The water supply at Monticello was a constant struggle for those living on the mountaintop. In 1769, when construction began on Monticello, Thomas Jefferson directed a crew of enslaved workmen to dig a well near the South Pavilion. The men spent 46 days digging through 65 feet of rock.[1] Dry weather conditions, however, caused the well to fail for six of the years between 1769 and 1797.[2] Whenever the well ran dry, enslaved laborers had to cart water up from springs lower down on the mountain.[3]

In 1808, Jefferson ordered construction of four eight-foot-cube cisterns.[4] The cisterns were positioned near the house to capture rainwater running off the roofs and terraces.[5] Work on the new project began in 1810, but it took many years of trial and error to create a waterproof plaster before the cisterns held rainwater — and even then, it was never a perfect system.[6]

Further Sources

Thomas Jefferson's Garden BookAvailable in Our Online Shop: "Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book"

References

  1. ^ Betts, Garden Book, 17, 283n2.
  2. ^ Thomas Jefferson, 1776-1818, Weather Record, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. Jefferson's notes concerning the water supply in the well are available online. Transcription available in Betts, Garden Book, 629.
  3. ^ Weather Record, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. Jefferson's record of temperatures at Monticello's fifteen springs is available online. Transcription available in Betts, Garden Book, 630.
  4. ^ Weather Record, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. Jefferson's calculation on cisterns is available online. Transcription available in Betts, Garden Book, 630-31.
  5. ^ See Jefferson to James Dinsmore, November 7, 1808, Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society. Transcription available at Founders Online.
  6. ^ See Jefferson to John Brockenbrough, June 4, 1823, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. Polygraph copy available online. Transcription available at Founders Online.