Belle Grove Plantation, Virginia

This house was built by Isaac Hite Jr. between 1794 and 1797.  It is built of stone as Isaac Hite Jr. owned limestone quarries. The house has many Jeffersonian design features typical of his pavilion-style architecture.  The small details such as adjustable bookshelves and slanted hinges for self-closing doors are all over the house. Isaac Hite Jr. received 483 acres as a gift from his father in 1783 when he got married.  Isaac's grandfather first got 100,000 acres as a conditional land grant from the Colonial Council of Williamsburg.  He was an immigrant from Germany who had passage to the colony of New York paid by the British crown in 1709.