Never did that Before: Part Three

An inventor,  a plantation slave owner, an architect, a university founder, and third president of the U.S.A.

OR as he wrote for his own epitaph...

"Author of the Declaration of Independence [and] of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom & Father of the University of Virginia."

Part 3: A President's House - Behind the Scenes

Monticello - pictured on the back of the American nickle

Coming from Canada, I find it hard to stand in a spot that is so celebrated (Monticello - the home of Thomas Jefferson), knowing it was a place of slavery, both inside and outside this 5,000 acre plantation.  On average he had 150 slaves. 

We did not do the slave tour of Mulberry Row as we did not have time before Theatre #2, however we learned some things about the main house slaves. Because Jefferson built on top of this 850 foot mini mountain, he used slaves to run down the hill to fetch water for him. He was often without enough water up on that hill.

The most interesting aspect I found of this 2-hour Behind the Scenes tour was seeing in every room evidence of Jefferson's creativity, enjoyment of science, inventing and learning.

The Entrance Hall, (actually a huge foyer where he would greet people), was filled with inventions, maps, animal antlers, and Native American artifacts displayed with the purpose of instigating conversation. This is where Jefferson would personally greet and "educate" his guests.
In this room he had a huge clock/calendar on a pulley system that as the weights fell, the day would change accordingly.

Monticello Entrance Hall

One of the most fascinating rooms was Jefferson's "cabinet" or study. He had a screen that partitioned it off from his bed chamber.
In this room were so many interesting "gadgets" but it is also where he wrote thousands of correspondence letters..

This room holds treasures such as a telescope, polygraph,  theodolite (highly sophisticated surveying instrument), revolving book stand with multiple books, revolving chair and table...All these were used consistently. He loved science.

My favorite: The polygraph. He used one pen, which made the second pen duplicate the writing creating an almost perfect copy - one to send, one to keep.

Jefferson designed this himself to allow him to use 5 documents at once.

Now this was Anna-Lee's favorite room. The Dome room had no furniture, but it had windows all around, and a sky-dome on top.

The Dome Room where Jefferson came and viewed the solar eclipse. Otherwise he only came up the stairs of his house two or three times. He lived on the main floor only.

See the dome from the outside? That's the room I'm taling about and where we are in these photos!

One other special feature of this room was a hidden cubby room that children would play in. This was the only room we could actually take a photo in.

Open the doors and ...look way down. The grand kids would stack boxes to act as stairs to get down to the room they decorated... The lady on the left was our very well informed guide.

The little nook

We certainly learned - we leanred we do not know much about Thomas Jefferson and American history! However, this was a very interesting introduction to a very complex man.
I think he would have enjoyed living in ancient history where man lived into the hundreds of years. He seemed to want to learn everything that was out there to learn. 
Indeed, a Behind the Scenes look at Monticello and the man of Thomas Jefferson. 

And finally...
the 13 hour drive home!

I-81 North through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and finally the border crossing into Ontario, Canada where we were greeted by the border guard saying "Welcome home!" Five states, four days, three nights, 2600 kms.