I'll never get over the dense history of the East Coast. Since moving out in 2014 we've visited quite a few cool places and hopefully we'll see more before we leave. Today I want to write about Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Best known as our third President he took more pride in other accomplishments. From his gravestone:
Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of Independence
& Father of the University of Virginia
Monticello is just outside the city limits of Charlottesville, VA. From our home in Frederick it's a nice three hour drive through the Virginia countryside and we've made it there a couple times, the last a few years ago with my parents. They're big fans of the first 'republican' President and it was a necessary and worthwhile pilgrimage. Also in Charlottesville is the University of Virginia, founded by Jefferson himself in 1819. UVA has been in the news in recent years, not only for the disturbing 2017 Unite the Right rally, supposedly in support of a Robert E Lee statue, but also campus lunacy like this story about a student getting expelled for seeking the definition of micro-aggressions. All this isn't related to Monticello itself but I feel their proximity and occurrence at the school founded by Jefferson makes them worth noting before moving on.
Thomas Jefferson came from the Virginia landed gentry, the powerful farming class in the colony (later state) that also included George Washington. He was well educated and as a young man inherited considerable land from his father. This land functioned as a plantation, where slaves primarily worked to plant and harvest various crops that changed with the market, though tobacco was frequent. In Jefferson's time this plantation was thousands of acres and he built Monticello to be the farm's main house and his own home.
'The first Monticello,' the initial version of the building, was constructed starting in 1768 and continued into the 1770s. It must've been a considerably simpler building than its current form. In the 1780s Jefferson was US Minister to France (below left), where he not only embraced a more foppish appearance than anything he later displayed as President but also appears to have gained an appreciation for the contemporary and popular neoclassical style. During his presidency, from 1801-1809, the building was significantly reworked to in part resemble those buildings from Europe (like the Pantheon in Paris, below right).
The building as we see it today is a quirky and unique architectural piece of art. In this way it mirrors Jefferson himself in several ways, including the changes that happened over time, the unexpected details throughout and the thoughtfulness of the design. Supposedly he purposefully sought to create a new style of architecture for a new nation, something that seems distinctly and arrogantly Jeffersonian in nature. The two story opening room is filled with interesting pieces he collected through his life, including items brought back from the Lewis and Clark exhibition. I especially like The Great Clock, which uses giant metal balls hanging from the ceiling to show the time and day of the week and is so tall it requires a hole in the main level floor so it can continue down below. The large dome on top is the most striking part of the facade and I feel like we've missed out never having gone up there.
When Jefferson died he was bankrupt and already Monticello was showing its age. In the ensuing 100 years two members of one family, Uriah P. Levy and Jefferson Monroe Levy, worked to preserve the estate entirely through their own means including after its brief seizure by the Confederacy. Eventually in 1923 a private organization, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, was founded to fully restore, maintain and operate the house and grounds as a museum. That's how it remains today.
If you get a chance to visit yourself, I suggest booking your tour time (it's not free) in advance. Just show up in person and you may have to wait a while. On the drive there you'll ascend a large hill. At the base of the grounds there's a sizable parking lot and visitors area with restrooms, a gift shop, small cafe and life-size Jefferson statue that's ideal for selfies. When it's time for your tour a bus takes you up the hill a little farther. The view from the very top is fantastic and it's obvious why Jefferson chose the location. You're then corralled into spaces outside until it's your turn to enter the building. They have to do it this way (unrelated to Covid) because in actuality Monticello is cleverly designed but small and has several tight rooms the guides snake you through.
After exiting the main house, which is the primary attraction, there's still more to check out. The grounds, including the back green, are lovely. There are crops, a pretty substantial amount, growing along the main walk between the house and cemetery where you can see Jefferson's grave and others. There's also lots to learn, in particular what slavery was like on the plantation.
It's endlessly fascinating to me that history continues to be made in places like this. For nearly 200 years it was rumored Sally Hemings, one of his slaves, was Jefferson's lover and he the father of her six children. In 1998 a DNA study successfully linked a descendent of Hemings youngest son to the Jefferson line. In 2017 at Monticello a previously undiscovered room, believed to be for Hemings, was found immediately next to Jefferson's own bedroom. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation now considers their relationship an established fact and has an exhibit focusing on Hemings that opened in 2018.
If you're into early American history or just appreciate Jefferson himself, I highly recommend visiting Monticello. It's about an hour away from Richmond, 90 minutes from Colonial Williamsburg and is also in the heart of Virginia wine country
if you're into that sort of thing.
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