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.

“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.

Over the past two weeks, the archaeology field crew, led by Field Research Manager Crystal Ptacek, has made exciting discoveries in the South Pavilion and the adjacent South Wing that connects the Pavilion to the mansion.

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.

On Saturday, September 17, Monticello, along with the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of Virginia, hosted a public race summit for thousands on the West Lawn of Jefferson’s famous home.

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.

The restoration of the Stone Stable on Mulberry Row has begun. The stable is one of two Jefferson-era buildings on Mulberry Row that will be restored as part of a larger effort to return the mountaintop to its appearance during Jefferson’s lifetime.

This winter, as part of the exciting multi-year effort to restore Monticello to its appearance in Jefferson’s time, we are recreating a log dwelling that likely once housed members of the enslaved Hemings family.