Bowman-Hite Farm

Farmhouse and barn at Bowman-Hite Farm

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Warren County, Virginia

Significance:

Part of Cedar Creek & Belle Grove NHP

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

Bowman-Hite Farm is an example of mid 1800s farms in the Shenandoah Valley. It tells the story of a family's rise and fall of fortunes around the time of the Civil War. 

Charles and Rebecca (Bowman) Hite built their farm house in the 1850s. The farm was 393 acres with a two-story brick house, barn, and several outbuildings. The Hite family enslaved eight persons to work the farm. They grew wheat, oats, rye, and corn. Livestock consisted of cows, sheep, and pigs. The Bowman-Hite Farm became one of the more profitable farms in Warren County.

Due to mounting debt and the collapse of the southern economy after the Civil War, Rebecca Hite sold the farm in 1872 to William Stickley. Since then, many families made Bowman-Hite their home and made additions to the original 2-story brick farmhouse.

The National Park Service is restoring Bowman-Hite Farm. It is preservation in progress. The farmstead may be seen from the roadside of Bowman's Mill Road, and from Thoburn's Redoubt.