FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact: J.A. Lyon, Director of Marketing & Communications, jlyon@monticello.org
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello today announced the launch of a new, limited-time Revolutionary Women at Monticello Tour, which will invite visitors to explore the house and grounds through the eyes of women, both free and enslaved, who shaped the lives of so many at Monticello and beyond.
Visitors will have access to a one-hour, guided tour of Monticello, including stops in the South Pavilion, the Granger/Hemings Kitchen, and the first floor of the main house, focused on experiences of the American Revolution and new nation from the perspectives of the women who lived and labored at Monticello.
“We look forward to welcoming you for the Revolutionary Women at Monticello Tour this March, as we share more of our continued work to uncover and preserve the legacies of all the people who called this place home,” said Dr. Jane Kamensky, president of Thomas Jefferson Foundation. “In addition to discovering the fascinating biographies of women like Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson and Ursula Granger, visitors will experience the early national home as school, hospital, center of religious devotion, and laboratory for republican virtue. Our staff’s work of preservation and ongoing interpretation will allow us to better understand the lives of everyone who lived on the mountaintop, and we look forward to offering new opportunities for visitors to experience Monticello over time.”
A Monticello guide leads a group through the South PavilionTours will examine the revolutionary lives of Martha Wayles Jefferson and Ursula Granger, and consider how Martha Randolph, Maria Eppes, and Harriet Hemings navigated their circumstances as daughters of an American president. They will also highlight famous visitors to Monticello who shaped the early history of the United States like Dolley Madison, as well as the many women, including Rachel Levy, who have played critical roles in Monticello’s preservation over its long history.
Ashley Hollingshead, the guide at Monticello who led the curation of the tour, said, “By touring Monticello through the eyes and experiences of women, visitors will have the opportunity to consider their perspectives as never before and reflect on the complex topics of agency, interconnected lives, and foundations of democracy. Women were not only shaped by the social, political, and economic events of the Revolution, but they took an active role
Through continued research, preservation, and education, Monticello is committed to telling the complete and authentic story of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello to inspire and inform conversations around life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—then, and now.
Revolutionary Women at Monticello Tours will be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons in March. More details on timing and reservations can be found on our website at monticello.org/womenshistory.
About The Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation was incorporated in 1923 to preserve Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Today, the foundation seeks to bring history forward into national and global dialogues by engaging audiences with Jefferson’s world and ideas and inviting them to experience the power of place at Monticello and on its website. Monticello is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, a United Nations World Heritage Site and a Site of Conscience. As a private, nonprofit organization, the foundation’s regular operating budget does not receive ongoing government support to fund its twofold mission of preservation and education. For information, visit monticello.org.