[personal profile] holytoastr
For my birthday last February, Ben promised to take me to Monticello in the spring. Life got in the way though and spring turned to summer turned to fall.

This was the last weekend we could go and still receive a guided tour of the gardens (which I really wanted to do), so Ben decided he was going to make this happen regardless of what else was in the way.

We got up far too early (it was still dark out!) yesterday morning to head out. Our first stop was a greasy spoon place we recently discovered for cheap, greasy breakfast. The staff was excessively helpful, at one point offering Ben 3 coffee refills in the time span of a single minute.We learned always say yes, because they won't ask you for more if you have a full cup.

Then we got on the road and sat in mysterious traffic. I never saw any accident or construction, so I have no clue why there was so much traffic heading south on a Saturday morning.

We did eventually safely arrive just before noon. The way the place was set up, there was a visitor's center and museum about a mile down the mountain from the house, and then the house sits at the top of the mountain. There's a shuttle back and forth if you pay admission, but there's supposedly a nice trail you can walk if you don't want to give them any money.

We watched a short 15-minute intro video about Jefferson after buying our tickets. I personally think you could skip the video if you ever go. It really didn't teach anything new or provide any prep for visiting the house. Then Ben ate a small lunch, which I skipped because I was still full of greasy eggs on wheat.

Once we were done with that, we took the shuttle to the top of the mountain to see the house itself. LESSON OF THE DAY: Do not build a house on the top of the mountain.


The house was a lot smaller than I imagined! I guess because I live near the capitol, in my head all domed buildings are massive. But Monticello is about the size of the larger mcmansions around here.

The second thing I noticed was that it was super cold and windy. I repeat: Do not build a house on the top of a mountain.

We had purchased tickets so we could tour the inside of the house. The rest of the plantation was free (ie, you can go to the museum and take the outdoor tours and walk the grounds), but they had two paid tours for the inside of the house. We went with the cheaper option of just the first floor. To visit the second and third floors, you can to pay crazy extra.

So we took a tour of the house. Overall it was very good, except for the family with the crying infant who totally did not get our guide's hints to get lost. ("We can bring you out to the hallway if you need a moment to calm him down!" *smile real hard and try to not look annoyed*)

I think as a home, I liked George Washington's Mount Vernon better. Jefferson's Monticello seemed more like a display case than a place to actually live. It was still very pretty though.

I loved the alcove beds. Every time I saw one, I said, "Ben! I want to do that in our house!" They look so cozy! Never mind we have no appropriate walls for that sort of thing...

I also liked the little eccentric inventions he worked into the house. He had a special clock in his main entryway that told time in seconds, minutes, hours, AND days. The days are marked on the wall. It didn't actually fit the room, so he cut a whole in the wall and Saturday sits in the basement.

And there was a special dumbwaiter in his dining room's fireplace that was just the right size to deliver bottles of wine. The dining room, by the way is in the most god-awful shade of bright yellow you will ever see. I had been entertaining the idea of painting my kitchen yellow. No. I have now seen what a terrible idea that is. (On a side note, you can actually buy that shade of yellow to paint your own home - Monticello Yellow.)

I also enjoyed finding anachronisms in the house. For example, there was an ikea lamp in the children's school room. And several of the rooms had seismographs in them. I thought it might be related to that earthquake a few years back, but on a map, the epicenter is about an hour away. I wish I had thought to ask about it.

After the house tour, we took a tour of the gardens. This was the part I was most interested in and this was the last weekend they were offering it. Our tour guide was a little too soft-spoken, but I enjoyed learning about the farm that Jefferson had. He apparently had a lot of trouble farming because 1. There's no water on the top of a mountain, 2. It's very cold and windy at the top of a mountain, 3. There's no horizontal land at the top of a mountain. I repeat: Do not build your house on the top of a mountain!

I kept thinking how amazing it was that he had time to do all his reading and politics and science and gardening...And then I would remember, "Oh yeah! He had over 100 slaves! It's a lot easier to focus on hobbies when you've got over 100 people around that can be forced to do the tedious stuff!"

Anyway, it was fall so much of the garden was lettuce and kale. More lettuce and kale varieties than I could ever imagine! Also a handful of cool-looking types of squash and some lingering pepper plants.

The guide told us about how Jefferson was revolutionary at the time for experimenting with growing summer crops native to the americas. Most farmers at that time were still growing cold, wet english style vegetables, which today we would call spring/fall crops. I think those people were crazy to ignore summer veggies. Those are the best ones! (Except eggplant. No one likes eggplant.) He had limited success though because, as was frequently mentioned, there is no water at the top of a mountain. (He did collect and store rainwater, but it was never enough for a full farm.)

So after the garden tour, we took the slave tour. This tour guide was much better at projecting his voice loudly outdoors, which was good because this tour group was massive. He told us a bit about slave life at the plantation and how Jefferson was a hypocrite for owning over 600 people in his lifetime despite writing all the time against the practice.

I don't know how accurate this is or how much of it is pr from the Jefferson foundation, but the guide said the slaves were treated fairly decently. All things considered...being owned for life, in a state filled with very brutal slave laws, etc. But he let them live in family unit houses, paid them bonuses for good work, and would buy the extra produce from their personal gardens. Still, they worked all day, every day, and the overseers could beat them if they ever slacked off even a little. Or got sick. Or injured. Etc.

The guide also talked about the handful of slaves Jefferson freed or gave the slave equivalent of retirement (you're still property, but you don't have to work anymore). A few were really good workers that he felt should be rewarded, but most of them turned out to be his children! He had a whole handful of kids with one of his slaves and then forced them (his own kids) to work on his plantation (granted he gave them the "good jobs"). That's pretty baffling to me. And apparently was the norm. Ethics were really messed up in those days! (I mean aside from the really obvious owning people part.) The freed kids were all so light colored, they were able to move to the north or the west and live the rest of their lives as white people.

Most of the slaves, however, stayed slaves the rest of their lives. And it got worse! After Jefferson died, all his slaves were sold off at auction. All the families got ripped apart. Pretty sad. A few of the freed hard worker slaves were able to use their skills learned on the plantation (woodwork, blacksmithing, etc) to earn enough money to buy back their families, but that was not the norm for most of the slaves.

So yeah, that tour was a bit of a downer. But I did learn the Madisons were extremely good tippers, so there's that.

By that point Ben and I were super tired. We did a quick second walk through the garden (I wanted a few more pictures) and then did a self-guided tour of the basement of the house. We were able to find the Saturday marker for the big clock upstairs. And the bottom end of the wine carrying dumbwaiter. The ice house was huge and super scary deep. And there were some educational things to play with. I tried lifting an iron for ironing clothes. Almost died. Women must have had super muscles in their arms those days!

We skipped the cemeteries (both Jefferson's and slave) and returned to the visitor's center for a quick breeze through the museum. I felt maybe we should have done that first to better appreciate the architecture of the house on the tour, but oh well.

Then we shared a brownie (for energy!) at the cafe and bought a few things at the gift shop before heading home.

I fell asleep part way. Woke up just in time to watch us sit in more traffic. There was a long stretch of construction, but we survived and made it home in one piece. We had lazy dinner of pizza and then I completely passed out! I was so tired! All that walking and the constant cold wind on the top of the mountain...It really stole all my energy!

But overall it was a good day and I was really happy to spend it with Ben (even though he looked pretty bored at times).
This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting

Profile

holytoastr

January 2015

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25 262728293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 4th, 2025 05:30 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios