A life size statue of Thomas Jefferson greeted us as we waited to board the tram to his home on the hill.
The day was cold and damp with showers coming in and out, but the tulips were in full bloom.
Of course we couldn’t take pictures inside the home as we toured it during our allotted time slot, but the outside was majestic enough to give you an idea of how nice the inside of the home was. This home took 40 years to complete. Jefferson was a self taught architect and was influenced by his time spent in France and Europe as an Ambassador for the U.S.A.
The grounds are immaculate and very well planned. Thomas Jefferson inherited 100 slaves from his marriage. He was always interested in horticulture and I’m sure he would approve of how the grounds are being maintained. I was impressed.
When Jefferson was first married, he brought his wife here to Monticello to live and they shared the little house at the south pavilion as their first home as construction began on the main home and its dependencies.
Notice how small the building is. There is only one room and this is where Jefferson did his work, they slept and took their meals during the first years of their marriage.
A picture of the dependencies is below and what they were used for. Jefferson did not want anything to mar the image you saw of his home when you came to visit, so all the dependencies were beneath the ground level of the big house on the front side. That also kept the rooms cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Pretty smart!
Below is a picture of the stables where guest horses were kept while they visited the Jefferson’s.
Mr. Jefferson had a ice house dug and installed in the dependencies which was filled during the winter with ice hauled up the hill from the river and snow collected in the cold weather. He used this to cool the beverages during the summer and when the North Pavilion caught fire one year it was used to control the fire so it didn’t damage the main house. He used the North Pavilion as an office.
Below you will see how diverse some of the rooms in the dependencies were used.
Frank really thought this was a great idea!!! There was also a wine room with dumb waiters that brought the wine right up into the dining room. And because it was under the house it was always cool.
Jefferson developed a taste for fine French cooking while serving as Ambassador and he took his cook with him to France to learn how to prepare Fine French Food. With that in mind, he had the kitchen built to accommodate the preparation of food in the French manner.
All the sauce pans were copper. How would you like to keep those polished? Especially when you were cooking over a wood fired fireplace?
French style cooking tops and accessories were used by the cooks.
With sometimes over 200 people to feed, counting guests, slaves and any hired workers used in the building of Monticello, Jefferson experimented in his gardens growing all kinds of food. The gardens were terraced out of the side of the hill with the retaining walls sometimes 10 feet high to level a space to grow the vegetables.
The sun came out just for us to be able to look at these amazing gardens carved out of the side of the rolling hill.
Mulberry trees were planted along the road where the “shops” were located. The trees are now large and shade the road making it a beautiful walk. Jefferson walked Mulberry Row most every day checking on the slaves that worked in the shops. Most everything the plantation needed was made right along this road.
The chimney is supported by cables to keep it in tack for us to imagine how the building must have been over 200 years ago.
No wonder Jefferson picked this spot to build his home. How peaceful and beautiful the hills are to look at.
The white dogwood above is the Virginia state flower for a reason. It is abundant and very beautiful.
The Red Bud tree is a beautiful backdrop to the flowing dogwood and the bare branches of the trees soon to burst forth in new leaves.
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