Monticello

The little mountain, Monticello, was the lifelong project of Thomas Jefferson. He began envisaioning a home for himself and his family at a fairly young age. The land was granted him as an inheritance. He built a house, the "dependencies" around the house, a collection of service buildings and living quarters for the slaves that were part of his inheritances. He was a farmer, college trained at William and Mary, a member of the Virginia legislature, the author of the Declaration of Independence (one of his proudest achievements), the mastermind behind the University of Virginia, third president of the United Stated, and responsible for the Louisiana Purchase and the adventures of Lewis and Clark. He tinkered in archeology, meteorology, architecture, and animal husbandy. He grew hundreds of varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers and trees on his property and even invented some species. He is credited with inventing the moldboard plow, and accused of inventing many other things. He loved technology, and brought home devices, like double doors that operate together, from his travels in Europe, notable France. He kept thousands of books, dozens of scientific instruments, and played the violin. He displayed sculpture and art in his home, including the bust of his enemy Alexander Hamilton. Guests, who often arrived unuinvited, were kept waiting in his foyer, which was a museum of natural history and the greatness of the United States.

He had but two daughters by his first wife, and his first daughter and wife died young. But his second daughter left him a legacy of grand and greatgrand children, who lived with him late in life at Monticello. He also has a darker legacy expressed in the family of Sally Hemmings.




I had visited Monticello once before, in the early 1980s, with my sons as part of a vacation in the area. I came because I had heard of the inventiveness of Jefferson, and I was interested in seeing the unique inventions he had scattered through his house. I was lightly impressed. It's difficult to grasp the creativity process from 200 years ago, and I was expecting much more. Having visited again, seeing the same few innovations, I have a much broader context to understand his independent genius. Jefferson was no Edison, nor did he intend to be. He collected ideas and incorporated them into his life. If he had been more of an entrepenuer, perhaps he would have capitalized on his technology transfer and avoided the debt he had accumulated trying to make the plantation profitable.

Many of the artifacts in the house are Jeffersons. This is fairly unique and unusual in historical preservation. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation has re-acquired numerous of Jefferson's properties that were scattered to collectors. Since Jefferson was a scrupulous record keeper, other artifacts in the house are identical to the ones he owned, such as the books in his vast collection, such that the house is presented very much in character. The house itself was preserved by the Levy family until it could become the foundation of an educational and research organization that would preserve it. Most of the house is original, though some worn artifacts have been replicated.

Having been through most of a life at this point, I was much more appreciative of the broad brush that Jefferson managed to paint on the world. Monticello is but the abode he inhabited, not finished until he was in his mid-60s. It is but a mere shadow of the measure of the man, an important artifact, but only one color in the rainbow of an impressive life.