Monticello

    Today we spent most of the day visiting the home of our third President, Thomas Jefferson. Some things that I learned, or at least re-learned (a process that occurs more frequently as I get older!) are the many things that Jefferson did during his 33+ years of public service. He drafted and penned the Declaration of Independence. He served as delegate to the Virginia General Assembly and to Congress. He was Governor of Virginia, minister to France, Secretary of State, vice president, and two term President (from 1801 to 1809). Quite a resume! During his presidency, we doubled the size of our country via the Louisiana Purchase from France and he sponsored the Lewis and Clark expedition which opened our eyes to the vast riches of the west. 

    For forty years, he worked and re-worked on his beloved Monticello. Building and tearing down, then rebuilding. It always seemed to be in a state of construction. Jefferson loved science, architecture, and farming. He was always trying out new things or ways to do things. He tried to grow many different crops on his acreage; some worked, some didn’t. But he wasn’t discouraged with failure. He saw in failure a learning opportunity. At least now he knew what wouldn’t work! 

    Monticello has been restored to its 1812 appearance. Jefferson was a notorious (some would say compulsive) notetaker. He recorded the temperature, sky  conditions, and barometric pressure daily. He wrote down what he had told folks to do, how he spent his money, and he wrote volumes of letters. As a result of that documentation, the folks at Monticello have been able to restore the estate and its gardens down to using the exact plants in their exact locations. 

    The home itself is quite amazing. The intro picture is the front of the home. Remember the wind vane atop the roof over the entry way. I’ll get to it in a second. This is the second version of Monticello. Remember, Jefferson was working on this place for 40 years. During his ambassadorship in France, he was able to observe European architecture and gardening techniques and he brought back many of these and incorporated them into the house. 

    OK back to the weather vane. It’s all well and good if you are outside the house and look up to see the wind direction. What if you are in the entryway and want to know? Well, instead of going into the yard and looking up, you can just look up on the ceiling of the entryway. 

    There, attached to the vane, is a compass showing the current direction of the wind. Neat idea!

    Now here is the back of the house. Does it look a little bit familiar?

    Does this help jog your memory?

    Now the house itself is quite interesting, but photos were not allowed to be taken indoors, so you’ll just have to see it for yourself. There were some interesting engineering within the home. For instance, in the Tea room (which is on the North side), Jefferson used two panes of glass separated by about a foot of airspace in order to reduce the effect of the cold. Unheard of in his time. Hidden beneath the home was a tunnel which housed storage rooms (for beer and wine), stables, laundry facilities, a smokehouse, kitchen, and quarters for some of the house servants. There was also a huge circular storage bin 16 feet deep that was used for storage of ice. In January and February, they would cut ice from the nearby river and pack it into the ice house. They would pack snow around the ice and straw over the whole mess. This would usually last throughout the summer and was used to help refrigerate meat and cool wine.  The kitchen would prepare food and then it could be taken to a warming area beneath the dining room, where it could then be delivered to the waiting family. 

    Kitchen. Notice the individual cooking stations on the left. Each of them could hold a small charcoal fire and could cook a variety of dishes. The big fireplace could be used to roast large quantities of meat, and a small baking oven is off to the right of the big fireplace. 

    Looking down the hallway toward the kitchen in the far end. The main house is directly overhead and the South Pavilion walkway lies above the tunnel. 

    Wine and beer were stored in the cellar. These areas were under lock and key with only a few people having access to the area. 

    Behind the slave quarters, Jefferson kept an experimental garden where he tried growing a wide variety of vegetables and herbs. These are recreated based upon the original documented layouts. 

    A quarter-mile down from the gardens lies the Jefferson family cemetery. Under this obelisk lies Jefferson, his wife, two of his daughters, and a son-in-law. 

    One of the gates into the cemetery, showing the TJ initials. The base of the obelisk covering the Jefferson gravesite is barely in the picture on the right. 

    It is a very interesting piece of American history and we enjoyed it immensely. 

    We returned to our campsite, which is one of the most attractive ones that we have stayed at. The place is laid out like Disney. They have tried to hide power lines and the lights on the campsites are carefully incorporated into the decor. They have a huge swimming pool, a very nice camp store, two restaurants, a large lake with boat rentals, and a riding stable with surrounding trails. The afternoon of our arrival, we looked up at the sound of a thundering herd of some 35 horses galloping into the pasture at the front of our RV site.  After they settled and started to graze, this is what we got to see out our front window!