Susan here, just back from a few days in the wilds of Virginia to visit family, days that included a stay at a fabulous bed and breakfast--a beautifully preserved plantation home originally built in the early 18th century--and a day spent at the amazing and stunning Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home. I’ve been there before, but not for a few years. Each time brings a new perspective. The day also brought heavy rain—a downpour that soaked us head to foot despite umbrellas, and so I spent the day sloshing around in wet sandals and damp jeans (though my hair got nicely curly, haha). In such weather, we didn’t have much chance to see the famous Monticello gardens—we gave up on that pretty quickly, with the gravel pathways awash in mud. So the focus this time was on the magnificent house (and later the wonderful gift shop, a great place to stay out of the rain!). (photo credit - wikimedia commons, Christopher Hollis)
I've always had a soft spot for early American history, particularly pre-Colonial through the Revolution. This is the history I read for pleasure and endless curiosity, and as a break from researching Scottish history for my books. Born and raised in Upstate New York, I cut my historian’s teeth on the French & Indian Wars and the Colonial era (I grew up where Last of the Mohicans was set). Some of my favorite reading in this era is Crucible of War and The War that Made America, both by Fred Anderson—whose history reads smoothly and elegantly, with the great pacing and characterization of good fiction. I’m also a fan of David McCullough’s 1776 and John Adams--powerfully written, deeply researched and insightful books well worthy of the awards they’ve garnered. And of course one of these days I intend to see the musical Hamilton! Rap music or harpsichord, I don’t care, if it brings that era to life and helps us experience the feelings and inspiration of those amazing people, I’m a fan.
I’ll admit--even with two dozen Scottish-set novels notched on my pen, er, 
keyboard--the very first full novel I ever began to write (aside from the pseudo-medieval I wrote when I was eleven...) was a romance set in 18th century New York, starring a beautiful heroine and a handsome Colonial guy in the midst of the French & Indian War. This was long before Last of the Mohicans was made into a movie. Alas, the market for such stories isn’t strong, and the brutality factor tends to go up when the Huron show up in that era--and soon I realized that I could write Britain and Scotland too, and off I went. That novel is still somewhere in my digital files, and now and then I open up the file and murmur, Hey, not too bad....
Back to Monticello. This summer, I couldn’t make it to Fort Ticonderoga, one of my favorite spots for feeding my secret craving for early American history--but I did get to Monticello. And what better time to visit the home of the main writer of the Declaration of Independence than now, when the core values of our American foundation are in the forefront of the news (but I digress, and I’ll be well-behaved and not get on that soapbox just now).
"You shall find with me a room, a bed and plate and a hearty welcome." Thomas Jefferson to James Madison
What I noticed particularly this visit, while the rain sluiced down the tall antique windows, where the old glass afforded a slightly wobbly view of soggy gardens and soggier visitors--were the features of the house, its stunning architecture, the ingenious touches and careful choices that Thomas Jefferson made with an eye for aesthetics as well as comfort and convenience. He preferred simplicity in the elegance and beauty of his home, and found ways to economize space, tucking beds into alcoves, something he had seen in France and which reminded me of the box beds often found in Scotland; he claimed storage space inside walls, adding clothing racks at the foot of beds or in niches high in the walls above the living spaces. He had a skylight added to one of the rooms to let in more light pouring down from a ceiling, brightening a northern room; and the northern dining room, generally in gray light, he had painted a bright golden yellow, a bold modern choice for that day, to bring light and a sense of warmth and welcome to the room. (portrait: Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale)
In a sense, Monticello was the Smart House of its day. The tall glass-pane double doors leading from the entrance hall into the parlor magically close on their own, thanks to a hidden chain that, as one door is pulled shut, brings the other closed. Inside the narrow ends of the dining room fireplace, a hidden pulley provides a small dumbwaiter, allowing Jefferson and his guests to send down an empty bottle of wine and have another sent up, chilled, from the cellars. Double windows, separated by several inches to sandwich air between them, insulated the main rooms, preserving temperature inside. A clock over the front door is hung with cannonball weights that descend to count out the days—although there was room only for six, not seven, days. Another clock, hung at the foot of his alcove bed, woke him every morning before dawn and was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes—the equivalent of keeping a cell phone beside the bed, one imagines. And to protect his eyes, he wore green-glass spectacles while outside walking or riding for hours each day. (Image rIghts being what they are, please follow this link to see all that's displayed at Monticello and enjoy! www.monticello.org)
The inventions and ingenious touches continue through the house, including the room that Jefferson called his cabinet, which we might call a study. Here he had his favorite chair in red leather that rotated to allow him to shift (an idea he got from one of George Washington’s chairs)—and a copying machine with two pens on a mechanical armature, allowing him to make copies of the nearly 20,000 letters he wrote in his many years at Monticello. His library, just off his cabinet room, contains some of the many thousands of books he collected, beautiful, aged volumes in arched bookshelf niches.Beside his desk there is a most ingenious bookstand with hinged supports for up to five books at a time, which Jefferson could spin at will to read and consult several books at once -- the equivalent of keeping several files open on the computer today.
After the War of 1812, when the British had burned Washington D.C., including the book belonging to the Congress, Jefferson sold nearly 7,000 of his personal collection—everything from the ancient philosophers to Shakespeare to books on agriculture—for about $23,000, earning some much-needed funds (he was often in debt due to the constant needs of the Monticello farm, a large-scale plantation of 5,000 acres where tobacco, wheat and vineyards were grown for crops and wine production). In selling his books, the foundation collection of the Library of Congress was created.
"Books are indeed with me a necessary of life." Thomas Jefferson, 1819
Jefferson was a brilliant man, a genius of rare sort, constantly writing and creating and inventing, constantly curious, a man of philosophy, letters, and heart. He lived through a series of tragedies, including the early death of his beloved wife Martha after only ten years of marriage, and the deaths, one after the other, of most of their young children. His joys at Monticello were often centered on his grown daughters and their children—he was close to his many grandchildren, several of whom lived at Monticello. Even the famous dome that tops the magnificent building housed, for a while, not a grand ballroom or an elegant gathering room, but a living space where his daughter and her family had an apartment.
The author of the Declaration of Independence was happiest at Monticello, and it is easy to see why—it is a place of elegance and peacefulness and was filled with family, particularly his grandchildren. Yes, he had enslaved people on his plantation and as servants in his home, and though it was utterly within the context of that place and time, he agonized over the questions of slavery, “a political and moral depravity,” as he called it. Although he kept well over a hundred slaves on his property, he treated them well and had respect for their various talents and abilities. Ultimately he set free each of his own six children born of the enslaved and beautiful Sally Hemings; their children acquired some education and skill training, and married white spouses, stepping out of slavery, though the family claims to Jefferson would not be firmly established for hundreds of years. But the issues of enslaved persons at Monticello were always on Jefferson’s mind and conscience.
Thanks to the work of the Monticello Foundation, we can still enjoy his beautiful home today in a way that is similar to what Jefferson saw every day before his death on July 4, 1826 (yes - July 4, and John Adams died the same day!), in that same alcove bed where Jefferson saw the clock each morning. He created not only the Declaration of Independence, a document of stunning insight and foresight—he also left a huge body of writing in letters and essays. And he is a most quotable man. "I cannot live without books," he wrote to John Adams in 1815 – a sentiment that speaks to many, many people, and closes the gap in the centuries for a moment.
And then there is the gift shop, topping off a wonderful rainy day at Monticello—where I collected some lovely treasures, including a beautiful china bowl, a stack of scrumptious new history books, and a few other things to remind me of a great summer day well spent, and a great man to be admired and studied.
Have you visited some great historical sites in America this summer? Do you read American history, and if so, what are your favorite titles? The Wenches love to learn from you all!
Susan
