More Research

Apr. 29th 2013

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As we move closer to landscaping the grounds at Belle Grove Plantation, I have found myself drawn to other gardens to research  plants we might want to use. Sunday, I visited the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. It is one of my favorite gardens here in Virginia and always leaves me inspired.

The plants I was most interested in were the Azaleas and Camellia. I am hoping to dot the long drive to the front gate with a mix of Azaleas in and around the Red Cedar trees. I think it would gave a beautiful splash of color in the spring as well as provide a nice fill in to spaces where they have lost trees.

Azaleas - Dorothy Gish

Azaleas – Dorothy Gish

Azaleas - Double Pink

Azaleas – Double Pink

Azaleas - Gloria

Azaleas – Gloria

Azaleas - Hampton Beauty

Azaleas – Hampton Beauty

Azaleas -  Hot Shot x Hershey Red Tetra

Azaleas – Hot Shot x Hershey Red Tetra

Azaleas - New Generation

Azaleas – New Generation

Azaleas - Rosy Frills

Azaleas – Rosy Frills

Azaleas - Salmon Surprise

Azaleas – Salmon Surprise

Azaleas - Satelite

Azaleas – Satelite

Azaleas - Gibraltar

Azaleas – Gibraltar

I am at odds with the Camellias. I fell in love with them when I visited the Elizabethan Botanical Gardens in Manteo, North Carolina. From that point I knew I wanted to have a garden of them. My hope was to place them around the Riverside Portico, but with a full afternoon sun from noon to sundown, I am afraid it may be too much for them with no shade. So I am thinking about moving them to the Carriage side of the Mansion to greet our guests as they come in. They won’t have too much shade there either, but they will only get the morning sun which will be filtered through the trees until 11am to noon. So hopefully that won’t be too much full on sun.

Camella - Anemonaeflora

Camella – Anemonaeflora

Camella - Brillant

Camella – Brillant

Camella - Christmas Beauty

Camella – Christmas Beauty

Camella - CM Hovey Colonel Firey

Camella – CM Hovey Colonel Firey

Camella - Ellen Daniel

Camella – Ellen Daniel

Camella - Faith

Camella – Faith

Camella - Grace Albritton

Camella – Grace Albritton

Camella - Julie

Camella – Julie

Camella - Lady Laura

Camella – Lady Laura

Camella - Masterpiece

Camella – Masterpiece

Camella - Nuccio's Gem

Camella – Nuccio’s Gem

Camella - Sawadas Dream

Camella – Sawadas Dream

Camella - Susan Stone

Camella – Susan Stone

Hope you enjoy our research!

If you have any ideas you would like to share…

Please do!

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To see all of our photos from the Norfolk Botanical Gardens

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Posted by Michelle Darnell | in Darnell History | 37 Comments »

Top Ten Cookies To Be Announced Tomorrow!

Apr. 12th 2013

Founding-Fathers-I-5135

We have sent out all the notifications for the “Official Cookie of Belle Grove Plantation”.

Brett and I would like to thank everyone that enter for sending us some really wonderful cookies!

It really was a very difficult decision to find the top ten!

Mr. Madison holding a conversation with a young girl at Montpelier

Mr. Madison holding a conversation with a young girl at Montpelier

We even had some help from Mr. Madison (John Douglas Hall, Historic Performer from Montpelier) yesterday.

He was here to visit his birthplace and while here, he gave them a final review.

We will announce the top ten tomorrow morning.

You will be able to find the recipes for the top ten tomorrow on our blog.

Here is the exciting part!

We have decided to make a change to the final judging for the number one spot!

When we announce the top ten cookies tomorrow, we will also open a special album on our Belle Grove Plantation Facebook Fan Page. It will list all the top ten cookies.

The judging will be left to you!

Review the cookies and select which one you think should be number one!

The one with the most “likes” will be the winner!

Remember the theme – “A Cookie James Madison would Love”

The judging will start on Saturday, April 13th at 12:00am and

continue until Sunday, April 21st at 11:59pm (Eastern).

We encourage you to share the fun with your family and friends!

To vote:

1. You must “like” our Belle Grove Facebook Fan Page

2. You will need to go to the cookie album and select your favorite
by “Liking” it.

Remember voting will start tomorrow so you won’t see the cookies until then!

We would like to wish each of you good luck!

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Brett, Michelle and Hurley

Click below to find our Facebook Fan Page

Facebook Link

Share our page with your friends and families so they can vote too!

Posted by Michelle Darnell | in Food and Recipes, Hurley | 16 Comments »

Belle Grove and the 1920s

Mar. 2nd 2013

When we left off, we had talked about our owner, Captain John F. Jack or as he was better known “Alfalfa Jack”. We still haven’t been about to find much more on his personal life. Just that from the newspaper in our area and the photographs from California. We do know that he owned Belle Grove from 1906 to 1916. But the last piece of information about Captain Jack is a newspaper article dated July 20, 1911.

This article talked about a fire in the barn at Belle Grove. The barn and 250 tons of alfalfa were lost along with a large amount of farming equipment. The origin of the fire was never known. It resulted in a $10,000 loss. Captain Jack did not have insurance on the barn or equipment.

1911 July 20 Free Lance Star
1911 July 20 Free Lance Star

From here the trail grows cold. I have not been able to find any other information on Captain Jack. We had written that he had sold the plantations in 1911, but we have since found out that it was 1916 when he sold it.  So the fire had not been so bad that it was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”.  Only time will tell as we hope to under cover the mystery of whom Captain Jack was and where he ended up.

Captain Jack sold Belle Grove to William H. Allen and Otto F. Brandt also from California. But sadly, we have again run into a brick wall with their history. We haven’t even been able to find newspaper articles. So we are going to have to hope some oral history will come forward sometime to direct us in the right direction.

I can’t tell  you how much we have under covered thanks to oral history! Through the blog and through our newspaper articles that have come out we have found names of plantation managers, caretakers and field hands. This is history that would have been lost had these individuals had not come forward. This is the history we hope to save before all those who know are gone.

One of those who came forward is a family member of a past plantation manager. From our research on this plantation manager, we have placed him at the plantation some time in the 1920s. It was through this individual that I received several photographs of this plantation manager and his family at Belle Grove.

Charles Kendall Hearn

Charles Kendall Hearn

Charles Kendall Hearn was born February 22, 1878 in Walnut Grove, Virginia. His father was Samuel Batson Hearn VI (1841 to 1917) and his mother was Mary Virginia Gibbs Hearn (1850-1921). Charles’s middle name “Kendall” came from his grandfather. His family lived in Port Royal, Virginia, which is just across the river from Belle Grove in the 1880.

Samuel B. Hearn circa 1869

Samuel B. Hearn circa 1869

Mary Virginia Gibbs Hearn circa 1900

Mary Virginia Gibbs Hearn circa 1900

Mary Virginia Gibbs Hearn circa 1900

Mary Virginia Gibbs Hearn circa 1900

In 1897, Charles was a pursuer on the Weems Steamship line out of Baltimore. He was appointed to the position of Purser on the Steamer Westmoreland, formerly held by Mr Ruggles Taliaferro of Baltimore.

In 1898, Charles married Mary Etta Bruce. According to a paper I found on Ancestry.com, Charles was not yet 21 when he married Mary. It seems back then you needed permission from your parents to marry if you were under 21 years old.

Permission for Charles K. Hearn to marry 1899

Permission for Charles K. Hearn to marry December 19, 1898

Marriage CertificateDecember 21, 1898

Marriage Certificate
December 21, 1898

Charles Kendall Hearn

Charles Kendall Hearn

Charles Kendall Hearn

Charles Kendall Hearn

Charles and Mary would have two daughters, Nellie Brooke Hearn (1901-1993) and Lucy Kendall Hearn (1904-2001). In 1906, Charles was listed as a farmer, blacksmith and wheelwright near Port Royal. In 1916, he was part of a business called “Hearn Brothers” who were blacksmiths and wheelwrights.

Lucy Kendall Hearn

Lucy Kendall Hearn

Sometime in the 1920s, Charles became the plantation manager for Belle Grove Plantation.

Taken along the Rappahannock River at Belle Grove when he managed the estate there.

Taken along the Rappahannock River at Belle Grove when Charles K. Hearn managed the estate there.

Nellie and Lucy on the Riverside of Belle Grove 1920s

Nellie and Lucy on the Riverside of Belle Grove 1920s

Belle Grove Farm scenes

John Thomas Hearn, brother of Charles on the Riverside of Belle Grove

John Thomas Hearn, brother of Charles on the Riverside of Belle Grove

UChas. K. Hearn @ Belle Grove.ntitled-1

Belle Grove Farm Scenes no.6

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

Mary Etta, Luch and Charles Hearn

Mary Etta, Luch and Charles Hearn

In 1924, a group of citizens raised $75,000 and established a bank in Port Royal. There were seven directors of the bank and Charles Hearn was one of them. The bank would close in 1934.

Charles and his brother John Thomas Hearn purchased a home in Fredericksburg in 1922. Charles’s family and his brother’s family would live in this home until he later purchased his own home.

Charles Kendall Hearn, about 1940

Charles Kendall Hearn, about 1940

Charles Kendall Hearn, about 1940

Charles Kendall Hearn, about 1940

Charles would pass away on June 25, 1940 in Fredericksburg at the age of 62.

To see more pictures from Belle Grove Plantation’s History

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Thank you!

Winter at Belle Grove

Jan. 26th 2013

Today we had our first real snow in Chesapeake, getting about 2 inches. As you can see Hurley had a blast in it.

Hurley laying in the snow

Hurley laying in the snow

We heard from the caretakers at Belle Grove, they too have gotten a good bit of snow. How we wish we could be there to see it!

Next year for sure!

The caretaker will be taking some pictures for us and we will be traveling there on Sunday while we attend the Bridal Show in Manassas. But until then, they shared with us some pictures from 2009 of Belle Grove and a wonderful snow fall they had that year.

Belle Grove 2009

Belle Grove
2009

Belle Grove 2009

Belle Grove
2009

Belle Grove 2009

Belle Grove
2009

Belle Grove 2009

Belle Grove
2009

Belle Grove 2009

Belle Grove
2009

Belle Grove 2009

Belle Grove
2009

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Posted by Michelle Darnell | in Darnell History | 49 Comments »