Charlottesville - Monticello

Friday was our last day in Charlottesville and we dedicated it to visiting Monticello. I think everyone's a little fascinated with Jefferson these days in view of Hamilton and the most recent Jeffersonian biography -- but I was not prepared for the wash of emotion I felt as we started our 11:00 o'clock tour of Monticello. Jefferson began life with 3000 gorgeous acres and throughout his life he owned as many as 600 slaves. The tours given of Monticello are very aware of the slavery factor and there is no question of evading the ever present achievement and contribution of the enslaved population to the grandness of Monticello. And yet, Jefferson shines as a major American product of the enlightenment.

His home has many unique objects - for example, over his bed there is a skylight, one of 13 throughout the residence, and the first in American architecture. he also built a storage space over his bed where he stored his out of season clothes, and put round holes into the walls for circulation. He had huge gardens which fed Monticello and where he experimented with various vegetables which made up a large component of planation diet. He loved beans and had a huge variety of them. For a reason not disclosed in the tour, he wanted to minimize slaves waiting on the family so he devised things like a wine elevator in the living room where wine could be delivered by means of a dumb waiter. Of course, some one had to be below to load the wine...He also hated wasted space so therefore had no fixed dining table. He used tables that could be pushed back into the quarters of his room.

We also went on a slavery tour and that guide was quite militant about the unfathamable contradiction of a man who wrote "all men are created equal ..." but also owned hundreds of slaves and fathered four children with Sally Hemmings. He valued the worth of his female slaves who could produce more humans, and he separated families during his tenure at Monticello.

He also died bankrupt. Monticello and its slaves had to be sold at his death with no respect given to intact families. Monticello has only had two private owners before it went into a protected status by a private foundation. All in all, it was a very memorable day.

We are off in the morning to Roanoke Island, North Carolina - home of the Lost Colony of Roanoke.Read more