Monticello
One of the greatest things about living in Virginia is
being surrounded by so much American independence history and great historical
places to visit. One such historical place that I used to love to visit was
Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, our third president and the author of the
Declaration of Independence. What a great place to visit and learn about
Jefferson, his many inventions, architectural designs and most of all his
gardening capabilities. I loved visited his home just to learn about his varied
gardening exploitations. As an avid gardener myself, I learned so much about
natural gardening after buying his book “Thomas Jefferson’s Gardening book” and
of course Thomas Jefferson’s Flower Garden book. Two treasured books to own and
read over and over again. The writings of Thomas Jefferson are also interesting
because throughout this book, you can learn how the man thought about
everything Monticello even though he was up in Philadelphia dealing with
important matters. He thought about his gardens, the landscape and the
buildings and gave directions to his estate manager to make things happen
according to his plans. When you visit Monticello today, you can see his vision,
his intelligence and his forethought about everything concerning the estate.
So, what does the name Monticello mean? It is Italian
for Little house on the Hill as the home sits upon the summit of the 850-foot
peak of the Southwest Mountains of the Rivanna Gap just outside of Charlottesville,
Virginia about a 2-hour drive from Washington DC. But worth every minute of the
drive there. The estate was once 5000 acres of land that was cultivated in
tobacco and mixed crops and later turned into wheat crops. The house can only
be described as Italian Renaissance architecture. Jefferson loved the architecture
of Europe and was always sending messages and drawings home to tweak the house
in many different designs. One aspect of the house that I love are the windows,
as they aren’t your normal windows, Jefferson could open the window from the floor
up and it became a door to the outside and opened up the room to breezes to
cool off the rooms of the house. There is also a clock system by the front door
that must be seen in person in order to experience its ingenuity and
craftsmanship. As the man who sponsored Lewis and Clark’s western expedition,
there are many mementos in the house that were from that expedition.
Unfortunately, with all Thomas Jefferson did for the founding of America, he died a pauper leaving enormous debt to be dealt with by his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph who was forced to sell off his wonderful library to the Library of Congress and University of Virginia to which he founded and created in Charlottesville. She also had to sell Monticello too, which broke her heart to do, but she had to pay the debt or her father's name would be forever blemished. The property changed hands a few times from 1834 when Commodore Uriah P. Levy bought the property from Martha. Levy was a great admirer of Jefferson and lovingly spent thousands to preserve the property and house for future generations. In 1879 his nephew took over the property and continued to restore the property. It wasn’t until 1923 that the Thomas Jefferson Foundation bought the estate and has been running it as a museum and educational institution ever since and I thank them for saving it for us to enjoy now. If you’re in Virginia near Charlottesville, consider taking the day to visit this exquisite home and grounds, you won’t regret it, especially if you love gardening and preserving not only history but also food too.
Author Elizabeth Kilbride is a former
political operative, author, scriptwriter, historian, journalist. business
professional, and creative artist, and life coach consultant. Ms. Kilbride
holds a Masters in Criminology and a BS in Business Management who stepped out
of the loop for a while, but who is now back with a powerful opinion and voice
in the direction of this country and our economy. As a life coach, she is
available to counsel individuals to enjoy their dreams and a better life. Ms.
Kilbride loves to travel, photograph her surroundings and is also a gourmet
cook who loves to garden and preserve food for the winter months.
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