Monticello, Home of Thomas Jefferson

Monticello is located in Charlottesville. We spent a whole morning there. The grounds are open to dogs so Fred and I walked the grounds and took one of the tours.

There’s a half mile path that leads from the Visitors Center to the house. Along the way, is the graveyard. What’s interesting about this area is that it’s an active cemetery for descendants of Martha and Maria Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughters. 

Up at the house, there is a large garden. I started taking pictures of all of the different types of vegetables, but it was just too many.  

The house is quite large. I didn’t go inside because the tour wasn’t open to dogs and it was just way too hot to leave Fred behind in the RV. We did visit the outdoor exhibits, including a short film about Sally Hemings. Sally was Jefferson’s mistress (not sure if that’s what to call her) based on an agreement they had when she came from France to Monticello with him. The agreement included that any children she bore would be freed when they reached the age of 21. 

Jefferson held the opinion that people should not be enslaved, but that didn’t stop him from owning slaves (over 600 over the course of his life at Monticello) and participating in the slave trade because that’s what land owners did at the time. He did free a few specific enslaved people in his will. 

After Jefferson’s death, Monticello was sold to pay off debts. A man named Uriah Levy purchased the property. He believed that Jefferson believed in religious equality and as a Jewish officer, he was inclined to buy the property. His mother lived at the property and is buried there.

It was pretty hot but after we headed down back down to the Visitors Center, I did some quick shopping and got lunch.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Seinfeld “Puffy Sleeve” episode when I saw this shirt in the gift shop.

Much of the food sold in the cafeteria is made either on the premises or locally. The Rt 11 chips came highly recommended and they were pretty good!