Wednesday, February 26, 2014

On Tuesday, Feb. 25, we went to one of our favorite places: Monticello. When we arrived there were a few snowflakes in the air and the air was cool. It was a good time to visit the historic home of Thomas Jefferson; very few visitors, only a few children--there were a couple of small class-size groups of 4th or 5th graders--and the leafless trees allow a better view of the surrounding countryside. We were there for over five hours.

We purchased tickets for a "behind the scenes" tour. On our previous visits, the only option was a house tour which covered only the first floor, and then, it was not all the rooms. The tour we took today covered the first, second, third, and the dome room. We had basically a private tour, since there were only two other people going through with us.

The tour started in the entry hall, as usual, but now the hall looks more like it did when Jefferson displayed Native American artifacts sent back by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The items on display are not the originals--they have been lost--but they were the same items, made by the same tribes, and in the traditional manner, using only the type of materials that would have been available back in the early 1800's.

We went next into Jefferson's library, study, and bed chamber. With only four people in the group, we were able to get a good look at the items and books. And we all got to see Jefferson's privy located in a small closet behind a door in the bed chamber. It was surprisingly well lighted in the small space--only one person at a time could enter to look at the privy hole--because of the skylight up on the roof. The privy, although small space, was tall; its height ran from the roof to the cellar.

The dining room, sitting room, tea room, also on the first floor, are full of paintings and busts of notable contemporaries of Jefferson and of scientist that he admired. These rooms are set up as he had them, based on a written description that one of his granddaughter's wrote before Jefferson died. These rooms also have devices, or gadgets, that allowed food and wine to be delivered to him and his quests without the need for more than one "servant."
We then went up to the second floor using one of the only two staircases in the house. These went up very steeply and wound around within an approximately six-foot area. The second floor was once used as office space for the Foundation's staff; but recently, all the office spaces and equipment have been set up elsewhere. The rooms have been setup to show their original use: bedrooms for family and quests. Jefferson's daughters lived here most of the time even after they were married. Guests would show up--sometimes, unannounced--and stay for two or three months. Some of the rooms still have their original small cast iron wood stoves which was the only heat for the second floor.

Up on the third floor, were the rooms where the grandchildren stayed. Eleven grandchildren were in the house at one time. It is also where the dome room is located. This is a large room, octagon shaped, with domed ceiling. The room was never used for any functions--it was built by Jefferson because he liked octagon shaped rooms and domed ceilings. When we were in it, our guide's voice, when she spoke about the room echoed because of the dome. She said that one of Jefferson's grandson's brought his bride to Monticello and stayed in the dome room; interesting.

The rooms on the third floor, except for the dome room, had no windows, only skylights; they did not have any stoves or fireplaces for heat. They were hot in summer and cold in winter--good enough for the grandkids.
We went back down the second stairwell, all the way to the cellar passage. Here we got a look at the storage areas used for wine, beer, and ice. At the south end of the passage, under the south wing of the dependencies, is the kitchen, with many of the same types of cookware that he brought back from France.

The guided tour ended at 1:00. We returned to the site's visitors center and had lunch. We then spent another three hours viewing the center's exhibits and films. We finished with the traditional passage through the gift shop, where we bought some more books and a bottle of Madeira wine especially bottled for the Jefferson Foundation; this bottle will be our new "anniversary toast" wine--the previous two bottle of old Madeira, purchased some years ago in Madeira, have been long gone.

We tried to do one more thing today. While we were eating lunch, one of the girls working there overheard us talking about the fact that Monticello was not damaged be either side during the Civil War; she told us about a cavern where graffiti left by both sides during the Civil War has been preserved. She said that there are two items that were written on the same day, one by by an officer from the North and the other by an officer from the South. We started out to find the caverns, located in the town of Grottoes. The ride took us up into the mountains, past Skyline Drive, about twenty miles. I had to stop for gas. It was 4:30. While I filled the tank, B called the caverns to find out when they closed; they told her, right now at 4:30. We returned down the mountain--quite a ride--and to our campground. However, the ride was not a total loss; the scenery was outstanding.

We left Greenwood, VA, this morning, and headed north. Again we travelled on the older U.S. routes: US-29, US-522, with a section of VA-231. Once we were through Charlottlesville, the ride and scenery were fantastic. The road, for the most part, was two lanes; it undulated and wound between long four-rail fences and hilly pastures. Off to our left, we had some great views of the Appalachian Mountains. It was the type of ride that made me wish that I had a camera mounted on the dash to capture the images as we went along. This would be for a selfish reason: the road was so narrow, and either sloped down from the edge of the pavement into a ditch, or into a stream, or into woods, that I could only catch a glimpse of the scene as I approached it at a curve. B said it was all gorgeous. One section that we travelled through still had some snow covering the fields from a morning flurry that made the view even better. 

We arrived in Front Royal around noon. We stopped to do laundry and lunch. The lunch was in a local restaurant set in an old two hundred year old building that was the local feed and grain supplier. The food and setting were both very good. 

We ended the day in a "campground?" that, while it is not the worst one of the eighteen that we have stayed in, it is right down next to the bottom. We are paying the same rate charged during the summer months to use the facilities of this "resort," but there is no water at the site--which we can understand because of the temperatures--but they did not advise us of that fact when we called early this morning to get a site. They also didn't mention that the water is off in the bathrooms and showers, when we checked in. Fortunately, it is only for one night.





1 comment:

  1. I pitched my tent in Front Royal many years ago. Twas May and the campground was crowded with young folks fresh off the Appalachian Trail. Rhododendrons and azaleas were in luscious bloom. Look forward to seeing you at Town Meeting on March 15th. Sherry

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