MONTICELLO
_Monticello Mt._
The home of Thomas Jefferson, designed and built by himself upon land
inherited from his father—Colonel Peter Jefferson, member of the House
of Burgesses and Lieutenant-Colonel of the County. The leveling of the
mountain top began, 1768. Due to successive additions and alterations,
completion of the buildings was later than 1809. Following the burning
of Shadwell, his father’s home, Jefferson moved to Monticello (the
Southwest Out Chamber) in 1771 and in 1772 brought his bride there. She
was Martha Wayles Skelton, a young widow of twenty-three, distinguished
for beauty and a graceful carriage. It was an exceptionally happy
marriage, ended after ten years by her death. Of six children, only two
daughters survived infancy. Both left descendants.
In 1781 Monticello was raided by British Tarleton’s troops, in pursuit
of the refugeeing Governor and Legislature. Forewarned, the family
escaped. There was no property damage. Upon his visit to America in
1824, Lafayette was a guest here, and a great public reception in his
honor was held on the lawn.
Monticello remained Jefferson’s much loved home until his death there,
July 4, 1826, aged eighty-three. Due to financial stress, it was sold in
1830 for $7,000. In 1836 it was purchased by Commodore Uriah P. Levy of
the United States Navy for $2,700. With the exception of the Civil War
period, when it was confiscated by the Confederate Government, it
remained in the Levy family until sold to the Monticello Memorial
Foundation, 1923. Much of the original furniture and many personal
relics are on display.
ASH LAWN
_2 mi. beyond Monticello_
Home of James Monroe, twice Governor of Virginia, U. S. Senator,
Secretary of State and War, Minister to France and to England, and twice
President of the United States. James Monroe was born in 1758 at his
father’s home, Monroe’s Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia. He studied
at Williamsburg, served with distinction in the Revolutionary War, and
practiced law for eighteen months in Fredericksburg. His removal to
Albemarle was the fulfillment of a long-cherished plan, as his pleasant
letters to Mr. Jefferson show. One reads as follows:
[Illustration: Ash Lawn. The “Cabin-Castle”. _J. Rawlings Thomson_]
August 19, 1786. “I shall leave this (N.Y.) for Virginia. I have not
relinquished the prospect of being your neighbor.... The house for
which I have requested a plan may possibly be erected near Monticello.
To fix there and to have yourself in particular, with what friends we
may collect around for society, is my chief object, or rather the only
one which promises to me ... real and substantial pleasure.” _Writings
of James Monroe, Stanislaus Murray, Hamilton, Vol. I, p. 158._
Mr. Jefferson’s reply is also pleasant.
“To Colonel Monroe from Jefferson, December 18, 1786. Paris. When I
return, which will be early in the Spring, I shall send you ... the
plan of your house. I wish to heaven you may continue in the
disposition to fix it in Albemarle. Short (Washington’s Minister to
Holland) will establish himself there, and perhaps Madison may be
tempted to do so. This will be society enough, and it will be the
great sweetener of our lives.” _Papers of Thos. Jefferson, edited by
T. J. Randolph, Vol. II, p. 69._
In August, 1789, Monroe removed to his first Albemarle purchase—an
800-acre farm just west of Charlottesville. A portion of this tract is
now included in the site of the University of Virginia, and known as
Monroe Hill. This farm proved a disappointment, and in 1793 he bought
the Carter tract. This adjoined Monticello on the north and William
Short’s estate—then Indian Camp, now Morven—on the south. Monroe named
his new home Highland, but by later changes of ownership it became North
Blenheim and then Ash Lawn.