April 8 - 11, 2025
On Wednesday, April 9 we drove to the Charlottesville KOA Holiday. It's full hookups and $71 a night. A little pricey for what we get. They have a pool and other activities but no one is using them because it's too cold.
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Site #28
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On Thursday we went to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.
I don't care how many pictures you see and things you watch on TV, the real
experience is different. You just get a bigger perspective on how things
are laid out.
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The are doing archaeology on the grounds. What they find
is displayed in the museum.
We had an 11:15 tour of the house. First you have to go through
security, then go up some stairs to catch the shuttle bus to take you to the
grounds. From there you go to seating area 3, and are moved up a
seating area until it's your turn for the tour.
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Monticello
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View from the seating area below the house.
Our tour guide, Tom, took us to the porch and pointed out the clock above the
door and the bottom side of the weather vane in the ceiling.
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Weather Vane
He said that most of the furnishings in the house were not original, but
reproductions. I asked if the window glass was original and he said
that it wasn't, but it was made wavy to make it look like it was original.
We then went indoors where they had some paintings and other things
displayed.
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Bust of Thomas Jefferson
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Portrait of Thomas Jefferson
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The inside part of the clock. Notice the wires going
out from each side.
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They go down on each side of the wall and have weights on
them. On Sunday the clock is wound with the help of a folding ladder
and the weights are lifted to the ceiling. The top ball right-hand
set of weights reveals the day and even the approximate hour as it falls
past markers on the wall (you can see two of the markers on the wall to the
right), with Sunday at the top and Saturday at the bottom. Unfortunately, when the weights arrived at
Monticello, the ropes were longer than the wall, so they cut a hole in the
floor for the weight to pass through, and now the marker for Saturday is in
the basement. The clock is also attached to a Chinese gong that chimes the hour. In the eighteenth century, the gong rang loudly enough for field slaves to hear it three miles away.
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Inside Entrance Hall
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Jefferson's Desk
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Desk with Adjustable Top
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Plans of the House
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This was Jefferson's private room next to his bedroom. Very few people
were allowed here.
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Jefferson's Bedroom
This bed looks small but was big enough for his 6'2" frame. This
is where he died on July 4, 1826, hours before John Adams on the 50th anniversary of our country.
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Jefferson remodeled Monticello extensively in the 1790s.
In his bedroom he added a skylight and a partition wall to form a bed alcove
below and a closet above. The closet was reached by a steep stair or ladder. The holes above the bed are used for ventilation.
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| All of the pediments in the house are different. |
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The wood floor in the parlor is original.
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| This is a dumbwaiter on the side of the fireplace in the dining room. There's another one on the other side. |
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| Tea Room off Dining Room |
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| Pediment Between Dining Room and Tea Room |
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Sundial
Note the beautiful view with the redbuds and dogwoods blooming in the valley below. |
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| Thomas Jefferson's Monticello on the back of the nickel. Jefferson is on the front. |
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The blooming tulips were beautiful!
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| Kitchen |
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| I thought this was really smart! |
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Kitchen
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Burners
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A much better idea for a smokehouse.
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Fireplace coming into the smokehouse.
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Where the meat was hung.
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| Sketch of the smokehouse areas. |
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Vegetable Garden
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Vegetable Garden
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Thomas Jefferson's tomb, which he designed before he died. It reads, "Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom
& Father of the University of Virginia
Born April 2, 1743 O.S.
Died July 4, 1826
O.S. means "Old Style." The Julian or Old Style calendar was in effect in England and her colonies until 1752, when the Gregorian or New Style calendar was adopted. This added eleven days to the current date to bring the calendar year into step with the astronomical year. Thus, the birthday of Jefferson, who was born on April 2 under the Old Style calendar, is now celebrated on April 13, the New Style date.
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Cutaway of the house.
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Interesting idea for collecting rainwater.
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| Zig-Zag Roof |
What happened to the house after Jefferson died is interesting. You can read about it at https://colonialquills.blogspot.com/2016/01/rescuing-monticello-from-ruin-by.html
After visiting the tomb we took the shuttle back to the visitor's center. We could have taken a trail back but it was cold so we opted for the shuttle. We looked in the gift shop but didn't see anything we couldn't live without. I think if it had been a nicer day we would have stayed longer, but it wasn't so we didn't. We went and got some lunch and ran some errands.
Soon we'll be...
Roving on...
For this is what the LORD says, He who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and not create if as a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited): "I am the LORD, and there is no one else." Isaiah 45:18
