Monticello Cabinet

Join Monticello for an event series featuring celebrity chefs, culinary experts, and historians who will delve into how food has been—and continues to be—a bridge for better cultural understanding and communication.

In partnership with The Culinary Diplomacy Project, our new program series explores the intersection of history, food, and diplomacy. Meet renowned chefs as they reinterpret Jefferson-era recipes and share their global culinary experiences. Engage with some of today’s brightest culinary minds and learn how food can spark civic conversations, helping us strive toward the ideals of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Culinary Diplomacy at Monticello is back this November with visiting chef Aarti Sequeira!

• Nov. 13: Culinary Conversations – Meet our visiting chef and enjoy a tasting of Aarti Sequeira's themed recipe. 
• Nov. 14: On the Menu – Enjoy a curated dinner menu and evening discussion with renowned chef Aarti Sequeira atop stunning Montalto, Jefferson's high mountain.

Tickets are available for purchase here.

THE THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION
INVITES YOU TO AN EVENING CONVERSATION WITH

JILL LEPORE
on the launch of her new book
WE THE PEOPLE: A HISTORY OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

Wednesday, September 17, 2025
5:00 p.m. – Private Reception and Book Signing
6:30 p.m. – Public Conversation

West Lawn, Monticello

Business Casual
Parking available at the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center

Please click here to register for the
Fall Cabinet Evening Conversation

The favor of your reply is requested by September 3

Questions? Please contact Monticello Events at events@monticello.org | 434.984.9821

About the Author

Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and professor of law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her many books include the international bestseller These Truths: A History of the United States. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About the Moderator

Melody Barnes is the executive director of the UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy and W.L. Lyons Brown Family Director for Policy and Public Engagement at the Democracy Initiative, an interdisciplinary teaching, research, and engagement effort led by the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia. She is the J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance at the Miller Center and is also a distinguished fellow at the UVA School of Law. A co-founder of the domestic strategy firm MB2 Solutions LLC, Barnes has spent more than 25 years crafting public policy on a wide range of domestic issues. 

During the administration of President Barack Obama, Barnes was assistant to the president and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She was also executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress and chief counsel to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Her experience includes an appointment as director of legislative affairs for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and assistant counsel to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. Barnes began her career as an attorney with Shearman & Sterling in New York City. 

Barnes is also the host and narrator of the National Endowment for the Humanities-supported podcast, LBJ and the Great Society, selected as one of the best podcasts of 2020 by The New Yorker, and co-editor of Community Wealth Building & The Reconstruction of American Democracy:  Can We Make American Democracy Work? (Elgar, 2020).  She is a commentator on U.S. domestic public policy, and her media appearances include This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Morning Joe, the NewsHour, Fareed Zakaria GPS and The Daily Show.

Barnes earned her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated with honors in history, and her JD from the University of Michigan. She serves on the boards of directors of several corporate, non-profit, and philanthropic organizations.

About the Book

We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution

The U.S. Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world but also one of the most difficult to amend. Jill Lepore, Harvard professor of history and law, explains why in We the People, the most original history of the Constitution in decades—and an essential companion to her landmark history of the United States, These Truths.

Published on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding—the anniversary, too, of the first state constitutions—We the People offers a wholly new history of the Constitution. “One of the Constitution’s founding purposes was to prevent change,” Lepore writes. “Another was to allow for change without violence.” Relying on the extraordinary database she has assembled at the Amendments Project, Lepore recounts centuries of attempts, mostly by ordinary Americans, to realize the promise of the Constitution. Yet nearly all those efforts have failed. Although nearly twelve thousand amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789, and thousands more have been proposed outside its doors, only twenty-seven have ever been ratified. More troubling, the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971. Without recourse to amendment, she argues, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential or judicial fiat.

Challenging both the Supreme Court’s monopoly on constitutional interpretation and the flawed theory of “originalism,” Lepore contends in this “gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past” that the philosophy of amendment is foundational to American constitutionalism. The framers never intended for the Constitution to be preserved, like a butterfly, under glass, Lepore argues, but expected that future generations would be forever tinkering with it, hoping to mend America by amending its Constitution through an orderly deliberative and democratic process.

Lepore’s remarkable history seeks, too, to rekindle a sense of constitutional possibility. Congressman Jamie Raskin writes that Lepore “has thrown us a lifeline, a way of seeing the Constitution neither as an authoritarian straitjacket nor a foolproof magic amulet but as the arena of fierce, logical, passionate, and often deadly struggle for a more perfect union.” At a time when the Constitution’s vulnerability is all too evident, and the risk of political violence all too real, We the People, with its shimmering prose and pioneering research, hints at the prospects for a better constitutional future, an amended America.

We would like to extend our thanks to our 2025 Fall Evening Conversation sponsors:

“.... knowledge is power, ... knowledge is safety, ... knowledge is happiness”

-Thomas Jefferson to George Ticknor, 1817

Join us this fall for our ongoing Pursuits of Knowledge series exploring the enduring legacy of curiosity, innovation, and learning inspired by Thomas Jefferson, and the people and paths that created the United States.

Food and beverages, including award-winning Jefferson Vineyards wine, will be available for purchase.

Learn more about each event here and buy tickets here »

THE THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION
CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO JOIN US FOR

Monticello's Independence Day Events

Featuring Ken Burns, award-winning filmmaker and documentarian

The favor of your reply is requested by May 30
via our online form here. 

You can view more details and the full schedule of events here.

Contact: Events Department at 434-984-9821
or events@monticello.org

"... knowledge is power, ... knowledge is safety, ... knowledge is happiness"
– Thomas Jefferson to George Ticknor, 1817

Join us this spring for our ongoing "Pursuits of Knowledge" series, featuring programs that explore the past and present to help us think about our modern world. These eclectic offerings include discussions on recent publications, a theatrical performance, and a dynamic conversation about the important role that museums play in sharing women's history.

Pursuits are held 5:30–7:30 p.m. at the Howard and Abby Milstein Theater at Monticello's David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center. Small bites, award-winning wine, and seasonal shopping will be available for purchase before each event starting at 5:30 p.m. Come early and enjoy!

Spring 2025 Pursuits

February 4: Dr. Kerri Greenidge on The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family
This program is also part of the Leonard J. Sadosky Memorial Lecture series, an annual event that elevates scholarship through the late Leonard Sadosky. With Leonard's legacy in mind, his friends and family conceived the Sadosky Lecture, which brings an ascendant scholar to Monticello every year to deliver a lecture and engage with the intellectual community here.

March 11: Smithsonian Directors Anthea Hartig and Elizabeth Babcock 
on Women History Makers

April 14: Jonathan Gienapp on Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique

May 6: Jefferson & Adams: A Stage Play by Howard Ginsberg
with Bill Barker, Abigail Schumann, and Sam Goodyear

– Plus... a NEW Civic Season Pop-up Pursuit! –

June 17: H. W. Brands on Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics

A select number of tickets for purchase have been reserved for the Monticello Cabinet. If you are interested in attending any of the programs, please contact the Development Office at give@monticello.org or (434) 984-9820. To register directly via Monticello.org, please visit Monticello.org/Pursuits.

THE PRESIDENT AND TRUSTEES OF THE
THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION
INVITE YOU TO THE THIRTY-THIRD

Monticello Cabinet Retreat

Friday and Saturday
The Second and Third of May,
Two Thousand Twenty-Five

FEATURING

Dinner on the West Lawn of Monticello
Keynote conversation on Culinary Diplomacy with
Chefs Marc Murphy and Aarti Sequeira

Preview of the new Founding Friends, Founding Foes Tour

Feast of Reason Luncheon

The favor of your reply is requested by April 18.
To respond, please register through our online form.

For Questions:
give@monticello.org | 434.984.9820

FOR A DOWNLOADABLE VERSION OF THE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE

Friday, May 2, 2025

6:00 p.m.
An Evening at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

West Lawn of Monticello
Black Tie Optional

Parking is available at the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center (931 Thomas Jefferson Parkway, Charlottesville, Virginia). Shuttles will transport guests from the visitor center to the mountaintop. 

Saturday, May 3, 2025

Tour preview, discussion with staff, and luncheon

Monticello Mountaintop and Montalto
Business Casual Attire

9:00 a.m.
Special preview of the new Founding Friends, Founding Foes Tour
Monticello Mountaintop

12:30 p.m.
Feast of Reason Luncheon
Montalto

Parking is available at the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center (931 Thomas Jefferson Parkway, Charlottesville, Virginia). Shuttles will transport guests from the visitor center to the mountaintop and Montalto.

Jeffrey Rosen on The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America

featuring
Jeffrey Rosen
President and CEO of the National Constitution Center

Andrew Davenport
Vice President for Research and Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies.

Sunday, March 23, 2025
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center | Monticello

Free Admission

New York Times bestseller The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America examines what this famous phrase – pursuit of happiness - meant to our nation’s Founders, defining their lives to become the basis of our democracy. Author Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, profiles six of the most influential founders—Franklin, Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton—and establishes that by reading the classical Greek and Roman philosophers they understood the pursuit of happiness as a quest for lifelong virtue and being good, not simply feeling good. For all six, this pursuit was incompatible with enslavement of African Americans, although the Virginians betrayed their own principles. The Pursuit of Happiness is a revelatory journey into the minds of the Founders and offers a fresh understanding of the foundation of our democracy. Moderated by Andrew M. Davenport, Monticello Vice President for Research and Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies.

THE THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION
invites you to the Peter J. Hatch Spring Cabinet Evening Conversation

Grounding History:
Cultural Preservation and the Adaptation of Gardens and Landscapes of the 21st Century

featuring
Brent Leggs
Executive Director, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and Senior Vice President of the National Trust

Thomas Woltz
Senior Principal and Owner, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects

Thursday, March 20, 2025
5:30 p.m. – Reception
6:30 p.m. – Program

Montalto, overlooking Monticello

Business Casual
Parking available at the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center

Please complete this form to register for the
Peter J. Hatch Spring Cabinet Evening Conversation

The favor of your reply is requested by March 6

Questions? Please contact Monticello Events at events@monticello.org | 434.984.9821

About the Speakers

Brent Leggs is the executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and senior vice president of the National Trust. Envisioned as a social movement for justice, equity, and reconciliation, the Action Fund is promoting the role of cultural preservation in telling the nation’s full history, while also empowering activists, entrepreneurs, artists, and civic leaders to advocate on behalf of African American historic places.

A Harvard University Loeb Fellow and author of Preserving African American Historic Places, which is considered the “seminal publication on preserving African American historic sites” by the Smithsonian Institution, Brent is a national leader in the U.S. preservation movement and the 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton National Preservation Award. His passion for elevating the significance of black culture in American history is visible through his work, which elevates the remarkable stories and places that evoke centuries of black activism, achievement, and community.

Over the past decade, he has developed the Northeast African American Historic Places Outreach Program, and its theme, the Business of Preservation, to build a regional movement of preservation leaders saving important landmarks in African American history. As the project manager for several National Treasure campaigns across the country, he led efforts to create the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument in Alabama, which President Barack Obama designated in January 2017. Other campaign successes include the perpetual protection of cultural monuments like Villa Lewaro, the estate of Madam C. J. Walker in Irvington, New York; Joe Frazier’s Gym in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey; A. G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham; Nina Simone’s birthplace in Tryon, North Carolina; John and Alice Coltrane’s home in Huntington, New York; and more.

Brent has taught at Harvard University, Boston Architectural College and the University of Maryland. He is a Senior Advisor and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites (CPCRS) and is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s graduate program in Historic Preservation.

Thomas L. Woltz, Senior Principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW), leads the firm in the artful creation and revitalization of public landscapes. Working at the intersection of culture and ecology for the sustainability of the public realm, Thomas has led the expansion of NBW to include scientists and historians as integral contributors to the design of projects ranging from restoration ecology in large urban parks to post-industrial sites and educational campuses. Through this collaborative and cross-disciplinary approach, NBW’s designs reveal lost or erased histories in the landscape. The work of NBW now stretches across thirty states and twelve countries.

Thomas was educated at the University of Virginia and holds master’s degrees in landscape architecture and architecture as well as an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. In 2011, Thomas was invested into the American Society of Landscape Architects Council of Fellows, among the highest honors achieved in the profession and was named the Design Innovator of the Year by the Wall Street Journal Magazine. He has also received the American Horticultural Society Landscape Design Award and was recognized as one of the most creative people in business by Fast Company and with the Land for People Award by the Trust for Public Land. Woltz currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Cultural Landscape Foundation.

Learn more about the firm and their current projects at www.nbwla.com or on Instagram at @nelsonbyrdwoltz.

About the Peter J. Hatch Spring Evening Conversation

Established in 1993 at the suggestion of Peter J. Hatch, longtime Director of Gardens and Grounds, Monticello launched its Evening Conversation series. Since 2019, the spring Evening Conversation has been named in his honor and is supported by the Peter J. Hatch Evening Conversation Endowment.

What does ancestry mean to us?

Monday, March 3, 2025
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

5:30 p.m. | Cocktail reception
6:30 p.m. | Program

Including speakers
Dr. Andrew Davenport, Vice President for Research & Saunders Director of the
Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies
Dr. Maya Jasanoff, Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University 
Dr. Jane Kamensky, President, Thomas Jefferson Foundation
and
Nicka Sewell–Smith, Senior Story Producer, Ancestry

Decatur House
748 Jackson Pl NW
Washington, DC 20006

Business attire
Please respond by February 14 via this registration form
For questions, contact events@monticello.org or 434.984.9821

In appreciation of your Monticello Cabinet participation, we are happy to coordinate special tours of Monticello for you throughout the year. We suggest that you reach out as early as possible to ensure best tour availability.

Helpful information to provide with your request includes:

- Date(s) for your group's visit
- Preferred tour time (morning, afternoon, or a specific time, subject to availability)
    We recommend reserving at least 2-3 hours for your visit to the mountaintop
     and the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center
- Number of people in your party
- Any special interests or needs of the group

Please note that we cannot accept tips for special tours.

Make sure to save time to visit the Farm Table café, our Visitor Center galleries, and The Monticello Shop! Cabinet participants receive 20% off nearly all items in the Shop.

When you are ready to plan your visit, please contact Abby Cable, Development Assistant, at acable@monticello.org | (434) 984-9850.

Cabinet Cocktails with Dr. Jane Kamensky, President, Thomas Jefferson Foundation

The Jefferson Hotel, Richmond, VA | January 31, 2024

Fall Evening Conversation
October 20, 2022

The Poetic Justice, an Evening Conversation with The Honorable John Charles Thomas from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello on Vimeo.

Peter J. Hatch Spring Cabinet Evening Conversation
June 8, 2022

Monticello Cabinet Retreat Dinner Program
May 6, 2022