Historic sites have the potential to be classrooms. For these sites to reach that potential, it takes creative thinking and people and entities interested in using these historic places in creative ways. A museum or historic home which allows people to touch things is creative and is run by staff who are not uptight about people immersing themselves in the space.

Ten to twenty years ago, one could visit an antebellum historic site and hear little to nothing about the people who were enslaved there, although it was the enslaved exploited labor that made enslavers wealthy. More and more historic sites are now taking on the responsibility of changing their narratives and including the stories of the enslaved. Belle Grove Plantation is way ahead of the curve in including the stories of the enslaved in its narrative.

Belle Grove

Staff at Belle Grove takes the concept of interacting with the historic space a step farther by letting people experience living history and sleep in the historic site. Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown, VA allows cooking in its historic hearth. Of the 150 or so historic sites where I’ve spent nights, I can count on one hand the sites where cooking is done in an original hearth.

My first visit to Belle Grove was in 2016. I had the pleasure of hanging out with a group from Bloomsburg University from Bloomsburg, PA. The organizer wanted to experience an overnight stay in slave cabins on a plantation. My explanation to him that we could find what he was looking for right there in Pennsylvania did not satisfy him. He wanted an antebellum site in the South.

I met Kristin Laise, Director of Belle Grove, and some of her board members the previous year at the National Preservation Conference in Savannah, GA. She informed me of the work that they were doing at Belle Grove to interpret the stories of the enslaved. So, long story short, the Bloomsburg group joined me for a sleepover at Belle Grove Plantation.

In chasing the footprints of the slavery that gripped this nation, I find myself connecting dots. President James Madison’s sister was the husband of Major Isaac Hite, the builder of Belle Grove in 1797. I’ve spent several nights at Montpelier in Orange, VA, the home of President James and First Lady Dolly Madison. I’ve also spent a night at the Octagon House in Washington, DC. It was the Octagon House that President James and First Lady Dolly Madison moved their White House operation to when the British burned our nation’s capital during the war of 1812. They took their enslaved people with them to the Octagon House.

Jerome Bias and Cheyney McKnight

This time around Belle Grove wanted more. They took the classroom concept to a new level by inviting local institutions of higher learning, Shenandoah University, and Lord Fairfax Community College, to participate in the activities which included the sleepover. Additionally, Belle Grove incorporated cooking in the historic hearth and a blacksmithing demonstration. The Slave Dwelling Project provided the cook, Jerome Bias from Mebane, NC and the blacksmith, Gilbert Walker from Savannah, GA. A cancellation had us scrambling for a cook assistant. In stepped the amazing Cheyney McKnight of Not Your Mommas History. It was always my desire to hang out with this young talented, beautiful and courageous educator. Just my luck, we both hooked up at the subway station near Dulles airport and spent some quality time while riding together to Belle Grove.

Gilbert Walker

We were set except for the fact that Mother Nature delivered a very cold day for the event. That only mattered because, although most of the activities would be done inside, the blacksmith’s area of operation was not fully enclosed. His saving grace was that he would work close to the fire of the forge but it did little if anything for the spectators.

Jerome Bias and Cheyney McKnight

Throughout the day, spectators were braving the cold to interact with Gilbert Walker, the blacksmith. The smoke in the big house was an indication that Jerome Bias and Cheyney McKnight were cooking in the hearth. Occasionally, I would check in with Jerome and Cheyney and receive my assignment, “make the fire bigger,” “bring in more wood,” “empty the compost,” “take pictures of us.” The meal that was being prepared by Jerome and Cheyney, was a meal that was not only going to be consumed by the living historians and Belle Grove staff, but also by those who would spend the night.

Belle Grove Plantation

Adjacent to the kitchen was the room where the audience would receive the various lectures scheduled throughout the day. That is also the place where we would spend the night. In one of those presentations, the amazing Ranger Shannon Moeck kept her audience in suspense as she engaged them in her research of a free person of color trying to buy his enslaved son.

So, before we sleep in these historic spaces, we have a general conversation about slavery and the legacy that it left on this nation. As we were about to establish a rhythm for the conversation, it happened, a bat flew through the room and freaked most of us out. With no harm to the bats, two were removed. The most elusive bat remained in the space with us throughout the night.

In making the Slave Dwelling Project successful in honoring the enslaved Ancestors, access to the spaces that they inhabited is necessary. When Kristen Laise and I met at the National Preservation Conference in Savannah, GA in 2015, our ways of thinking were already in the mode of honoring the enslaved. It is that way of thinking that puts Belle Grove ahead of the curve of similar sites that should be doing similar things. Before 2015 someone, or a group, decided that the narrative of Belle Grove was incomplete, they decided to right that wrong. Our collaboration has now resulted in two sleepovers in the spaces with each time getting better. Utilizing these historic spaces as classrooms is a great concept. While some historic house museums are being threatened with shrinking budgets and closures, Some, not all, may benefit from interpreting the social history of those sites in creative ways.

So, when Belle Grove calls, the Slave Dwelling Project answers and vice versa. We are already discussing our plans for 2019, and yes, there will be students involved.

Jessica Small (Shenandoah University)

I spent a night at Belle Grove Plantation with Joe. As an international student from Ireland, the aim of this was for me to learn more about the slavery history of America, as I came to the US knowing very little about it. We had group discussions and reflections which were very interesting to listen to and take part in. I loved hearing Joe’s opinion on certain topics and contemporary issues and events, along with other students and the Belle Grove staff. I think what Joe is doing is amazing, we cannot ignore this history, the stories of the enslaved must be told.

Matt Greer, Archaeologist, Belle Grove

By the time I grabbed my sleeping bag and went to find a spot to lay down, Joe and the students had taken up large sections of the main room. However, the kitchen was empty so I decided to set up my things there. As Jerome and Cheyney had been cooking in the hearth all day and had only recently banked the fire, not only was this room quiet but it was fairly warm – an added bonus on a cold November night. While I didn’t realize it until later, the fact that this room was empty may be a product of Belle Grove’s central heating system. Without this modern amenity, the kitchen would have been the warmest place (or perhaps the only warm place) in the basement. Therefore, on cold winter nights, all of the enslaved people who slept in the manor house likely huddled together in the kitchen, trying to stay warm while the family that enslaved them slept comfortably upstairs beside their fireplaces. Thinking about this really drove home how the building itself led the enslaved people who had just tended the Hites’ fires to gather in a single room and endure the cold night together.

Reflecting on the program that Belle Grove Plantation held in on November 10, 2018, the word “honor” rings loudest.

Kristen Laise, Executive Director, Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove and our community in the Northern Shenandoah Valley were honored to have Joe McGill, Jerome Bias, Cheyney McKnight, and Gilbert Walker join us. If you follow them on social media, you know how busy they are traveling, interpreting history, speaking and writing about their experiences, coordinating overnights and conferences, and more. At the end of this full and busy year, they gamely got on the road from Charleston, Durham, New York City, and Savannah to visit us in Middletown, Virginia. We did not take this for granted and were honored that nationally recognized historic interpreters were coming to share their knowledge and talents with us.

As we planned the program, Joe and Jerome suggested that we title it “Inalienable Rights: Free and Enslaved Blacks Crafting a Life in the Shenandoah Valley.” Our goal was to honor the agency of the 276 individuals that the Hite family at Belle Grove owned and enslaved. We discussed the hard truth of enslavement and also highlighted the humanity of the individuals that were enslaved here and the skill, craft, cunning, and perseverance that they had. Our colleague, Robin Lyttle of the Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project (https://valleyblackheritage.org/) presented a talk on the freeborn African-Americans of the Shenandoah Valley, which is another aspect of the 18th and 19th-century history of our region. As she titled her talk “Not Everyone Was Enslaved…” which is important, as there can be a perception that everyone of African descent in this area and during this era was in an enslaved condition.

T

Ranger Shannon Moeck

hroughout the day, we told stories of individuals that lived and worked at Belle Grove. Shannon Moeck, Ranger at Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Park Historical Park told the story of Judah, an enslaved cook at Belle Grove. Hite family letters detail some of the work that Judah did and presenting her story in front of the kitchen hearth, with Jerome and Cheyney cooking on the open fire illustrated the extreme strength, skill, and knowledge that she had. We realized that Jerome and Cheyney were likely the first individuals of African descent to cook in the “Winter Kitchen” since the early 19th century. The house had a second kitchen added c. 1815 and it became the primary cooking hearth. As Belle Grove became a historic site in the 1960s, interpretive cooking was done in the “Winter Kitchen” but interpreters to date have been of European descent. It was meaningful to reclaim this history with Jerome and Cheyney’s presence, labor, and the smells and tastes of the amazing seven dishes that they prepared for our overnight experience.

Gilbert Walker, photo by NPS

Outside, blacksmith Gilbert Walker was at Belle Grove’s replica forge showing the patience and diligence that it took to craft the tools that the plantation needed to function. Daniel, Jim, and Carter were three of the blacksmiths that are named in the Hite family papers and Gilbert honored their memory by creating an oyster shucker and pot lid lifter. Not only were these sturdy implements, they were beautiful and graceful with Gilbert’s signature leaf pattern on them.

Joseph McGill, photo by NPS

The last public event of the day honored the Jackson family. Emanuel Jackson, a free black man who purchased the freedom of his three sons, daughter, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren from the Hite family. The Jacksons went on to settle in Pittsburgh. A newly discovered letter from Emanuel Jackson poignantly describes the extreme effort it took to purchase his adult son Daniel and Daniel’s family. Ranger Shannon asked Joe to read this letter aloud as part of her program and giving voice to it was powerful and memorable.

Finally, we were honored to have 16 students from two universities join us for an overnight experience. It takes courage to put oneself in the emotional and physical discomfort of a Slave Dwelling Project overnight. It also takes a time commitment, which in short supply for college students. The encouragement of Lord Fairfax Community College in Middletown prompted Belle Grove to have the Slave Dwelling Project visit us again and planted the seed that became this amazing day honoring the African-American history of our site and region. It may have been a first for our site, but it won’t be the last. To read more about Belle Grove’s history, please visit www.bellegrove.org/about/enslaved and follow us at www.facebook.com/bellegrove.