Monticello

Today, Ginny, Eric and we decided to tour Monticello together.  Eric was kind enough to drive.  It was about an hour from the campground, but the drive passed quickly as we solved all the problems of the world.

Monticello is operated by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.  The foundation maintains a striking website on the landmark site at http://www.monticello.org/.  Take some time to explore the website, because it has an incredible multimedia presentation that brings you inside the mansion almost as fully as if you took a personal tour.

There is a beautiful modern wood visitor center where visitors arrive, and in the center are a theater showing a brief history on Jefferson and Monticello, as well as a cafeteria, a small museum and a gift shop.  Tourists hop a shuttle bus up to the landmark itself.

We arrived just in time for the 12:00 noon tour.  Our group was not large - perhaps 20 people - but given the small size of the rooms in the mansion, we were glad the group was no larger.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside the mansion, but the website linked above has numerous photos of the interior.

The main residence itself is relatively small, and is built in octagonal themes, designed by Jefferson himself.  It was actually built and then modified, over the course of 40 years during the period of Jefferson's public service.  Here is an exterior shot that shows it from a nontraditional angle:

Yet, this small size is deceiving, because all of the supporting space was built underground, spread to the north and south of the main residence building in a U-shape design.  The supporting space included stables, storage areas, kitchen, mechanical and craft rooms, some slave residences, and even privies:

The plantation included over 5,000 acres of ground, including large formal vegetable gardens along a ledge of ground below the mansion:

The residence was set on the top of a small hill ("Monticello" means small mountain), with spectacular views in almost all directions:

The tour was very informative.  Luckily, the entire house and most of its contents were preserved despite the fact that the property changed hands to other private owners after Jefferson's death and before the current foundation purchased it.  We could see each room furnished almost exactly as Jefferson furnished it, including some of Jefferson's original books.  He acquired busts and paintings of the other great figures of his day, and these were displayed throughout the mansion, presumably much as he displayed them.

The four of us agreed that the visit was well worth the trip.  We were so excited that we made sure to have our photos taken in front of the mansion from the perspective most people are familiar with:

Eric and Ginny leave tomorrow to continue their travels south.  We also will leave southward on Thursday.  We really enjoyed our time with them and wish them safe travels.  We know we'll keep in touch with them and will probably have more chances to pal around with them as we bump into them in various parts of the country.