| Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence,
built himself a retirement home on a hilltop just outside Charlottesville.
It was built and rebuilt over a period of 40 years and housed a collection
of items he had collected over the years in Europe and America. He was
very interested in science and mapping and in innovation in many spheres.
Although the house is not on the scale of the English country homes such
as Chatsworth, nor is it as old, it attracts huge numbers of visitors. |
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 | We
unfortunately picked a day when there were 17 different school parties in
addition to the normal visitors, so it was quite manic. There was a two
hour wait for the house tour by the time we arrived. But they give you a
ticket telling you when to come for the tour so you can look at other
things while you wait. I commented that I thought this was very civilized.
I'm not sure the guide saw this as a compliment. |
| The gardens were almost more interesting than the house,
particularly with these trees in bloom. The house and contents had
eventually to be sold because Jefferson owed so much money. It was
repurchased by a group of philanthropists earlier this century and they
have been steadily buying back the original artifacts ever since. |
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 | Along with the house
and contents, Jefferson's 100+ slaves were sold. This is a picture of a
slave called Isaac Jefferson who was a blacksmith and eventually became
free. Jefferson took a keen personal interest in his slaves and trained
many of them to become very skilled artisans. In his will he gave freedom
to a woman and her sons. It is believed he was the children's father but
this has not yet been proved. There was a good guided talk of the area the
slaves lived and worked in and the lives that they lived. |
 | There was also a
guided talk on the gardens. Jefferson was an experimental gardener and
planted many different varieties, not always with success. The kitchen
garden area was over 1000 feet long and surrounded in his day by a locked
palisade fence to keep out thieves and animals. The house is built on a
hill with the gardens on terraces below, so the view from the house was
quite spectacular. |
| In particular he experimented with European vines which did not
do well. Subsequently it was discovered that America has root boring
insects which eat the European rootstocks but not the native American
varieties. There were also extensive orchards. |
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