Belle Grove is a historic

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

located on U.S. Route 301 in Port Conway,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

. The present

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...

was built in 1790.

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...

, a

Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

and the fourth

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

, was born on March 16, 1751, at Belle Grove plantation in an earlier house which no longer stands. Belle Grove plantation was also the childhood home of his mother, Eleanor Rose "Nellie" Conway. Her father Francis Conway was the namesake for Port Conway. MadisonBirthplacePortConwayVA

On April 11, 1973, Belle Grove was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

References

External links

official websiteBelle Grove, Rappahannock River, King George County, VA
3 photos and 2 data pages at

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia Houses in King George County, Virginia Madison family Plantation houses in Virginia Georgian architecture in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses completed in 1790 James Madison National Register of Historic Places in King George County, Virginia {{KingGeorgeCountyVA-NRHP-stub