• Cedar Creek and Belle Grove NHP

    Cedar Creek & Belle Grove

    National Historical Park Virginia

For Kids


Ramseur Trading Card

General Stephen D. Ramseur


Death of General Ramseur

Heartbreak on the Homegrown

Ramseur represents the thousands who died during the war and the impact this had on those at home. Shortly before the battle, Confederate Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur learned his wife had given birth to their first child. Mortally wounded, he died the next day; his wife now a widow and Mary, his daughter, fatherless.

Slaves Cemetery Trading Card

Slave Cemetery at Belle Grove


Slave Cemetery

Marking Lives of Service at Belle Grove

Enslaved people at Belle Grove performed many tasks including; farming, tending livestock, operating mills, carpentry, and blacksmithing. Others worked as servants in the main house. Upon death, some were buried behind the house in a slave cemetery with a simple rock, placed by their loved ones, marking the grave. How many slaves are buried here is unknown.

The Burning Trading Card

The Burning


The Burning

"Do all the damage...you can... we want the Shenandoah Valley to remain a barren waste." Gen. Grant to Gen. Sheridan

"Total War" came to the Shenandoah Valley in September 1864 as Union troops systematically destroyed its agricultural resources, including thousands of livestock, killed or stolen, and burning all the crops in a 75 mile area.

The Heater House Trading Card

The Heater House


The Heater House

A House Divided

"We shall have a graveyard at every door" predicted Caroline Heater, a native Pennsylvanian who opposed secession. She and her husband Solomon disagreed. Despite their mother's wishes, two of the Heater's sons eventually joined the Confederate Army. The Heater family represented the divided loyalties in the Shenandoah Valley.

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