Hite Family Cemetery

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Cemetery notes and/or description:
Postal Address:
1642 Long Meadow Road
Middletown, Frederick County
Virginia 22645

In the early 1700s Jost Hite, an immigrant from Germany, was granted more than 100,000 acres (yes, 100 thousand) in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. A few years later he gave almost 1,000 acres to his son Isaac. Fearing attacks from Indians, Jost and his son Isaac built their home (called Long Meadown) above a fresh water spring in 1738. Instead of attacking, Indians and other travelers were welcomed into their home's large central room. Soon the nickname of "Travelers Hall" was being used. Travelers Hall burned to the ground in 1840 and was replaced in 1845 by a brick home that is now on the National Register of Historical Places.

The cemetery may have been first used in 1739 when Jost Hite's first wife passed away. There is no stone indicating such. It is also rumored she is buried with her husband in the Old Opequeon Cemetery in Kernstown, Virginia. The oldest headstone is dated 1791 and marks the grave of Isaac Hite Jr's first born, 3 year old James Madison Hite. James Madison was followed by Isaac Hite Sr's wife in 1792 and Isaac Hite Senior himself in 1795.

Originally, the cemetery was bordered by a stone wall, but that was dismantled to use as the foundation of a large barn in the 1920s. Today, the cemetery is surrounded by a link fence. No longer an active cemetery, it is the final resting place of 17 members of the Hite family as well as 9 unknowns, possibly slaves.