Down a long, unpaved drive and hidden from view by soaring trees, sits an aging beauty that was once one of Lancaster, Virginia’s landmark manors, the Belle Isle House. At more than 250 years old, the plantation was once actively filled with the laughter of schoolchildren and the bustle of a busy home. The house now stands vacant and hidden in one of Virginia’s most beautiful state parks, which takes its name from the estate. This spring, however, it will open its doors to the public during Historic Garden Week in the Northern Neck, giving enthusiasts a rare glimpse into eigh-teenth-century colonial splendor.
Patented in 1650, the land was initially owned by John Lloyd, who served as Justice for Richmond County until the late 1600s. Lloyd’s wife, Elizabeth, was the only child and heiress of famed Colonel John Carter, considered to be one of Virginia’s most influential colonial settlers and the largest landowner in the region at that time. In 1692, the farm was acquired by John Bertrand — a Huguenot who fled Europe with his family to escape religious persecution. In 1759, Bertrand’s son, William, inherited the property after his father’s death and began the construction of the brick, two-story Belle Isle Mansion. Upon William’s death, Belle Isle was passed on to his grandson, Thomas Bertrand Griffin. In 1786, Griffin sold the plantation to Rawleigh William Downman, whose family stands as the home’s longest occupants, with generations having only known Belle Isle as their happy home.
East Room, Belle Isle.
It is believed that the center and main portion is original to the home, along with two brick outbuildings, located just in front of each wing. They housed kitchens and a schoolroom. In the early 1790s, Downman added two, one-story wings to the house, remodeled the parlor and installed such amenities as to make Belle Isle a famed beacon of hospitality and community gathering. The middle and oldest sections of the home’s walls are laid in Flemish bond, with beveled ledges to divert rainwater. A narrow “belt course,” an ornamental exterior moulding used to mark floor lines in tall structures, defines the story levels. The home’s windows and doors are Diocletian, a segmented and arched style typical to Georgian homes of that period. The center hipped roof is flanked by two, tall brick chimneys and decorated in ornate, bracketed moulding that has withstood the ravages of time and weather. The wings, built by Downman, match the original home’s style. They have Tuscan porticos and abundant windows to allow in natural light at the front and enhance the view of what once was a verdant and renowned garden at the rear of the house.
While the exterior of Belle Isle is typical of many great houses of that time, the interior is altogether another story. The three-bay dwelling has an irregular layout. It has an entryway opening to a foyer containing the main staircase — built to the left of the entryway in the opening foyer — that goes to the second floor. The stairway’s design has some perplexing oddities, including a small window seat with a partially blocked window and “U-shaped” stairs with ornate wood and lattice work not as prominently displayed as in other regional mansions.
The formal dining room, which like all of the first-floor rooms has incredibly high ceilings, exits to the rear portico — an ornate overlook for the property’s terraced gardens and pond. The sole entrances to the central study and adjoining parlor are also accessed from the front foyer. Belle Isle’s original woodwork was harvested from local trees in the 1770s; however, in 1922, much of the first floor’s paneling was sold to the duPont Winterthur Museum in Delaware. The second floor, which remains original in both woodwork and moulding, is another feat of unusual layout. A massive master bedroom with a bathroom and large fireplace is at the right. A strange hallway bisects the floor and two smaller bedrooms are on the left. They both have smaller fireplaces than the master and show lovely views of the grounds. The windows still have their original trim, and in some cases, shutters or sashes, as well as paneled chimney pieces and stone or brick hearths.
The right wing houses the kitchen, pantry and sleeping quarters, while the left wing boasts another great room and entrances to the garden. An additional anteroom in the left wing features antique wallpaper very unique in detail and in pristine condition, which has become one of the home’s favorite talking points.
In one of the more eerie highlights of the home, a small closet near the upstairs front-left room hides an antique wedding veil that remains untouched by staff, with its origins shrouded in mystery. It is in this same room that, as in most houses of a similar age, a ghost is said to haunt.
In a photograph taken by a visitor, an older woman is said to be looking out of the window when no one was in the house. Now, while many of these stories can be laughed off as local lore, this particular tale actually gets much more interesting. In recent years, work has been done to the home, including gutter work on the left wing which sits just below the specter’s chamber. One of the roofers stopped working, leaving his post to ask a park manager... “Who is the lady in the upstairs room?” The handyman said that she had been peering out of the window to watch him while he worked and had been tapping incessantly on the window. When he was told that the home was locked down, without a living soul inside, he left the job — never to return.
Despite the current abandoned air of the estate, Belle Isle historically has been a warm and inviting home, filled with love and generations of family celebrations. After more than a century of ownership, the Downmans sold the home to the Somers family in 1918, and they, in turn, sold it in 1938 to John Garland Pollard, Jr., his sister, Suzanne Pollard Boatwright, and their spouses. Their father, John Pollard, was the fifty-first Governor of Virginia, served on the Federal Trade Commission and was Chairman of the Board of Veterans Appeals. In an amazing turn of fate, he was also behind the formation of the commission that created Virginia’s State Parks, which now include Belle Isle.
The Pollards and the Boatwrights hired T.T. Waterman, an architectural historian with Colonial Williamsburg, to oversee Belle Isle’s restoration. With the use of Pollard, Jr.’s designs, Waterman also built a colonial revival house on the property, now known as Bel Air. Additionally, the family restored the once-neglected gardens, and in 1971, the Boatwrights placed Belle Isle Mansion on the National Register of Historic Places and Virginia Landmarks.
Although the property subsequently changed hands numerous times and was split up, in 2015 Virginia’s Department of Conservation and Recreation was able to purchase the 90-acre parcel of land with the Belle Isle House on it. This completed the DCR’s 1989 purchase of the surrounding 90 acres, and solidified Belle Isle State Park — restoring the entirety of the property to its original 1650 patent.
Just a few years ago, the park received an inaugural grant from the Garden Club of Virginia and is planning to implement “Belle Isle Abuzz,” a project intended to restore the gardens and the home so that visitors can once again fill the stately home with laughter and love, building memories for the next generation.
Beautifully restored by the Pollards and Boatwrights, as well as many other people who have either lived at the manor or been inspired by it, Belle Isle today is a faithful reminder of the resilience of the region. It has weathered The Revolutionary War, The Civil War, droughts, storms, and everything in between, yet it still stands tall, beautiful and with an air of southern grace and charm that is enthralling. The residence, its outbuildings, terraced gardens, waterways and dense foliage come together as shining examples of Virginian Georgian Architecture.
In April, the house will be open to the public during Historic Garden Week, and park workers know that it will once again become an irresistible draw to our region. For more information on Belle Isle, visit https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/belle-isle, or visit the historic home during this spring’s garden tour.
The House & Home Magazine extends deep appreciation to Belle Isle Chief Ranger and Park Manager Katie Shepard as well as The Northern Neck Historical Society for their invaluable contributions to the research of this story.