Belle Grove was owned by John Andrews, a wealthy sugar
planter originally from Virginia. He owned over spread over several plantations, with Belle Grove having of river frontage, worked by a large community of
enslaved laborers. He founded Belle Grove during the 1830s, with Dr. John Phillip Read Stone as a partner. Andrews assumed full ownership in 1844 when the partnership was dissolved. By the 1850s, the more than
150 people, mostly slaves, were producing over one-half million pounds of sugar each year. Andrews had a legendary rivalry with the owner of
Nottoway Plantation, John Randolph. This competition even extended to their mansions, with both massive structures designed by Howard in a mix of the Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The succeeding decades saw the finely crafted home rot away in Louisiana's harsh environment. Neglect allowed a roof leak to expand and destroy one wing. In 1943, Frederick J. Nehrbass purchased the house and 17 acres of its original land for $2,000 (~$ in ) with aspirations to restore it. On March 17, 1952, a mysterious fire during the night destroyed what remained of the house. Dozens of accounts have been written about Belle Grove's beauty and charm, and hundreds of photographs of it have been published. Photographer
Clarence John Laughlin described Belle Grove in his work,
Ghosts Along the Mississippi: When completed, its tremendous mass rose on huge brick foundation arches over twelve feet above the surrounding earth, its walls and mantels were plastered and carved by the most expert European craftsmen money could secure, its great flight of brick steps was covered with imported marble, its door knobs and keyhole guards were of silver, its pillars bore Corinthian capitals six feet high but of the utmost refinement. Its theatrical magnificence would have delighted the Bibiena family - seventeenth century designers of the most elaborate and grandiose stage sets for kings. Yet it was not heavy, or pompous. It managed somehow, to combine vastness with delicacy; titanic proportions with grace and warmth.... ==See also==