Hail to the Chief

	Thomas Jefferson (April 13 1743 – July 4, 1826)  Photo courtesy of Wikipedia "I cannot live without books"

James Madison (March 16, 1751-  June 28, 1836) Photo courtesy of Wikipedia  Thomas Jefferson (April 13 1743 – July 4, 1826)  Photo courtesy of Wikipedia "I cannot live without books"   “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

Hi Bloggers,

1st stop - lunch at The Nook - Charlottesville, VA

Yum!

My interior design friends/classmates and our instructor recently went on a trip to Charlottesville, VA to visit the homes of two of our greatest  statesmen for the United States; James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. We left out for our journey to the see these historic homes last Thursday.The weather for this trip wasn’t the best but we made the best of it. We didn’t let it dampen our spirits. We arrived in the afternoon to first to see James Madison’s home – Montpelier. Montpelier is a Georgian architectural style home. Montpelier is the home of our fourth President James Madison and his wife, Dolley. James, 43, (a congressman at the time), would marry the young and widowed Dolley, 26.They had no children together. Dolley would be quite the social butterfly and decorator of the home, while James preferred to be in the background.
James Madison was also referred to as the “father of our
constitution”because of his involvement in outlining its contents.James Madison’s grandfather first owned the property and named it Mount Pleasant. The home had several structural additions to it over
the years. It was about 1781 that James Madison would change the name to Montpelier after letters surfaced that he liked the spelling of the name in French and also liked the resort in France with the name Montpellier.  The Historical Preservation Society has owned the home since 1984 and have done extensive renovations on the home to restore it to as close as possible to its original state.
 

 The weather was a little better on Friday as we made our way to Monticello. Monticello is the home and burial place of our third president, founder of the declaration of independence, and the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson, a self-taught architect designed Monticello in the Palladian architectural style. The home is situated on 5,000 acres in Charlottesville, VA. The grounds consist of flower and vegetable gardens. Even today if you eat in the café down the hill you can enjoy vegetables still grown on the property. The Thomas Jefferson foundation was formed in 1923 as a non-profit organization to keep Monticello the restoration of Monticello ongoing and to keep educating people on its history.  

Thomas Jefferson spoke seven languages and served our country for nearly forty years. He married Martha Skelton and only had two children survive to adulthood. He never remarried. It has been proven with DNA that he fathered many children with a slave Sally Hemings. Although it is said he opposed slavery all his life he had many slaves and only freed a small fraction of them. Thomas Jefferson was very instrumental in several historical events in our nation’s history, specifically the Lewis and Clarke expedition, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Embargo Act of 1807. Thomas Jefferson died on the 50^th anniversary of the declaration of independence.
 

James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were key figures in the events that shaped this nation. It was a great experience to visit these homes and walk on the grounds and just try to imagine what it must have been like to live during this time period. I also take great value in our history and its preservation. I am glad to see groups that are taking the steps necessary to maintain these homes for individuals to visit and delve into their world for a little while. Being an interior design student it was fascinating to see how these homes were designed and built.

 

Wow! What a view from the front porch

As you can see the weather was not great, but we were prepared

I love this front door - the sidelight windows are actually pocket windows that open to let allow for ventilation when needed. Fabulous!

My friend Gina Hicks in the Gardens at Montpelier

 

The Gardens at Montpelier

	The grounds at Monticello			The grounds at Monticello

 

I love this photo of the tunnel that runs under Monticello. The food and beverage cellars are housed here.

Thank you, Holly for taking us to see these great historical homes. I am sure it was one for the books!