A Day at Monticello
UPDATED: 2/4/2023
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This April 2018 was my first visit to the site, which is an embarrassing thing to admit since I lived in Charlottesville for six years through middle school and high school. I blame my parents, as adults must do when confronted with decisions made in their youth. My dad had visited Monticello when he first arrived in Charlottesville and before our family traveled across the country to move to our new state. My brother and sister both went with their elementary school classes, and my mom joined one or both as a parent chaperone. So that is how my entire family went, and I am only finally going 18 years after moving out of the area! But I think I’m not alone in this - it is easier to see things outside of our own backyards sometimes!
As I’ve learned to do with any visit like this, I check out tickets online first on the Monticello website (here), as they are often discounted, can offer better time options, and also prevent having to wait in line once you get to the site. All of those reasons applied here, and we opted for the longer ‘Behind the Scenes House Tour and Day Pass’.
The ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour lasts about two hours. While it does cost more than the regular tour, the regular tour is only 30 minutes so you cover much more significant ground. What appealed to us about the longer tour is that it goes upstairs in the house, and that was a truly fascinating space to see. Whenever you see the front of the home, the most obvious architectural feature is the rotunda. On this tour, we were able to enter the dome and even see a little secret room next to it. After the rest of the upstairs, which felt like smaller attic room spaces, entering the monstrosity of the dome room was an unexpected experience.
We learned about the glass window at the top of the dome, which faces upwards towards the blue sky. It has taken all of these years until only recently until they were able to get a truly solid window to fit the spot.
After the house tour, we wandered through the blooming tulip garden behind the house while we waited for one of several additional tours that are included in all tickets. We first went on the Slavery at Monticello tour, which follows Mulberry Row right alongside the house. Mulberry Row is the name of the lane right next to the house and off of which much of the life of the enslaved population at Monticello occurred. This is where they slept and spent their precious non-working hours. This tour lasted about 45 minutes and covered what is known and touched upon how much is still unknown as they work to uncover more information on this part of Monticello’s past that was overlooked for so long. There are some recreated buildings, and the tour guide was great in using known information from primary sources to bring the stories of a few slaves to life.
An image from inside the room atop Monticello with the domed ceiling.
A close up of one of the circular windows in the dome room.
This secret hideaway room off of the domed room seemed like a perfect spot to disappear into with a good book and some wine, or at least that’s how I would use it!
One of the other visitors who was on the same tour as I was asked a question - which I’m paraphrasing - “Jefferson was kind to his slaves, right?” The tour guide did a good job of answering this question that underscores some of the items I wrote about in my prior blog. People are so emotionally committed to trying to whitewash parts of history and are unable to see some of our founders for the complicated, hypocritical humans they were. I should add that this question came at the end of the tour after we’d heard how a fellow slave (and blacksmith) who was essentially raised from childhood with Jefferson had died and what Jefferson’s reaction had been. Suffice it to say that an actual friend (ownership not included) would be heartbroken if a friend died, not worry about where to get a new blacksmith. The ownership of other humans as property is certainly a hard concept to grasp in our modern brains.
After that tour, we caught the shuttle back down the hill to the visitor center and grabbed lunch at the cafe, where we were able to enjoy our food on the patio with a view of early spring budding trees. We then toured the museum that had models and information about Monticello over the years, and headed back up on the shuttle for the other 45-minute tour, Gardens and Grounds, which is available seasonally. While still interesting, this tour was probably the least so of the various activities during our visit. Part of that is due to the fact that they seem to still be fairly early in learning about the gardens so there is a dearth of information. Either way, it was still worthwhile to explore and learn additional information about life at Monticello.
We spent the bulk of the day at Monticello and felt that was the right amount of time to really explore all it has to offer. I’d recommend doing the ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour and getting a ticket for that earlier in the day so that you can tour the house before joining the other tours.
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Our next presidential stop was at Montpelier, which has been on a multi-year journey back in time.