Belmont Plantation (Albemarle County, Virginia)

Belmont Plantation, also known as Belmont Estate and Belmont, is a locale in Albemarle County, Virginia, and the site of a 19th-century plantation. It was among the first patents in Albemarle County, patented in the 1730s. Matthew Graves sold a 2,500-acre-tract to John Harvie Sr., a friend of Peter Jefferson and a guardian of Thomas Jefferson. After his death in 1767, the property was inherited by his son John Harvie, Jr. Harvie lived at Belmont for several years, but after he was appointed the Registrar of Land Grants, he moved to Richmond, Virginia and John Rogers oversaw the plantation. Rogers was known for his progressive approaches to agriculture, including methods for improving the quality of the soil after years of tobacco crops. In 1811, Dr. Charles Everett purchased 636 or 650 acres of the Belmont estate from John Rogers. This split the tract and Rogers' portion was named East Belmont. He owned slaves in the 1800s, whom he freed. In his will, he stipulated creation of a community for them in Pennsylvania, a free state. It was called Pandenarium. Everett died in 1848 and left Belmont to his nephew, Charles D. Everett. It remained within the Everett family until 1927, during which there were significant changes to the residence. After World War II, there was a major remodeling of the interior and exterior of the manor. Belmont was used as a location in the filming of Giant (1956), starring Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. Monacan Indian Nation people lived in present-day Albemarle County, in a village north of Charlottesville. Tracts were first patented in the area in 1727. The tract for Belmont was patented in the 1730s. Belmont is located just north of Route 250 at Shadwell, off Louisa Road (Route 22) and southwest of East Belmont. In the early 18th century, large tracts of land were acquired in what is now northeastern Albemarle County by people from the Tidewater region of Virginia. They tended to stay near the Atlantic coast and had servants and slaves establish tobacco plantations in the western wilderness.