Monticello Blog

We are deeply saddened by the violence in Charlottesville and the ongoing events that continue to threaten our community. We stand against all forms of hatred, racism and bigotry.

As the nation watches hate groups assemble in Charlottesville this weekend, it is important for those of us who live and work here to uphold our shared values and beliefs.

Recently, Charlottesville has been a focal point in the national conversation on race. We have seen crowds gather in our town square to debate essential questions of race and history. We are aware of – and deeply concerned by – a planned march by a hate group in our community.

Eleven–year-old Liam Gomberg, wide-eyed and chin in hand, was captivated as he listened to ancient verses of the Jewish memorial prayer for the dead. Liam, his family and approximately 50 Congregation Shearith Israel synagogue members had traveled from New York City to Virginia to honor one of their own, Rachael Levy buried at Monticello 178 years ago.

For a day, we all got to glimpse the drama and emotions of war. The Revolution was more than the glittering words in the Declaration of Independence; it was the acts of thousands of courageous Americans, Jouetts and Hemingses. The day at Monticello ended like Jefferson’s escape so many Junes ago: they pulled it off.

“Memories Matter,” a Black History Month program sponsored jointly by Monticello and the Jefferson School in Charlottesville, paired local experts with people eager to learn how to protect and preserve decades-old family artifacts.

The group of nine young men, most of them African-American, radiated star-quality as they strutted through Monticello’s David M. Rubinstein Visitor’s Center and headed toward the site’s African-American graveyard.

African drumming and dancing, Southern cuisine, and a national TV crew are not what Monticello’s visitors typically encounter at Thomas Jefferson’s mountaintop home. But on a recent balmy August evening, the guests were anything but typical. In fact, one might argue that because their ancestors were members of Monticello’s enslaved community, they weren’t guests at all.

Water supply to Monticello, the mountaintop home of Thomas Jefferson, has been a perpetual problem since its construction.

One of the emotional insights of the hit musical Hamilton is its portrayal of the passionate friendship between the protagonist and his brilliant, self-assured sister-in-law—Angelica Schuyler Church. What the show doesn't mention is that Church also pursued a long-term friendship with one of Alexander Hamilton's greatest political rivals—Thomas Jefferson.