Projects

The year of the Covid-19 Pandenic continues. While our events have had to be postponed at the beginning of the year and staff changes had to be made , we have had a decent year. In June, we saw some of the Covid Restrictions lifted which opened us up for more visitors. Since then, we have had many more people coming to stay and in turn bring more people to our events. It also acquit people with the James Madison Belle Grove Foundation. By the time the 6th Annual Spirits Festival arrived, people were ready to find somewhere open and ready to get out. Our Spirits Festival set new numbers both in attending guests and in funds raised. We saw 1035 people from all over including Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. We even had some from North Carolina and Pennsylvania. We raised over $10k. This is going to help with projects we are looking to complete in 2022.

In January 2022, we were exited to announce three new members to our staff. Kristen Malloy as our Assistant Director. She will be helping with the day to day operations. Chef KC Camp of KC & Son’s Catering as our In-House Caterer. He and his team will be assisting with special meals and events. Jennifer Bowden as our In-House Floral Designer and Merchandise Director. She will be keeping Belle Grove Plantation beautiful year around with florals and other décor. She will be taking care of the Belle Grove Plantation Online Gift Shop as well as gift shop items at Belle Grove. We are excited to have them as part of the team.

The year 2022 is going to be a huge year for Belle Grove and for the James Madison Belle Grove Foundation. Watch how we grow this coming year!

The year of the Covid-19 Pandemic. This year saw most everything come to a stop from March to May. Thankfully, Belle Grove was able to open back up with limited restrictions. While the world was at a stand still, we were able to complete two projects that we had hoped to do this year.

In May and June, we started and completed our Colonial Kitchen Garden Project. It has started earlier in the year with a class for the public to learn and get involved with. Leading the Class, Pamela and Larry Baldwin brought together a great group of people including Diana Johannes, Patrizia Male, Rebecca Tyrrell, Nancy Watson, Susan Borra, Adele Anderson, Laura Anderson, Jaclyn Fish, Dorina Watermolen, Stephanie Peters, and Carole Tyrrell who brain stormed and came up with our first season crops. The goal was to grow items that would have been available to the Colonial Period. Next came the construction of this raised bed garden behind our 1720 Kitchen. General Contractor, George Wozniak volunteered his expert skills and was joined by National Home School Honor Society which included Luke Arcement, Ben Campillo, Gabriel Courtney, Luke Eaddy, Caitlyn Fish, Love Jordan, Lea Jordan, Jayden Redmond and Sam Richardson. Other volunteers included Charli (Charlize) Wylde, Christopher Fish and Andrew Fish. Together they were able to not only construct the raised bed, but constructed a beautiful fence and gates to protect the garden. The ribbon cutting ceremony was held on June 4th and in attendance was President James Madison (John Douglas Hall) as keynote speaker and official ribbon cutter. The garden was maintained through the season by Pamela Baldwin and Patty Jones.

Another project we were able to complete was the restoration of the Caretaker’s House. This 1940s Cape Cod style home has stood used for several years and time was not kind to it. Built in the 1940s for one of the Hooker Family boys, it has served as a caretaker’s home for many years. Through the work of many volunteers, including General Contractor, George Wozniak, Denny Bragg, Liz Tucker, Dana Tucker, Kendra Largent, Devin Kluge, Stacy Mutter, Kate Taylor, Katelyn Bosio, Brittney Journigan, Ashley Chewning, and our summer intern, Tori, we were able to scrape, paint, repair and replace the walls, doors and windows. Once completed, we opened the building to be used as a museum, archaeological lab and storage and gift shop in November 2020.

View Photos of the Colonial Kitchen Garden and Caretaker’s House Restoration Here.

With the completion of the first phase of restoration, we have now moved to the next step of repair to the Summer Kitchen fireplaces. A quote of $2,400 has been received for the pointing required to repair it. We could break it down to two steps, $800 to do the small fireplace and $1,600 to do the large fireplace, but we are hoping to raise the full amount to do both at the same time. Our goal is to have it done in time for 2019 Spring Tours.

View Photos of the Summer Kitchen, Smokehouse and Dairy Here.

We have started a new project with the hiring of Kim Hardison as our Curator of Historic Research and Artifact Collections. Kim has been taking all of our historic documents and photos and our artifacts and photographing them. She will create a catalog and index that we will be placing on this website for others to view and access for their own research. Our goal is to complete this project by the end of 2019.

 

We received a donation of $100,000 in October and started the first phase of restoration on the Summer Kitchen, Smokehouse and Dairy. During our research, we found an sales article for Belle Grove Plantation in 1839 that listed the brick structure as a dairy, not ice house. So it is confirmed as the dairy.

Restoration began in October and finished the first week of December. The Summer Kitchen received new interior structure beams on the north and east walls, repair or replacement of exterior clip boards on the north and east walls, removal of modern interior additions, replacement of windows with period lead glass (replacing the missing glass that was lost) and a new cedar shake roof. The Smokehouse received interior structure beams on the north and east walls, repairs or replacement of exterior clip boards on all four walls, remounting of the main door and a new cedar shake roof. The Dairy received a new cedar shake roof and east wall window and bricks were replaced from where the wind blew it out.

At the beginning of 2018, the foundation funded a portable handicap ramp to allow access to the historic mansion for those who need acceptance. The day after it was placed, an 92 year old tour guest came to see Belle Grove. She had been waiting for this ramp so she too could enjoy the beauty of Belle Grove. Over the month of February, we kept the ramp in place as we offered our Enslaved Experience and History Tour for free during the month in recognition of Black History Month. We had over 250 attending ranging in age from babies to elderly adults.

In February, we received word from King George County that a tourism grant request we placed in 2017 was approved and that we would be receiving the funds for our 2018 Spirit Festival. The grant amount is $5,000. It will be welcomed as we plan for an even larger event this year!

In July, we finally found a contractor that will be able to do the whole project. He is working on his proposal and it is our hope to raise enough funds to at least stabilize these priceless buildings

 

We have selected one of the Preservation Companies proposal to do handle the Outbuilding Restoration Project. The total amount to stabilize and to restore just the Summer Kitchen and Smokehouse will be $200,000. It is very important to get these buildings stabilized soon. In the last year, the Summer Kitchen’s deterioration has started moving faster. We have seen the noggin architecture on the inside of the Summer Kitchen starting to fall away from the walls and the north end wall is starting to push out with exterior bead boards popping off.

Since starting the James Madison Belle Grove Foundation, we have raised $13,000 towards these projects over the last 2 years. While we truly appreciate all the support, we just need to step up the fundraising. These buildings will not wait for much longer and once gone, we have lost a priceless piece of history. In 2013, when the Virginia Department of Historic Resources viewed these buildings, the representative was amazed. She told us that buildings dating to the 1700s such as these do not exist anymore.

We have started looking to find outside individuals with construction skills that might be about to help us take on these projects now. If we can find someone willing to donate their skills and guide us, we would like to take on the restoration of the Smokehouse. This could save us a good amount of money and help us get the Summer Kitchen started sooner.

At the beginning of 2017, we did apply for a local grant for help with this project. Sadly, we were not selected.

 

We have gotten two proposals from Preservation Companies. The proposals have been sent to the plantation owner, Haas/Belle Grove Inc.

We will be doing this project in phases. The first phase is to stabilize the Summer Kitchen and Smokehouse. This will hopefully stop anymore damage to them.

The second phase will be to restore and preserve the Summer Kitchen first. We are now working with a grant writer and and will be seeking grants to assist in the cost.