Today this compact brick home is a little worse for the wear of years, but thanks to restoration efforts is slowly regaining its Jeffersonian stature and offers visitors a special insight into the inventive mind of its most distinguished former owner and his desire for a place away from the noise and haste of the presidency
But Jefferson wasn't the only president to plant his roots in the rolling countryside east of the Blue Ridge. Our earliest statesmen loved this land of mountain vistas, streams and tumbling waterfalls, just as many new visitors do today Come along for a scenic journey through Central Virginia's land of presidents.
In 1806, while serving as president, Jefferson began construction of a personal retreat at his Poplar Forest plantation just east of Bedford (then called Liberty). While Jefferson never completed construction of the home, it is just that lack of completeness that remains its biggest draw—at least to me.
The home's design is based on the villas of Palladio, a Renaissance era architect whom Jefferson admired and studied. As I drift through this unfurnished home, some rooms with walls bared to show the structure behind the plaster, in the company of staff archaeologist Barbara Heath, I find myself drawn to the parlor, where sunny floor-to-ceiling windows serve as doorways to Jefferson's sunken lawn on the south portico.
"Poplar Forest was designed as a place to get away from people," Heath tells me. "It was never meant to be a public place like Monticello."
And that is why the surroundings here are so comforting, small, and simple. But the details are still all Jefferson-like the herringbone pattern oak floors in the cube-shaped dining room at the center of the house, the alcove bed in Jefferson's bedroom, and the elongated octagon shapes of the surrounding rooms.
To visit the home that served as partial inspiration for Poplar Forest, I head north from Lynchburg on U.S. 29 to Jefferson's showcase mountaintop home at Monticello just outside Charlottesville. At the Monticello Visitors Center at the intersection of U.S. 250 and Interstate 64, I obtain a pass for a three-part tour which includes Monticello, historic Michie Tavern and James Madison's home, Ash Lawn-Highland.
Spring is the best time to visit this lovely Neoclassical home, as the gardens are thick with blossoming tulips and staff gardeners are just beginning to cultivate the heritage vegetable gardens, where the president once planted more than 300 varieties of vegetables, creating something of an outdoor laboratory of edible plants from around the world.
Jefferson began building the house in 1768, and then completely redesigned it upon his return from France in 1789. In imitation of the architecture he saw in France, he erected a dome over the center of the house, added piazzas to the north and south ends of the structure, and lowered the portico to present the illusion that the house has only one story.
Monticello contains 33 rooms on three stories as well as a basement. In the entrance hall, I find myself awed again, as I was when I first visited this place as a child, by the many artifacts from Lewis and Clark's 1803 expedition into the Louisiana Territory. Next, I wander into the parlor where 57 paintings, engravings, and sculptures are on display, some of which represent Jefferson's own personal heroes, like John Locke and Isaac Newton.
In addition to a stroll around the gardens, I also take a walk down Mulberry Row, once the center of the plantation's slave community. Only remnants of its original 17 structures remain today. I close the tour with a leisurely walk through fresh spring woods to the Jefferson family graveyard. The obelisk marking Jefferson's grave reads proudly, "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence, Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." No mention here of his presidency, but the stone was inscribed as Jefferson requested.
After an 18th-century repast at Michie Tavern, I head to the home of Thomas Jefferson's neighbor, our nation's fifth president, James Monroe. Monroe and his wife Elizabeth moved to Albemarle County at the Jeffersons’ urging in 1789. Jefferson hoped, through the relocation of statesmen friends like Monroe to Charlottesville, that he could create an intellectual and social community in this mountain city.
Monroe purchased 1,000 acres adjoining Monticello for $1,000 and built his home to face Jefferson's. James and Dolley Madison of neighboring Orange County were the Monroes' first house guests. While Highland is far simpler in design than the grand architecture and interiors of Monticello, the home is filled with imported French furnishings of the Napoleonic era. In the entrance hall are a drop-leaf table of Honduras mahogany given to President Monroe by the citizens of Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) in appreciation of the Monroe Doctrine, the President's foreign policy initiative which promised to protect the nations of the Western Hemisphere from European meddling.
Today the property belongs to Monroe's alma mater, the College of William and Mary, and is a 535-acre working farm with cattle grazing in its lush pasture and colorful peacocks strutting in the gardens. The plantation also hosts a nine-week long annual Ash Lawn Opera Festival beginning each June.
The next morning, after an overnight stay at the Inn at Monticello, I take a leisurely drive north on Va. 20 and visit the home of our nation's fourth president, James Madison. Nestled in the rolling countryside of rural Orange County, Montpelier offers visitors the opportunity to see how houses grow and change through the centuries.
James Madison grew up at Montpelier, though the home where he spent his childhood is gone. The main section of the house visible today was built in 1760 by Madison's father. Not nearly as sprawling as the current mansion, the original home had only eight rooms.
James Madison, Jr., our president, added onto the house in 1797, and brought his young bride Dolley Todd to live there. It was Jefferson who suggested Madison stucco the home's brick exterior and then score the stucco to create the illusion that the house was constructed of stone.
The DuPonts, the home's 20th-century owners, kept this stuccoed exterior, and; until recently, most of the furnished rooms within the house represented the DuPont era. However, in 2003, the Montpelier Foundation launched a historic restoration that, when complete, will return the home to its appearance at the time of the Madisons' occupancy. Visitors now have the opportunity take restoration tours of the home to see the transformation in action.
A new addition to Montpelier is the opening of the Gilmore Cabin and Farm, the freedman's home of one of Montpelier's former slaves. The cabin is the first restored freedman's structure in the nation designed to interpret African Americans' transition from slavery to freedom following the Civil War.
The National Historic Trust, which owns and manages Montpelier, has created a network of trails meandering through the 200-acre James Madison Landmark Forest, an old-growth forest that has remained unchanged since Madison's day. Here, I close my tour with a stroll through quiet trees, some of which had roots here in the days of early presidents.
"The morning we got on the boat," Stevenson says, "I didn't know that was the last time I would see him."
Stevenson is referring to his twin brother and remembering June 6, 1944, when Allied forces landed at Normandy and changed the course of World War II. As his story attests, it was not a day without sacrifice.
"Our company had about 170 men," Stevenson says, "and about 91 were killed in 15 minutes."
Stevenson is one of the original "Bedford Boys" and works as a docent at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford. Bedford was chosen as the site for the National D-Day Memorial because of its sacrifice on that historic day. In 1944, this mountain village had a population of 3,200, and it lost 19 of its young men on Normandy's beaches on D-Day—one of the largest single losses of any community in the nation.
Today many of the docents who work here are World War II veterans like Stevenson. They provide solemn tours around this vast memorial with its symbolic Omaha Beach, the names of those lost that day scrolled on stone walls, the flowering gardens and walkways lending an unusual serenity to a place that honors death and sacrifice. An entirely outdoor museum and memorial, it is open daily, subject to weather.
Among the must-hikes is Crabtree Falls in Nelson County. Located six miles off the parkway near milepost 27 along Va. 56, the falls lay claim to the title of "highest vertical-drop cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi." True or not, the falls are lovely, particularly in spring when winter thaw and rains create a gushing series of five cascades through moist green forest.
While less intrepid hikers can enjoy a view of the falls from an overlook a few hundred feet from the upper parking area, experienced hikers should take the three-mile trek from the base of the falls, as it winds up alongside Crabtree Creek and several cascades, creating a total drop of 1,200 feet.
Further north in Madison County is another steep falls hike well worth the journey. While the White Oak Canyon Trail is accessible off the Skyline Drive at mile 42.6, the trail can also be reached off Va. 600 just outside Syria. Starting from the bottom is the better choice since it provides the best views of the waterfalls and means a downhill trek on the way back. The White Oak Canyon trail is six miles round-trip, though one can do a less strenuous two-mile hike to the lower falls.
Along the way, the strenuous trail climbs alongside White Oak Run under the shade of oaks and even a few hemlocks, past rock outcroppings over the water, and along placid green pools, where tired hikers often gather to cool off in summer. The canyon is moist, and trail conditions are often slippery, so hikers should wear proper shoes. There are six waterfalls total, the highest and uppermost falls cascading 86 feet.
Today the 830-acre winery has 125 acres in production on an estate once owned by Virginia governor and senator James Barbour. The ruins of Barbour's mansion, designed by Thomas Jefferson, still stand opposite the Palladio Restaurant, which serves sumptuous Italian inspired entrees with local ingredients and wines from both Barboursville and the Zonin wineries of Italy. The dining room is open for lunch and dinner.
The tasting room is open seven days a week, and winery and ruins tours are offered free on Saturdays and Sundays. A $3 tasting fee provides visitors tastings of 16 to 20 wines, including Octagon, a Barboursville signature named after the octagonal parlor in the Barbour mansion. The Barboursville Ruins host summer Shakespeare performances, including pre-performance dinners, in July and August.
Barboursville Vineyards, www.bbvwine.com. Due to its mild climate, Central Virginia is a land rich with vineyards. To explore the region's wines, visit www.virginiawine.org.
Thomas Jefferson's multifaceted genius is evident throughout his beloved estate, Monticello (which means "little mountain''). Author of the Declaration of Independence and third president, he was also a horticulturist, musician, wine connoisseur, inventor, as well as amateur architect. Jefferson designed and built his home on an 867-foot hilltop overlooking Charlottesville and the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rather than imitating the Georgian structures typical in Virginia at the time, he constructed a classically designed home inspired by the work of Andrea Palladio, a 16th-century Italian architect. The most striking feature of the house is the dome: the first built on an American house.
Jefferson directed every aspect of decorating the house, including the selection of curtains and wall colors. Most of the furniture and art objects seen at Monticello today were owned by Jefferson or his family. He was more of an adaptor than inventor. One example is the single-acting French doors in the parlor: Open one door, and the other opens by pulleys beneath the floor.
Although most people limit their visit to the house, there is much more to see at Monticello. Once part of a 5 ,000-acre plantation, the present grounds include extensive flower and vegetable gardens laid out just as Jefferson designed them.
Two and one-half miles south of Monticello, Jefferson located a suitable property for his friend and fellow politician James Monroe, fourth president and "Father of the Constitution. " Monroe moved to Highland, a tobacco farm, in 1799 with his wife, Elizabeth Kortright of New York. Though frustrated in managing his estate since he was frequently called away on public business, Monroe remained involved in every decision about the design, construction and operation of Highland. (The name of the estate was changed to Ash Lawn after Monroe's time.) Despite holding more public offices than any other president, Monroe kept Highland as his strong family base until his retirement from the presidency in 1825, when he was forced to sell it because of debts.
Today, the atmosphere of Ash LawnHighland remains that of an early 19thcentury working plantation. As you drive up the long tree-lined entryway, you can almost hear the hoofbeats of the carriages carrying important as well as less distinguished visitors to the Monroe home.
James Madison's Montpelier combines a beautifully designed house exterior, extensively cultured grounds, rolling hills and broad vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. But Montpelier has an unusual history and surprises inside.
President Madison's grandfather acquired Montpelier in 1723. Madison made his home there with wife Dolley in 1797 after four terms in Congress. However, their "retirement" was shortlived. He returned first to state politics, then became Secretary of State under Jefferson. He was elected in 1809 to the first of two terms as president. In 1817 the Madisons made their final return to Montpelier, where Madison could turn his full attention to agriculture.
Jefferson called Madison the best farmer in America. He pioneered such farming innovations as crop rotation and irrigation. Unfortunately, Montpelier became a losing financial operation and, following Madison's death, Dolley was forced to sell it to the highest bidder.
She died impoverished.
The estate passed through several owners until it was purchased in 1901 by William duPont, Sr. He built several additions onto the house and any outlying buildings, including barns purchased through the Sears-Roebuck mail order catalogue. Upon duPont's death, Montpelier passed to his daughter Marion, who raised horses and dogs. Marion bequeathed the estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1983. Now essentially gutted, the inside of the house is undergoing major archeological investigation and restoration. The challenge is to a capture the spirit of Montpelier's most important resident. However, so many changes were made by the duPonts, who are of interest in their own right, that the compromise has been to preserve aspects of both eras.
Woodrow Wilson, born in 1856 in Staunton, Virginia (38 miles west of Charlottesville), grew up in a religious and scholarly environment. His birthplace, a National Historic Landmark, is a Greek Revival townhouse built by the Presbyterians as a parsonage in 1846. Restored to its appearance when the Wilson family lived there, many of the period furnishings are in place, including the crib in which President Wilson slept.
Besides the residence itself, there are exhibits that depict Wilson's later life as president of Princeton University and 28th president of the United States. A new museum next door houses Wil=son's Princeton study furnishings, family memorabilia, campaign and inaugural materials, items associated with key legislation, World War I posters, portraits, busts, medals, and photographs. The second floor of the museum is an education center and a research library. Antique auto buffs can view the President's 1919 Pierce Arrow limousine, restored and in operating condition.
Hoover and his wife Lou loved the outof-doors and were determined that their tenure in the White House would not keep them from enjoying those pursuits. To that end, the president directed an immediate search for the site of a summer camp. Three criteria were stipulated: within 100 miles of the Capitol; above 2,500 feet to preclude mosquitoes; and it had to have a trout stream.
The Hoovers selected a site at the headwaters of the Rapidan River. They purchased the land and the building materials, and the U.S. Marines constructed the camp and roads. By the summer of 1929 they were making regular visits to the camp.
Today, three of the original 13 buildings have been restored and are made available to the government under the terms of the gift. The grounds remain open to hikers and trail riders throughout the year and maps can be obtained at the Byrd Visitor Center (703/999-224 3) located at Big Meadows.