Day 14 - Monticello and Friends.

 Friday we had a 10:15 tour reservation at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's Virginia plantation. As everyone knows Thomas Jefferson was the author of our Declaration of Independence but he really was so much more. He was a self taught engineer that designed and had built his magnificent home, Monticello, over a 40 year period. 

Monticello was a 5000 acre estate in central Virginia, like all plantations of that time, he had slaves that worked the land. It is called the great contradiction, Thomas Jefferson penned "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" yet he owned hundreds of slaves. Much of the exhibit is a discussion on this contradiction, I will just leave it at that. 

Monticello is a beautiful estate thanks to the Levy family and now the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Thomas Jefferson was in serious debt when he died, Monticello was sold but within a few years came into the possession of  Uriah Levy, the first Jewish Commadore in the US Navy. Levy greatly admired Jefferson and used private funds to repair, restore and preserve the house. The Levys cared for Monticello for over 100 years and preserved much of the original estate. 

Thomas Jefferson was an amazing man. Monticello contains many items from his travels, engineering feats, famous people he worked with and much more. You can also see the University of Virginia from Monticello which Jefferson founded.

The tour takes about 2 hours, but you could spend all day at Monticello, if you get the opportunity, you should visit. 

After Monticello we headed further north to drop in our our lifetime friends, the Malloys who live in Fairfax, VA. We arrived around 4PM, it was in the 60's and breezy. Maribeth prepared a lovely dinner. it was great catching up with her and Bob.