Rosewell Plantation, Gloucester Virginia.
For those of you who have never heard of The Rosewell Plantation (link) It is considered one of the best structures built during the colonial times. Started in 1725, or earlier depending on which story you read, and home to the Page family for over a century. What is left today is what would be called the ruins of the structure, with four chimneys, a wine cellar and enough of the structure to give a glimpse of It's one time majesty.
My son Travis and I decided to travel to the Rosewell Plantation on what we thought would be a recon mission to just check out the area and see if It was possible to be on the property at night to do research into the numerous ghost stories associated with the grounds, and then come back at a later date with equipment and more people. We had no idea that what we considered an exploratory journey would turn into a very memorable trip with some very memorable paranormal aspects.
Our drive to the ruins was enjoyable as we rode along country roads with a house here and there along the roads, the fields of corn and wheat were like blankets on the land and the area was beautiful to behold. We traveled along a blacktop road till we hit a gravel road, the signs along the way point to our destination. Following the signs we arrived at the visitors center and entered the building and spoke with the very nice lady at the desk. A brief conversation would be important to something that occurred later in the day. I mentioned to the lady that we were interested in seeing the grounds and then we would be going to the Abingdon Chapel to view the tombs that had been removed from the plantation, when I mentioned this I also mentioned that I had read that the bodies and the tombs had been moved, the lady told me the bodies had "not" been moved, only the tombs.
A retired couple from Florida was also visiting that day and were inside the visitor center with us, this made a total of four visitors on the grounds, the lady from Florida said they had just been to the Abingdon Chapel and a man was at the chapel and had let them inside. Little did this lady realize this brief encounter with me by her and her husband, would most likely be one her and her husband would never forget.
We paid the $4 fee to go back to the ruins and got in my van and drove back the dirt road to the ruins. on both sides of the gravel road you will see large fields of wheat and then you drive into a a heavily wooded area and on your right you see the ruins sitting in the middle of a large open area that is surrounded by trees and thick brush into the woods. The area around the ruins is surrounded by fields of corn, and when you first get out and look at the ruins you find yourself pausing and thinking what this all must have been like many years ago and also thinking who had lived here and walked here.
It was a beautiful early afternoon and my son and I started walking toward the ruins, we walked between huge old trees in the direction of the front steps, my son stopped and said "Dad? do you smell that?", I stopped and smelled the air and looked at him and said "What is that? is that maple syrup?". We both stood there and were just baffled by the overwhelming smell. This was not a whiff of a scent, It was an extremely strong smell. We checked every tree, every shrub, bush in the area, we rubbed our fingers on the leaves of the bushes and we even checked the roots of trees for the source of this smell, the smell was only in an area that was about 20 ft by 20 ft. If you walked out of this area, the smell was gone.
We had no answer to where this strong smell was coming from so we moved on to look over the ruins. Visitors are given a map of the grounds and the map shows the areas of interest on the grounds. We looked over the ruins and then moved on to the back of the structure and then to the first path into the lush woods to the "Brick Ice House", we walked through the woods and found the large round brick lined hole in the ground and then we walked back out and found the path to the "Ancient Boxwood Tree". While at the Boxwood tree site I had the feeling that I was being watched, this happened several times as we stood and looked at the Boxwood tree. We ventured on into the woods, where we were not supposed to go, and followed a very small path into the dense brush. We came to the river banks and we stood and talked about how this was most likely the way the explorers had come to the area. We headed back and I took some photos and we turned to walk back out the path, as we did I thought I saw some-kind of movement to our left, I asked my son if he saw something move to our left in the brush-line and he said no.
Ancient Boxwood Tree
When we got back out into the open area around the ruins the retired couple from Florida had arrived and were walking around the ruins, we talked for a few minutes and I mentioned to them why we were there and told them that many strange stories have been told over the years about this place, a young girl is seen walking down the steps in the late evening and the sounds of slaves coming back from the fields have been also reported, I also asked them if they had smelled the maple syrup smell in the area we had smelled the smell, they said no but they came up on the other side.
They then walked on to check out the Boxwood tree and the cemetery and the ice house, my son and I walked around the ruins more and I took more photos and then we decided to leave, but this would not be our last encounter with the retired couple from Florida.
When we reached the end of the gravel road I decided to turn left instead of right to check out where the blacktop road led to. This area of the blacktop road was surrounded by fields of wheat, and as we drove along my eye caught something to my left in the wheat field, I stopped and looked and then told my son to look and see what he thought I was seeing. Jokingly I said "I think that is a crop circle". I drove down the road and turned around and came back to the spot where we saw the disturbance in the field, I stopped and we got out and stood and looked at the disturbed area out in the field. I will let everyone judge for themselves what this is, however, this certainly looks like other images of a so called crop circle to me. My son stood on the back bumper of my van to take some pictures and also try and see if an entrance path to the disturbed area could be seen, he could see none. I was not going to walk out into this field as It was someones crop and also, I'm sure, private property.
Strange Circle In Field
We got back in the van and we just sitting and talking about the circle when we noticed the retired couple coming out of the gravel road from the ruins, instead of going right to leave they turned left and drove in our direction. They pulled up and stopped and I noticed they seemed kind of excited. They both started talking and telling what had happened to them.
The ancient Boxwood tree in in an area approximately 20 x20 ft and is surrounded by dense brush, the lady was standing by the tree and her husband was taking a picture of her. She was leaning forward in the truck and telling the story and her face showed she was truly shaken. Her husband took a picture of her standing by the Boxwood tree and she said just as he did, they both saw the brush to their left part, just as if someone had walked out of the brush. She said she asked her husband if he saw that? He replied yes and they both started walking out as fast as they could.
There was no wind that day and the brush around the Boxwood tree is extremely dense and It would most likely take someone with a machete to cut through the brush to even attempt to walk through it.
The husband then began talking and he said as they were leaving they walked through the area where my son and I had smelled the maple syrup smell, he said with a wide-eyed look on his face that they had smelled it also and that he had checked out everything around that area and nothing had the smell or was emitting that smell. They were just as bewildered as my son and I as to what was making this smell and they were shaken by what they had seen in the woods.
We spoke a few more minutes and then a truck came along and we had to move long, this was the last we saw of the retired couple from Florida, but I am sure my son and I and the husband and wife will always remember our time at the Plantation. Four strangers in the middle of no-where having an event that would always be remembered.
We drove out of the this strange but beautiful area and back onto route 17 to the Abingdon Chapel, the connection with Rosewell and the chapel is the tombs of the Page family were moved from the cemetery on the Rosewell property to the cemetery on the grounds of the chapel. Upon arrival we walked to the chapel and entered the front door, a man was inside cleaning and told us to come on in and look around. He was as nice a person as anyone could want to meet and told us all about the church. He was a long time member and sang in the choir and also helped out with maintenance of the grounds.
One of the graves at the chapel is of a young girl, could this be the young girl who has been reported seen walking down the steps at Rosewell? As I stood looking down on this child's grave, I had a vision of this child coming down the steps to go play in the yard.
I told the man we had been to the Rosewell ruins and I mentioned we were at the church to take photos of the tombs, I also asked why the tombs were moved yet the bodies were left at the Rosewell property. He said "Oh the bodies are here, they were moved when the tombs were moved". I never mentioned that the lady at the visitors center had told me the bodies were "not" moved, they were still on the property, hmmm? so where are the bodies of the Page family?
Tombs Of The Page Family At Abingdon Church
Our trip turned into a very memorable trip, even though the nice lady at the visitor center said that coming in at night to film and do audio recording would not be possible, I still have not given up on trying to do this. The maple syrup smell could be from a natural source, however, as I stood smelling the air, I instantly thought of years ago as a child when I would stand and watch people make molasses with a team of mules and how that smell had this "old time" aroma to it, just as this maple syrup smell did. What ever that source is, It is not near the 20 foot area where it can be smelled, the event that happened to the retired couple, I believe, happened and they saw something that is unexplainable at this time. The crop circle in the field could have been made by some-kind of natural event, however, It was very strange to see and at this time I have no idea how It formed in the field. We will be returning to Rosewell and hopefully at night, I am convinced there is much going on at Rosewell, much going on of the paranormal type.
