If I Had a Nickel For Every Time I’ve Been to Monticello…

~…I’d have exactly 5 cents.  That’s because last week, I went to Charlottesville, Virginia, to see the late Thomas “T.J.” Jefferson’s house.  You may have heard of him: he was ambassador to France, argued a lot with Alexander Hamilton, designed gadgets (like an automatic door), and I think he may have been elected to some sort of political office, and possibly wrote a paper of some kind.

^Anyway, our first stop was a park on the outskirts of town, home to the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center.  Charlottesville was where the famous Lewis & Clark expedition began (more or less), and outside of the (unfortunately closed) Exploratory Center was a full-size replica of a riverboat similar to that used by the titular explorers.

^ The Rivanna River flowed past the park.  It looks great for kayaking!

^ Dad, hanging out on a boat ramp along the river.

^ The next day, we were ready for Monticello.  After driving up the mountain, we encountered this statue of T.J. outside the visitor’s center.

^ The famous house itself that we’ve all seen a thousand times on the back of five-cent coins.  Jefferson designed the house himself and continued to add to it throughout his life.  Built on land he inherited, the architectural style was inspired by classical Greco-Roman buildings Jefferson admired while living in Europe.

^ From the other side.

^ [Please click on the above panoramic image for a much better view]
Monticello isn’t just a house, it’s an estate.  It has two wings with rooms built into the hillside (slave quarters, stables, and storage), and two outbuildings on either side.  The building on the left was an office of Jefferson’s son-in-law, while the one on the right was actually the home of Jefferson and his wife while the main building was being constructed.

^ The left wing of Monticello.  The main house is just visible on the right.  Notice how the ground slopes down and the outlying wing is built into the ground.  Tunnels lead into basement storage and work areas.  Most of the work was done in these underground areas: cooking, washing, storage, and so forth (by slaves, of course); this left the rooms in the main house free for rest and entertainment.

^ Stables under one of the wings of the estate.  Debatably more comfortable than the slave quarters.

^ Monticello was (and is) a productive, working plantation, not a rest home for a retired politician.  Hundreds of workers, both free and slave, worked here to produce a large variety of foods and goods.  The picture above shows part of the garden area.  Of course, this being winter it was mostly fallow, but each section of the garden was marked with replica signs showing Jefferson’s unique classification system, displaying the wide variety of vegetables grown here.

^ Another view of the gardens.  They are still in use today.  Incidentally, Monticello has been owned by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation since 1923, and is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  As you can see from the above image, it also commands an impressive view of the surrounding countryside, especially in the winter.

^ Taken from the back of Monticello, showing another mountain behind the estate.  Farther down the path is a cemetery with Jefferson’s grave (and his impressive tombstone).

^ The vineyards.  These must be impressive in the summer!  Jefferson loved his wine; in fact, when I heard him speak recently, he described wine as “A panacea for all ills and conducive to fine conversation!”

^ This chimney and foundation stones are all that remain of a building near the vineyards that was once a house for some of the slaves.

^ Mom in front of one of the many impressive trees on the estate grounds.

^ Another bizarre tree!

The interior of the house was as impressive as the outside, filled with interesting artifacts (both original and replicas), as well as many of Jefferson’s inventions, such as a weighted clock that displayed both the time and the day.  However, photography is prohibited inside, so if you want to know what it looks like, you’ll have to visit Monticello yourself!