Bellevue Plantation

Dating from a royal grant by King George III to Samuel Eastlake in 1767, Bellevue Plantation has been owned continuously by the Carswell family since 1833. The year in which the house was built is not known but it is believed to have been erected around the time of the original grant, the pioneer style of architecture lending support to that assumption. During Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864, a rear guard action occurred here between Brig. Gen. J. L. Kilpatrick's 3rd Cavalry Division [US] which was retreating toward Sherman's main columns after an unsuccessful raid on Waynesboro, and Maj. Gen Joseph Wheeler's cavalry corps [CS] which had defeated Kilpatrick near Waynesboro. Three holes made by Minie balls fired during this action can be seen in the house. The soldiers who fell here were buried behind the residence. The Union dead remain, but the Confederates were reinterred at Waynesboro. The old rose bush that stands across the road from the house was damaged by horses tethered to it by Union officers while their men stripped the plantation of horses and provisions, a work in which they were engaged when struck by Confederate pursuit.