Monticello

One weekend in August Nels and I went to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. We learned so much about the third president of the United States. Here are just a few:

• Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence at the age of 33
• He taught himself to be an architect and Monticello was one of his designs.
• Founder and architect of the University of Virginia
• During his presidency he conducted the Louisiana purchase and sent Lewis and Clark across America.
• Had 6 children...sadly many died shortly after being born.
• He knew many languages, studied and learned all of his life. He woke at sunrise and wrote letters, and studied books.
• He loved gardening and tested different ways to grow plants.

Here's a few pictures of our adventure at Monticello:

This was the path that led up the hill to Monticello. It was about a half mile uphill, but a pretty walk.The family's graveyard was about half way up the hill. The Jefferson clan is buried here. It was said that Jefferson wanted to be buried under a large oak tree. There's trees all around and it's very peaceful there.

This is part of the vegetable garden. It was a huge garden that stretched for at least 1/4 of a mile. There were all different kinds of plants and different varieties. There were also herbs like basil and lavender that smelled so good.

A small building that had two chairs inside. I'm sure Jefferson spent time just sitting, thinking, and watching his plants grow.

Flower garden near the house. He grew a widerange of flowers. Most of them I had never seen before.

Monticello:

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside. There were a lot of little inventions that Jefferson had implemented in his home. He was always trying to come up with a more efficient way to do things. He had a bell system, and a pulley system for wine to be pulled from the cellar to the dining room. He also had an ice house on the north side of the home. In the winter large chunks of ice would be placed in the ice house (a large circluar room below the ground). This way they would have water/ice for several months. Oh, and Jefferson loved French cuisine. Being entertained in the Jefferson home meant having the best French food.

We wrote our name with a quail feather and some ink.

We noticed this tree on our walk to Monticello. I love this....I call it Tree Hugger.

Two different types of trees are entertwined...hugging. The one on the right shows the two different types of leaves.

It was a great trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it!