Photo Friday: Presidential Tours

 (Final Installment of May trip to Virginia)

A trip to Virginia would be incomplete without a visit to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States. Seeing his home, which is pictured on the back of the nickel, is always a thrill. It sits on 2500 acres, just south of Charlottesville. There is a visitor's center that includes a gallery/museum, cafe, gift shop, and education center. You take a shuttle bus to the actual home.

The grass that you see in the previous picture and below is enclosed by a large walking circular path that is surrounded by flowers. We were fortunate to be there when so much was in bloom.

An actor portraying Jefferson was walking the grounds and gives speeches four times/day in which you can ask questions. The performer does not leave character and is known to feign ignorance about modern things (such as asking what the rectangular device is that is attached to people's hands or questioning a clothing article).

We participated in a docent-led tour of the gardens and grounds. Jefferson had a lifelong interest in gardening and they have restored his gardens and orchards.

The tour of the first floor of the home lasts about 45 minutes. This is the entrance room from the back of the house and contains some of his collections.

Most of the rooms are quite small . . .

including his bedroom and bed, where he passed away on July 4, 1826, five hours before John Adams, second president of the U.S.

The dining room was this amazing shade of yellow, which the guide said would have been very expensive paint, back in the day. To the left of the fireplace, note the open cabinet door. Jefferson had designed a dumbwaiter inside to haul wine up from the wine cellar directly below.

While our tour guide was animated and spoke loudly and clearly, I didn't feel as though he touched on many of the interesting designs/details of the home that I've heard in previous tours of the home. Online reviews had frequently mentioned that the tour had become 'woke' and focused too much on the Sally Hemmings drama. I did notice that 'slaves' is no longer a term being used, but was changed to 'enslaved people' and many of the exhibits on the property (kitchen, smokehouse, stables) focus on the enslaved people who did all the work at Monticello. Personally, I felt they were giving due justice to those who deserved it. I would have just appreciated more information on the actual home.

It's an easy walk to the family burial plot, with Thomas Jefferson's grave front and center behind the gate. Many of the graves had fresh flowers.

The following day, we toured Montpelier, home of our fourth president. It was about 45 minutes northeast of Monticello. You enter from a long driveway in a very rural area. It was our first time there and we were impressed!

Our tour guide was fantastic and gave many personal details about the president and his family. This was the parlor where he entertained guests. He had quite the collection of busts.

The cardboard characters at the dining table were a bit strange, but we heard some great tales about the first lady, Dolley Madison. She was a woman who spoke her mind and enjoyed hosting large dinner parties, where she could converse with politicians and ambassadors. The guide said that Dolley often served cake as the first course, believing it to be a digestif. I'm assuming that's how the name Dolly Madison became a snack cake brand in America.

We were taken upstairs on this tour and shown Madison's office. The guide claimed that this was the desk on which Madison wrote the Constitution, though it may have been a reproduction piece, as we learned that both Jefferson and Madison died in debt and their heirs had to sell off many of their belongings. But I think we can safely say this was the room and the view he had when writing. After his death, the house went through a number of owners until William du Pont purchased it in 1900.

His wife, Annie du Pont, transformed the gardens behind the house into this formal garden. It was lovely.

Two acres of beauty.

Closer to the road is the humble burial grounds of the Madison family. You could actually walk among the graves. James Madison's is the taller monument to the right.

After Annie du Pont passed away in 1983, Montpelier was donated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The home had been remodeled numerous times and was then restored to the way it was during the Madison years.  At the visitor center, Annie du Pont's art deco room was reassembled so that you could see what Montpelier had become during the du Pont years. How crazy is that?

Do you enjoy touring historical homes?

(Beginning next week, I'll be offline again for a few weeks. See you in July!)