Margaret Truman

An Imperfect God – Henry Wiencek

God and Ronald Reagan – Paul Kengor

Lincoln – Jan Morris

The Diplomacy of The American Revolution – Samuel Flagg Bemis

Simon Bolivar – Gerhard Masur

Treasure Island – Robert Lewis Stevenson

The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln – Anthony Gross

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

Frankenstien – Mary Shelley

Twice- Told Tales – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Four Shakespeare Plays – William Shakespeare

Just Added!

Thank you Caroline from Cumming, Georgia!

French Bleu – Caroline Clemens

Thank you March from Plantation, Florida!

The Pope’s Stone – Marc Kuhn

James Madison – A Son of Virginia and a Founder of the Nation – Jeff Broadwater

Thank you Fred the Cat from England!

This was a special gift from across the pond to Hurley, our Golden and Official Plantation Dog!

Reigning Cats and Dogs – Katharine MacDonogh

Thank you Wally and Beverly from Virginia!

The Concise Illustreated History of the Civil War – James I. Robertson Jr.

Campaigning with Grant – Horace Porter

The Citizen-Soldier – John Beatty

In and Out of Rebel Prisons – Alonzo Cooper

A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary Vol 1 and Vol 2 – John B Jones

Mosby’s Rangers – James J. Williamson

Hard Tack and Coffee – John D. Billings

Reminiscences of the Civil War – John B Gordon

One of Jackson’s Foot Cavalry – John H Worsham

Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life – Carlton McCarthy

Campaigns of a Non-Combatant – George Alfred Townsend

Destruction and Reconstruction – Richard Taylor

Richmond During the War – Sallie B Putnam

Daring and Suffering – William Piittenger

Battles of the Civil War – Prints

Thank you Ted and Nancy from Virginia!

Nathan the Wise – Bayard Quincy Morgan

Field Guild to Early American Furniture – Thomas H Ormsbee

My Three Years with Eisenhower – Capt Harry C. Bukner USNR

The Flower and the Nettle – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Portrait: Adlai E. Stevenson – Alden Whitman

The Life of Isbelle Eberhardt – Annette Kobak

Everything to Gain –  Jimmy Rosalyn Carter

Reminiscences – Douglas MacArthur

Alice Roosevelt Longworth – Carol Felsenthal

The Hemingway Reader – Ernest Hemingway

Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior – George Washington

Mount Vernon is Ours – Elswyth Thane

The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor – Rear Admiral Robert A Theobald USN

Twenty-five Centuries of Sea Warfare – Jacques Mordal

90 degree South – Paul Siple

Graveyard of the Atlantic – David Stick

The War Dispatches of Stephen Crane – RW Stallman and ER Hagemann

Pictorial History of America Presidents – John and Alice Durant

Across the Ages – Louise I Capen PhD

A History of Shrewbury Parish Church – Katherine Myrick Deprrospo

The Broken Jug – Heinrich von Kleist

Amphitryon – Heinrich von Kleist

The Wonderful Adventure of Nils – Selma Lagerlot

School of Natural Healing – Dr. John R Christopher

Memoirs of a Soviet Ambassador – Ivan Maisky

Housekeeping with Antiques – Lee Parr McGrath

Library of Great American Writing – Vol 1 and 2 – Louis Lentermeyer

Links of Leadership – John Lafin

On a Pig’s Back – John Halgate

To Sail Beyond the Sunset – Robert A. Heinlein

It was a Fire When I Lay Down in it – Robert Felghum

Everyone’s Ark – Sally Patrick Johnson

Rubaiyat of Omar Khyyam – Edward Fitzgerald

The Cardinal – Henry Morton Robinson

Justine – The Marquis de Sade

Deep West – Ernest Haycox

Torquato Tasso – Johann Wolfgang von Geothe

The Valley of the Dragon – Olive Price

Conversations with Goethe – JP Eckermann

Aku Aku – Thor Heyerdahl

Amorous Fiammetta – Giovanni Boccaccio

Zadig and Other Romances – Voltaire

Ten Droll Tales – Honore De Balzac

Madam Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

Manon Lescaut – DC Maylan

The Golden Asse of Lucius Apuleius – William Adlington

The Mimes of the Courtesans – Lucian

Longus Daphnis and Chloe – George Thronley

The Love Books of Ovid – J.Lewis May

The Brass Ring – Bill Mauldin

Percy – Raymond Hitchcock

Seven Miles Down – Jacques Piccard and Robert Dietz

Kon Tiki – Thor Heyerdahl

Drakes Voyage – Kenneth R Andrews

Tales of Philsophy – Felix Marti-Ibanez

Cats, Cats, Cats – John R Gilbert

Persian Fables – George Theiner

Encyclopedia of the Cat – Angela  Sayer

The Valley of the Kings – Erik Hornung

Gallopalooza – Da Dry

The Antarctica – Emil Schulthess

Thank you Mark and Mary from Virginia!

The North American Indian – Edward S Curtis

The Odyssey – Homer

Team of Rivals – Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Journals of Lewis and Clark – Bernard DeVoto

The Civil War – Douglas Welsh

Eyewitness to the Civil War – Neil Kagan

The Civil War A Narrative – Fredericksburg to Meridian – Shelby Foote

The Civil War A Narrative – Red River to Appomattox – Shelby Foote

The Civil War A Narrative – Fort Sumter to Perryville – Shelby Foote

Virginia – John Jay Janney’s

To see what we are up to at the plantation

Please visit our Facebook Page and Official Website!

See what Upcoming Events we have at the Plantation under our “Event Calendar” tab!

The library is starting to fill up. It is so wonderful to see the shelves with such great books on them! We want to thank everyone that has sent books to our historic library! It has meant so much to us!

But we aren’t done yet!

We still have several shelves left and sadly the James Madison section is really looking empty compared to the other sections. General Interest is starting to over flow. I can’t even reach the upper shelves to place the new arrivals there!

If you have any books or would like to donate some of our Wish List Books, please send them to us at:

Belle Grove Plantation Bed and Breakfast

9221 Belle Grove Drive

King George, Virginia 22485

Please don’t forget to inscribe them with your name, state or country and the date so we can make it a part of this beloved plantations history!

We would like to break each section down to catalogs.

Here is what they are:

Books that James Madison would have had in his library – These are books that James Madison would have had to read in his personal library. See the Wish List below for books that Montpelier recommended for this section.

Books on the Founding Fathers (and Mothers) and the Constitution – These are books that are about the great men and women who help form America. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Mason, Martha Washington, Dolley Madison and on. We would also like to have books on the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

Books on the military events and American History – Since Belle Grove’s history spans every period in American history, we would like this section to have books about the periods in American History. Of course the American Revolution and Civil Wars touched Belle Grove because they happened here, we would like to have several on these. But we would also like to have the rest too because it would have touched each family in some way.

Books on Virginia and American Life – These books would talk about life in Virginia and in America. Send us a book about your great state or your favorite Virginia sights.

General Interest Books – These can be of any interest. Fact or Fiction. Good stories that you think people would like to read. You may also like to send us a copy of a book you have had published.

A Couple of Requests

Because these books are going to be placed in this historic home, we would like to acknowledge you for making this donation to our library. In the front of the book, we ask that you place the following information:

“This book was donated to Belle Grove Plantation by (your name) from (City, State and Country) on (date) to help complete their library.”

This will help us preserve your place in our history.

We would also like to request that your book be a hardback book that isn’t too large. If the book is too large, it may not fit on the shelf. Paperback books are nice and inexpensive, but as people read them, they get worn over time. We would like your book to last as long as possible.

Books we already have

The Asent of George Washington – John Ferling

Madison Writings – Jack N. Rakove

A Slave in the White House – Elizabeth Dowling Taylor

The Debate on the Constitution – Bernard Barilyn

James Madison – Garry Wills

War at Our Doors – Rebecca Campbell Light

Images of America Virginia Presidential Homes – Patrick L. O’Neill

Places I Have Known Along the Rappahannock River – Beverley C Pratt

Come Retribution – William A Tidwell

A Perfect Union – Catherine Allgor

Gordonsville Virginia – William H.B. Thomas

Orange Virginia – William H.B. Thomas

Dearest Friend  A Life of Abigail Adams – Lynne Withey

Patriots of the UpCountry – William H.B. Thomas

The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

Dolores Claiborne – Stephen King

The Dead Zone – Stephen King

Pet Sematary – Stephen King

The Tommyknockers – Stephen King

Diana Her True Story – Andrew Morton

Memoris of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

Favorite Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables

Selected Poems – Walt Whitman

Autobiography – Benjamin Franklin

The Law of War and Peace – Hugo Grotius

Fathers and Sons – Iva S. Turgenev

Five Great Dialogues – Plato

On the Nature of Things – Lucretius

Essays and New Atlantis – Francis Bacon

Paradise Lost and Other Poems – John Milton

Anne Boleyn – Anthony Crowell

Selected Lives and Essays – Plutarch

Discourses – Epictetus

Utopia – Thomas More

The Iliad – Homer

On Man in the Universe – Aristotle

Jake Lingle – John Boettiger

The Letters of Madame – Volume I and II – Gertrude Scott Stevenson

100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories – Weinberg, Dziemianowicz, and Greenberg

Best Little Stories of Virginia – C Brian Kelly

Titanic – Colonel Archibald Gracie

Rhett Butler’s People – Donald McCaig

The Gold of Exodus – Howard Blum

The Sum of All Fears – Tom Clancy

Faith of our Founding Fathers – Tim LaHaye

Gun – A Visual History – Dr. Chris McNab

American Soldier – General Tommy Franks

Wild at Heart – John Eldredge

How Did You Do It, Truett – S. Truett Cathy

Gettysburg – Newt Gingrich and William R Forstchen

Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All – Allan Gurganus

Me My County My God – Dr. C Thomas Anderson and Don Enevoldsen

Lincoln on Leadership – Donald T. Phillips

The Civil War Battlefield Guide – The Conservation Fund – Frances H Kennedy

Gettysburg  An Alternate History – Peter G. Tsouras

Leadership Lessons of Robert E. Lee – Bil Holton

Run to the Roar – A Fable of Choice, Courage and Hope – J. Randy Forbes

His Excellency George Washington – Joseph J Ellis

Dear Catherine, Dear Taylor – The Civil War letters of a Union Soldier and his Wife – Richard L Kiper

Debt of Honor – Tom Clancy

Tale of a Tiger – R.T. Smith

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger – David Gregory

Command Attention – Col. Keith Oliver USMC (Ret)

Leadership Excellence – Pat Williams with Jim Denney

War – Sebastian Junger

How – Why HOW we do anything means everything – Dov Seidman

Psalm 91- Peggy Joyce Ruth

Team of Rivals – Doris Kearns Goodwin

No Higher Honor – Condoleezza Rice

Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams – Pat Williams

The Ambition – Lee Strobel

Secrets of the Millonaire Mind – T. Harv Eker

Rembrandt – The Old Testament – Thomas Nelson Publishers

Rembrandt – Life of Christ – Thomas Nelson Publishers

Profiles in Courage – John F. Kennedy

Lady Bird – Jan Jarboe Russell

Dawn’s Early Light – Elswyth Thane

Ronald Reagan and the American Ideal – Steve Penley

Jane Austen’s Persuasion – Jane Austen

Back in the Day – Michael Powell

Enough Good Men – Charles Mercer

Presidential Campaigns – Paul Boller Jr

To Make a Nation – Samuel H. Beer

Turning the World Upside Down – John Tebbel

Washington’s Crossing – David Hackett Fishcher

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company, A Novel of Lewis and Clark – Brian Hall

Undaunted Courage – Stephen E. Ambrose

Legion of the Lost – Jaime Salazar

The American Patriots Almanac – William J. Bennett & John T.F. Cribb

Almost A Miracle – John Ferling

Hurricane of Independence – Tony Williams

The Bold & Magnigicent Dream – Bruce Catton & William B Catton

One Day of Civil War, April 10, 1863 – Robert L Willett Jr.

Grant – William S. McFeely

The Bedford Introduction to Literature – Michael Meyer

A Man on the Moon – Apollo Astronauts – Andrew Chaikin

Einstein – Walter Issacson

Atlas of the World

Law in America – American Hertiage

Don’t Stop the Carnival – Herman Wouk

The Hunt for Red October – Tom   Clancy

At Dawn We Slept – Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor – Gordon W. Prange

The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown

The National Geographic Society – 100 years of Adventure and Discovery

Civil War Parks – The Story Behind the Scenery

Life (or something like it) at Mallard High – Greg Martini and Lisa Chelkowski

James Madison – Champion of Liberty and Justice – John P. Kaminski

Slavery at the Home of George Washington – Philip J. Schwarz

50 States of Amercia  – Rosanna Hansen and Jan Bloom

Slaver and Freedom in the Age of the American Revolution – Ira Berlin and Ronald Hoffman

The Negro in 18^th Century Williamsburg – Thad W. Tate

Race and Revolution – Gary B. Nash

The Federalist – Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay

Madison and Jefferson – Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg

Just Added!

Thank you James Madison Museum from Orange, Virginia!

Check them out at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-James-Madison-Museum/125879842839?fref=ts

 

Civil War Letters of Major (Chaplain) James McDonald Campbell – James McDonald Campbell

Thank you Greg and Karen from Williamsburg, Virginia!

Don Quxote – Miguel De Cervantes

Our Times – The Twenties – Mark Sullivan

Thank you Alexandria Quaker Meeting from Alexandria, Virginia!

Take Our Advice: A Handbook for Gardening in Northern Virginia – Margaret Fisher & Friends

Thank you Grand Lodge of Virginia – Colonial Beach Lodge #199 from Colonial Beach, Virginia!

The American Revolution and the Craft – I. Lewis Langley

Thank you Katherine from Alexandria, Virginia!

Keep What you Earn – Terry Coxon

See I Told You So – Rush Limbaugh

A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-Central North American – Roger Tory Peterson and Margaret McKenny

Island in the Sun – Alec Waugh

Miss Manners – Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior – Judith Martin

The Best and the Brightest – David Halberstam

Pentagon – Allen Drury

The Family – The Real Story of The Bush Dynasty – Kitty Kelley

Personal History – Katharine Graham

The Rivalr – Mystery at The Army-Navy Game – John Feinstein

Home Front – Patti Davis with Maureen Strange Foster

Meditations – Marcus Aurelius

A Field Guide to the Birds – Eastern Land and Water Birds – Roger Tor Peterson

Washington Behind Closed Doors – John Ehrlichman

The Puzzle Palace – James Bamford

The James River in Richmond – John Bryan

Virginia Living – February 2011

Virginia Living – April 2011

Old Town Crier – January 2013

O Zahir – Paulo Coelho

The New York Times Magazine – June 2013

The Living White House – White House Historical Association

Biblia Sagrada – Nova Traducao and Na Linguagem De Hoje

Dear Socks, Dear Buddy – Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Wit and Wisdom of the Royal Family – Marianne Sinclair and Sarah Litvinoff

New Complete Guide to Executive Manners – Letitia Baldrige

The Art and Etiquette of Gift Giving – Dawn Bryan

Whitehall – Peter Hennessy

The Book of Virtues – William J Bennett

Ike – An American Hero – Michael Korda

Dearest Friend – A Life of Abigail Adams – Lynne Withey

Harry S. Truman – Margaret Truman

An Imperfect God – Henry Wiencek

God and Ronald Reagan – Paul Kengor

Lincoln – Jan Morris

The Diplomacy of The American Revolution – Samuel Flagg Bemis

Simon Bolivar – Gerhard Masur

Thank you Debbie from Puyallup,Washington!

Treasure Island – Robert Lewis Stevenson

The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln – Anthony Gross

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

Frankenstien – Mary Shelley

Twice- Told Tales – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Four Shakespeare Plays – William Shakespeare

Wish List

These are books we would like to have for the library.

Author	Title
Adams, John	Defence of the Constitutions
Burns, Robert	Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
Crevecoeur, J. Hector St. John de	Letters from an American Farmer
Filson, John	Discovery, Settlement, & Present State of Kentucky
Gibbon, Edward	History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
A. Hamilton, J. Jay, and J. Madison	The Federalist – RECEIVED!
Jefferson, Thomas	Notes on the State of Virginia
Ledyard, John	Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean
Locke, John	Treatises on Government
Longacre, James Barton	National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans
Montesquieu	The Spirit of the Laws
Morse, Jedidiah	Geography Made Easy
Shakespeare, William	Hamlet
Plato	The Republic
Raleigh, Sir Walter	History of the World
Ramsay, David	History of the American Revolution
Vattell, Emerich de	The Law of Nations
Warville, J.P. Brissot de	The Commerce of America with Europe

 Books about Madison

Ketcham, Ralph	James Madison: A Biography
Banning, Lance	The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the founding of the Federal Republic
Brookhiser, Richard	James Madison
Burstein, Andrew and Nancy Isenberg	Madison and Jefferson – RECEIVED!
Madison, James	Notes of Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787
Mattern, David and H. Schulman	The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison
Mattern, David B.	James Madison’s Advice to My Country
Rakove, Jack	James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic
Stagg, J.C.A.	Mr. Madison’s War: Politics, Diplomacy, & Warfare in the Early American Republic
Wood, Gordon	Empire of Liberty

To see what we are up to at Belle Grove Plantation

Please check out our Facebook Fan Page!

We have had several new books come in over the last couple of weeks!

We would like to thank everyone for their generous donation to our library!

But we are still a long way away from filling it!

If you would like to donate some books to our historic library 

here is some information on how to do it!

Send your donations to:

Belle Grove Plantation Bed and Breakfast

9221 Belle Grove Drive

King George, Virginia 22485

These are the sections we we are looking to fill:

Books that James Madison would have had in his library – These are books that James Madison would have had to read in his personal library. Or it could have been books that Thomas Jefferson would have allowed him to borrow. Here is a link of reading material Thomas Jefferson wrote about : http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/reading2.htm

Books on the Founding Fathers (and Mothers) and the Constitution – These are books that are about the great men and women who help form America. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Mason, Martha Washington, Dolley Madison and on. We would also like to have books on the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

Books on the military events and American History – Since Belle Grove’s history spans every period in American history, we would like this section to have books about the periods in American History. Of course the American Revolution and Civil Wars touched Belle Grove because they happened here, we would like to have several on these. But we would also like to have the rest too because it would have touched each family in some way.

Books on Virginia and American Life – These books would talk about life in Virginia and in America. Send us a book about your great state or your favorite Virginia sights.

General Interest Books – These can be of any interest. Fact or Fiction. Good stories that you think people would like to read. You may also like to send us a copy of a book you have had published.

A Couple of Requests

Because these books are going to be placed in this historic home, we would like to acknowledge you for making this donation to our library. In the front of the book, we ask that you place the following information:

“This book was donated to Belle Grove Plantation by (your name) from (City, State and Country) on (date) to help complete their library.”

This will help us preserve your place in our history.

We would also like to request that your book be a hardback book that isn’t too large. If the book is too large, it may not fit on the shelf. Paperback books are nice and inexpensive, but as people read them, they get worn over time. We would like your book to last as long as possible.

Books we already have

So we don’t get repeat books, once we receive a book, we will list it on our a blog page. Look on our left column under “About Us”. It is listed as “Housewarming for the Library”

The Asent of George Washington – John Ferling

Madison Writings – Jack N. Rakove

A Slave in the White House – Elizabeth Dowling Taylor

The Debate on the Constitution – Bernard Barilyn

James Madison – Garry Wills

War at Our Doors – Rebecca Campbell Light

Images of America Virginia Presidential Homes – Patrick L. O’Neill

Places I Have Known Along the Rappahannock River – Beverley C Pratt

Come Retribution – William A Tidwell

A Perfect Union – Catherine Allgor

Gordonsville Virginia – William H.B. Thomas

Orange Virginia – William H.B. Thomas

Dearest Friend  A Life of Abigail Adams – Lynne Withey

Patriots of the UpCountry – William H.B. Thomas

The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

Dolores Claiborne – Stephen King

The Dead Zone – Stephen King

Pet Sematary – Stephen King

The Tommyknockers – Stephen King

Diana Her True Story – Andrew Morton

Memoris of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

Favorite Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables

Selected Poems – Walt Whitman

Autobiography – Benjamin Franklin

The Law of War and Peace – Hugo Grotius

Fathers and Sons – Iva S. Turgenev

Five Great Dialogues – Plato

On the Nature of Things – Lucretius

Essays and New Atlantis – Francis Bacon

Paradise Lost and Other Poems – John Milton

Anne Boleyn – Anthony Crowell

Selected Lives and Essays – Plutarch

Discourses – Epictetus

Utopia – Thomas More

The Iliad – Homer

On Man in the Universe – Aristotle

Jake Lingle – John Boettiger

The Letters of Madame – Volume I and II – Gertrude Scott Stevenson

100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories – Weinberg, Dziemianowicz, and Greenberg

Best Little Stories of Virginia – C Brian Kelly

Titanic – Colonel Archibald Gracie

Rhett Butler’s People – Donald McCaig

The Gold of Exodus – Howard Blum

The Sum of All Fears – Tom Clancy

Faith of our Founding Fathers – Tim LaHaye

Gun – A Visual History – Dr. Chris McNab

American Soldier – General Tommy Franks

Wild at Heart – John Eldredge

How Did You Do It, Truett – S. Truett Cathy

Gettysburg – Newt Gingrich and William R Forstchen

Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All – Allan Gurganus

Me My County My God – Dr. C Thomas Anderson and Don Enevoldsen

Lincoln on Leadership – Donald T. Phillips

The Civil War Battlefield Guide – The Conservation Fund – Frances H Kennedy

Gettysburg  An Alternate History – Peter G. Tsouras

Leadership Lessons of Robert E. Lee – Bil Holton

Run to the Roar – A Fable of Choice, Courage and Hope – J. Randy Forbes

His Excellency George Washington – Joseph J Ellis

Dear Catherine, Dear Taylor – The Civil War letters of a Union Soldier and his Wife – Richard L Kiper

Debt of Honor – Tom Clancy

Tale of a Tiger – R.T. Smith

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger – David Gregory

Command Attention – Col. Keith Oliver USMC (Ret)

Leadership Excellence – Pat Williams with Jim Denney

War – Sebastian Junger

How – Why HOW we do anything means everything – Dov Seidman

Psalm 91- Peggy Joyce Ruth

Team of Rivals – Doris Kearns Goodwin

No Higher Honor – Condoleezza Rice

Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams – Pat Williams

The Ambition – Lee Strobel

Secrets of the Millonaire Mind – T. Harv Eker

Rembrandt – The Old Testament – Thomas Nelson Publishers

Rembrandt – Life of Christ – Thomas Nelson Publishers

Profiles in Courage – John F. Kennedy

Lady Bird – Jan Jarboe Russell

Dawn’s Early Light – Elswyth Thane

Ronald Reagan and the American Ideal – Steve Penley

Jane Austen’s Persuasion – Jane Austen

Back in the Day – Michael Powell

Enough Good Men – Charles Mercer

Presidential Campaigns – Paul Boller Jr

To Make a Nation – Samuel H. Beer

Turning the World Upside Down – John Tebbel

Washington’s Crossing – David Hackett Fishcher

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company, A Novel of Lewis and Clark – Brian Hall

Undaunted Courage – Stephen E. Ambrose

Legion of the Lost – Jaime Salazar

The American Patriots Almanac – William J. Bennett & John T.F. Cribb

Almost A Miracle – John Ferling

Hurricane of Independence – Tony Williams

The Bold & Magnigicent Dream – Bruce Catton & William B Catton

Just Added!

Thank you Dick from Virginia!

One Day of Civil War, April 10, 1863 – Robert L Willett Jr.

Grant – William S. McFeely

The Bedford Introduction to Literature – Michael Meyer

A Man on the Moon – Apollo Astronauts – Andrew Chaikin

Einstein – Walter Issacson

Atlas of the World

Law in America – American Hertiage

Don’t Stop the Carnival – Herman Wouk

The Hunt for Red October – Tom   Clancy

At Dawn We Slept – Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor – Gordon W. Prange

The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown

The National Geographic Society – 100 years of Adventure and Discovery

Civil War Parks – The Story Behind the Scenery

Thank you Lisa from New York!

Life (or something like it) at Mallard High – Greg Martini and Lisa Chelkowski

Thank you Katherine from Virginia!

James Madison – Champion of Liberty and Justice – John P. Kaminski

Slavery at the Home of George Washington – Philip J. Schwarz

 

Thank you Gina from Virginia!

50 States of Amercia  – Rosanna Hansen and Jan Bloom

Slaver and Freedom in the Age of the American Revolution – Ira Berlin and Ronald Hoffman

The Negro in 18^th Century Williamsburg – Thad W. Tate

Race and Revolution – Gary B. Nash

The Federalist – Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay

Thank you from Great Britain!

This is the longest distance one of our books has come yet and is the second from our Wish List to be received!

Madison and Jefferson – Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg

Wish List

These are books we would like to have for the library.

Author	Title
Adams, John	Defence of the Constitutions
Burns, Robert	Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
Crevecoeur, J. Hector St. John de	Letters from an American Farmer
Filson, John	Discovery, Settlement, & Present State of Kentucky
Gibbon, Edward	History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
A. Hamilton, J. Jay, and J. Madison	The Federalist – RECEIVED!
Jefferson, Thomas	Notes on the State of Virginia
Ledyard, John	Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean
Locke, John	Treatises on Government
Longacre, James Barton	National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans
Montesquieu	The Spirit of the Laws
Morse, Jedidiah	Geography Made Easy
Shakespeare, William	Hamlet
Plato	The Republic
Raleigh, Sir Walter	History of the World
Ramsay, David	History of the American Revolution
Vattell, Emerich de	The Law of Nations
Warville, J.P. Brissot de	The Commerce of America with Europe

 Books about Madison

Ketcham, Ralph	James Madison: A Biography
Banning, Lance	The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the founding of the Federal Republic
Brookhiser, Richard	James Madison
Burstein, Andrew and Nancy Isenberg	Madison and Jefferson – RECEIVED!
Madison, James	Notes of Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787
Mattern, David and H. Schulman	The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison
Mattern, David B.	James Madison’s Advice to My Country
Rakove, Jack	James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic
Stagg, J.C.A.	Mr. Madison’s War: Politics, Diplomacy, & Warfare in the Early American Republic
Wood, Gordon	Empire of Liberty

 To see what we are up to at Belle Grove 

Check us out on Facebook!

We have been so busy getting things done in and around the house, I haven’t been able to write able the books we have gotten! We are so grateful to everyone for sending these wonderful books to help us fill our library! James Madison would be proud to own them!

Books on the Founding Fathers (and Mothers) and the Constitution

Books that James Madison would have had in his library

American History and Military Events

Books on Virginia and American Life

General Interest Books

But as you can see we are a long way away from filling the shelves!

We have gotten several books in the General Interest Category, but our James Madison collection is pretty weak.

We are continuing to collect books for our “Virtual Housewarming Party”! If you would like to send some books to become a part of this historic home’s library, please send your selections to:

Belle Grove Plantation Bed and Breakfast

9221 Belle Grove Drive

King George, Virginia 22485

We are looking for the following Categories:

Books that James Madison would have had in his library – These are books that James Madison would have had to read in his personal library. Or it could have been books that Thomas Jefferson would have allowed him to borrow. Here is a list from Montpelier, Home of the Madisons that we are looking for:

Wish List

These are books we would like to have for the library.

Author	Title
Adams, John	Defence of the Constitutions
Burns, Robert	Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
Crevecoeur, J. Hector St. John de	Letters from an American Farmer
Filson, John	Discovery, Settlement, & Present State of Kentucky
Gibbon, Edward	History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
A. Hamilton, J. Jay, and J. Madison	The Federalist
Jefferson, Thomas	Notes on the State of Virginia
Ledyard, John	Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean
Locke, John	Treatises on Government
Longacre, James Barton	National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans
Montesquieu	The Spirit of the Laws
Morse, Jedidiah	Geography Made Easy
Shakespeare, William	Hamlet
Plato	The Republic
Raleigh, Sir Walter	History of the World
Ramsay, David	History of the American Revolution
Vattell, Emerich de	The Law of Nations
Warville, J.P. Brissot de	The Commerce of America with Europe

 Books about Madison

Ketcham, Ralph	James Madison: A Biography
Banning, Lance	The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the founding of the Federal Republic
Brookhiser, Richard	James Madison
Burstein, Andrew and Nancy Isenberg	Madison and Jefferson
Madison, James	Notes of Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787
Mattern, David and H. Schulman	The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison
Mattern, David B.	James Madison’s Advice to My Country
Rakove, Jack	James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic
Stagg, J.C.A.	Mr. Madison’s War: Politics, Diplomacy, & Warfare in the Early American Republic
Wood, Gordon	Empire of Liberty

Books on the Founding Fathers (and Mothers) and the Constitution – These are books that are about the great men and women who help form America. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Mason, Martha Washington, Dolley Madison and on. We would also like to have books on the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

American History and Military Events – Since Belle Grove’s history spans every period in American history, we would like this section to have books about the periods in American History. Of course the American Revolution and Civil Wars touched Belle Grove because they happened here, we would like to have several on these. But we would also like to have the rest too because it would have touched each family in some way.

Books on Virginia and American Life – These books would talk about life in Virginia and in America. Send us a book about your great state or your favorite Virginia sights.

General Interest Books – These can be of any interest. Fact or Fiction. Good stories that you think people would like to read. You may also like to send us a copy of a book you have had published.

A Couple of Requests

Because these books are going to be placed in this historic home, we would like to acknowledge you for making this donation to our library. In the front of the book, we ask that you place the following information:

“This book was donated to Belle Grove Plantation by (your name) from (City, State and Country) on (date) to help complete their library.”

This will help us preserve your place in our history.

We would also like to request that your book be a hardback book that isn’t too large. If the book is too large, it may not fit on the shelf. Paperback books are nice and inexpensive, but as people read them, they get worn over time. We would like your book to last as long as possible.

Below are the books we currently have in our collection:

The Asent of George Washington – John Ferling

Madison Writings – Jack N. Rakove

A Slave in the White House – Elizabeth Dowling Taylor

The Debate on the Constitution – Bernard Barilyn

James Madison – Garry Wills

War at Our Doors – Rebecca Campbell Light

Images of America Virginia Presidential Homes – Patrick L. O’Neill

Places I Have Known Along the Rappahannock River – Beverley C Pratt

Come Retribution – William A Tidwell

A Perfect Union – Catherine Allgor

Gordonsville Virginia – William H.B. Thomas

Orange Virginia – William H.B. Thomas

Dearest Friend  A Life of Abigail Adams – Lynne Withey

Patriots of the UpCountry – William H.B. Thomas

The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

Dolores Claiborne – Stephen King

The Dead Zone – Stephen King

Pet Sematary – Stephen King

The Tommyknockers – Stephen King

Diana Her True Story – Andrew Morton

Memoris of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

Favorite Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables

Selected Poems – Walt Whitman

Autobiography – Benjamin Franklin

The Law of War and Peace – Hugo Grotius

Fathers and Sons – Iva S. Turgenev

Five Great Dialogues – Plato

On the Nature of Things – Lucretius

Essays and New Atlantis – Francis Bacon

Paradise Lost and Other Poems – John Milton

Anne Boleyn – Anthony Crowell

Selected Lives and Essays – Plutarch

Discourses – Epictetus

Utopia – Thomas More

The Iliad – Homer

On Man in the Universe – Aristotle

Jake Lingle – John Boettiger

The Letters of Madame – Volume I and II – Gertrude Scott Stevenson

100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories – Weinberg, Dziemianowicz, and Greenberg

Best Little Stories of Virginia – C Brian Kelly

Titanic – Colonel Archibald Gracie

Rhett Butler’s People – Donald McCaig

The Gold of Exodus – Howard Blum

The Sum of All Fears – Tom Clancy

Faith of our Founding Fathers – Tim LaHaye

Gun – A Visual History – Dr. Chris McNab

American Soldier – General Tommy Franks

Wild at Heart – John Eldredge

How Did You Do It, Truett – S. Truett Cathy

Gettysburg – Newt Gingrich and William R Forstchen

Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All – Allan Gurganus

Me My County My God – Dr. C Thomas Anderson and Don Enevoldsen

Lincoln on Leadership – Donald T. Phillips

The Civil War Battlefield Guide – The Conservation Fund – Frances H Kennedy

Gettysburg  An Alternate History – Peter G. Tsouras

Leadership Lessons of Robert E. Lee – Bil Holton

Run to the Roar – A Fable of Choice, Courage and Hope – J. Randy Forbes

His Excellency George Washington – Joseph J Ellis

Dear Catherine, Dear Taylor – The Civil War letters of a Union Soldier and his Wife – Richard L Kiper

Debt of Honor – Tom Clancy

Tale of a Tiger – R.T. Smith

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger – David Gregory

Command Attention – Col. Keith Oliver USMC (Ret)

Leadership Excellence – Pat Williams with Jim Denney

War – Sebastian Junger

How – Why HOW we do anything means everything – Dov Seidman

Psalm 91- Peggy Joyce Ruth

Team of Rivals – Doris Kearns Goodwin

No Higher Honor – Condoleezza Rice

Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams – Pat Williams

The Ambition – Lee Strobel

Secrets of the Millonaire Mind – T. Harv Eker

Rembrandt – The Old Testament – Thomas Nelson Publishers

Rembrandt – Life of Christ – Thomas Nelson Publishers

Profiles in Courage – John F. Kennedy

Lady Bird – Jan Jarboe Russell

Just Added!

Thank you Deborah from California!

Dawn’s Early Light – Elswyth Thane

Thank you From Virginia!

Ronald Reagan and the American Ideal – Steve Penley

Thank you Dolly & Ted from Washington State!

Jane Austen’s Persuasion – Jane Austen

Back in the Day – Michael Powell

Enough Good Men – Charles Mercer

Presidential Campaigns – Paul Boller Jr

To Make a Nation – Samuel H. Beer

Turning the World Upside Down – John Tebbel

Thank you James from Utah!

Washington’s Crossing – David Hackett Fishcher

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company, A Novel of Lewis and Clark – Brian Hall

Undaunted Courage – Stephen E. Ambrose

Legion of the Lost – Jaime Salazar

The American Patriots Almanac – William J. Bennett & John T.F. Cribb

Almost A Miracle – John Ferling

Hurricane of Independence – Tony Williams

The Bold & Magnigicent Dream – Bruce Catton & William B Catton

Hurley relaxing by the dining room table at the Plantation!

To see more about Belle Grove Plantation and see pictures of Hurley

Visit our Facebook Fan Page!

I couldn’t wait until the end of the day to write about this delivery!

This morning at 9am, we had a visit from the Fed Ex man!

He brought us a package addresses to

Brett, Michelle and Hurley!

Inside we discovered a wonderful book from Deborah in California! 

The book, “Dawn’s Early Light” is a romantic novel about a woman who dresses as a man in order to follow her man to war. Set during the Revolutionary War, this is the first in a series that works its way through to World War II.

But what made it even more special was a special treat just for Hurley!

Hurley will be coming to the plantation on Friday this week. He will be staying behind with me because he has a photo shoot coming up June 25th with a bride that will be staying at the plantation in July.

Don’t forget Saturday, June 22nd at 10am

We will be receiving our landscaping by flatbed truck!

If you can volunteer, we would welcome you to come and help us make Belle Grove Plantation beautiful again!

Hurley will be joining us!

Please bring the following if you have them:

Work Gloves

Shovels

Bucket

Plastic Rain Barrel if it is empty

Pickup Truck to help move items and water

Lawn Chair

Bag Lunch

We will have ice cold water on hand for everyone!

We look forward to seeing you at the plantation!!

Watch Our Facebook Page today!

We are getting a delivery of furniture today!