Michie Tavern and Monticello

This was our first day after moving over to the Shenandoah Valley on the western boundary of Virginia. I've had difficulty trying to download my pictures since we got here so I have to catch you up. These will be pictures of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. He took years building it and even had the second story torn off later andadded the dome as it is today. Thomas Jefferson was really very smart. He was a botanist before his time and kept extensive records. He was very learned in the sciences and was considered one of the first meteorologist. He had compasses and clocks that he designed to keep tract of the weather, the day, and the time. In his grand hall when you first come in to the house he had the bones of an old woolly mammoth dug up in Kentucky that dated 10s of thousands of years old. He also had a display of the artifacts that Lewis and Clark brought him back from the various Native Americans. He was born a very wealthy man and the plantation at Monticello was more than 5000 acres, a working farm. Needless to say, he had slaves and there is some controversary even today. It's even been determined that he fathered children with a slave named Sally Hemme. His wife died after only ten years of marriage-childbirth complications and of their six children only two lived to adult age. When Jefferson died he left a huge debt for his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph to work out. It was about what a million dollars would amount to today. Consequently his grandson had to sell many acres and even the house. Monticello was built up on top of a mountain. Thomas Jefferson claims his greatest accomplishments were the writing of the Declaration of Independence, being the founder of the University of Virginia and the statuets he wrote about equality and independence.  He was an ambassador to France for five years and he even liked French cooking so well he sent his cook to France to learn how to prepare it. Thomas Jefferson was a shopper and that is one reason why he was indebted when he died. Because he was so devoted to equality for all it is a contradiction that he owned slaves.

Out under the decks built off from each side of the house Jefferson had an underground system that went from one side of the property. Because he didn't want to block his views in any direction, he went underground with the icehouse, the slaves quarters, the smokehouse, the kitchen, etc. Another ingenious Jefferson incorporated in Monticello was to use another pane of glass over the windows to create double panned windows to help keep the house warmer in the winter. I don't remember how many fireplaces the house had but Jefferson would not let the fireplaces be burned until it hit 52 degrees and he had thermometers in every room. He had a compass rose under the roof of the front porch and a windsock on top of the house.

On this day we also stopped at the Michie Tavern to view the sites and to eat lunch.  It was a buffet styled lunch and the whole experience reminded me of eating at the King's Arm Tavern in Williamsburg. On site there was an old grist mill and an old cabin to depict live back in early Virginia.

Virginia has really preserved our heritage in moving old places to create sites for tourists to visit to experience early Virginia life.  I love it because I am somewhat of a history buff.  We are getting to Luray Caverns so I will continue later.