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.

Before the era of Wii’s, Twitter, and Netflix, the Jefferson family entertained themselves with music, reading aloud, or scientific inquiry. As part of an ongoing campaign to restore Monticello’s interiors, curators recently acquired an air pump similar to Jefferson’s lost original.

In mid-September 1817, Thomas Jefferson was preparing to leave Poplar Forest and return home to Monticello, but he had a few errands to run first. He set off for Lynchburg, where he visited the shop of James Newhall and purchased what was perhaps his first and only pair of “ready-made” shoes. Unfortunately, they didn’t fit and Jefferson returned them with a somewhat exasperated note that got me to wondering: where did most people get their shoes, what did those shoes look like, and who made them?

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.

Sometimes a good tree gets planted in what turns out to be a bad location. That’s exactly what an engineer recently discovered near Monticello’s South Wing.

“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.