Onsite Programs

Women at Monticello Tour

MARCH WEEKENDS - Hear stories from the American Revolution through the modern era about the women - both enslaved and free - who helped shape the history of early America, as well as the crucial role of women in the preservation of Monticello. Tickets now available.

Pursuits of Knowledge

MARCH 11 - In celebration of Women's History Month, join Dr. Anthea Hartig, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and Dr. Elizabeth Babcock, Director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum in a dynamic conversation about sharing women’s stories across the Smithsonian museum network.

Gallery Talks

MARCH 21 - Join Tabitha Corradi and Malia Sbach for a look at a rarely exhibited but expertly crafted "calash" - a type of bonnet inspired by carriages- once worn by Martha Jefferson Randolph.

Lives and Legacies

Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson

Described as good natured, spritely, and a talented musician, the wife of Thomas Jefferson and mother of six of his children lived at Monticello from 1772 until her young death in 1782.

Sally Hemings

Sally Hemings (1773-1835) is one of the most famous—and least known—African American women in U.S. history. Learn more about this intriguing American.

Edith Hern Fossett and Her Family

PODCAST - Trained at the President's House in Washingtion, D.C., enslaved chef Edith Fossett cooked for Jefferson for over two decades and oversaw the creation of the food for which Monticello became famous. 

Sacajawea

PODCAST - We take a look at the myths and realities of the life of this famous Native American woman who played an unlikely but critical role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Madame de Tessé

PODCAST - Madame de Tessé, the aunt of the Marquis de Lafayette, introduced Thomas Jefferson to French salon society and the two shared an interest in Enlightenment thought, literature, architecture, and, in particular, horticulture and gardening.

Shop Books: Women at Monticello

The Hemingses of Monticello

In this pivotal work, historian and legal scholar Annette Gordon-Reed weaves together stories of the Hemings family, including Elizabeth Hemings, the family's matriarch at Monticello, Sally Hemings, and her siblings and children.

Book cover of Thomas Jefferson's Granddaughter in Queen Victoria's England

Thomas Jefferson's Granddaughter in Queen Victoria's England

During her nine-month stay in London, Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge kept a diary that reveals the uncommon education of her youth, when she lived and studied at Monticello with her grandfather, Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Ann Lucas Birle and Lisa A. Francavilla.