Monticello (Images of America)

Jefferson's years in France marked a radical turning point in the design of the house. Before then, Jefferson's architectural education had been largely through books, including the Four Books of Architecture by sixteenth-century architect Andrea Palladio. In Paris , where Jefferson saw a new style of domestic architecture that was elegant and less academic in its classical form, he began to think about remodeling and enlarging his house from eight to twenty-one rooms. Demolition of the first Monticello, which began in , was limited to its upper floors and northeast front.

Much of the original brickwork of the first floor was incorporated in the new house on the southwest side. Marquis de Chastellux, Travels in North America in the years , and , trans. University of North Carolina Press, , An article courtesy of the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia. The Hemingses of Monticello sets the family's compelling saga against the backdrop of Revolutionary America, Paris on the eve of its own revolution, s Philadelphia, and plantation life at Monticello.

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Much anticipated, this book promises to be the most important history of an American slave family ever written. Questions for Annette Gordon-Reed Amazon. This is a scholar's book: It's also fascinating, wise and of the utmost importance. Gordon-Reed, a professor of both history and law who in her previous book helped solve some of the mysteries of the intimate relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, now brings to life the entire Hemings family and its tangled blood links with slave-holding Virginia whites over an entire century.

Gordon-Reed never slips into cynicism about the author of the Declaration of Independence. Instead, she shows how his life was deeply affected by his slave kinspeople: Everyone comes vividly to life, as do the places, like Paris and Philadelphia, in which Jefferson, his daughters and some of his black family lived. So, too, do the complexities and varieties of slaves' lives and the nature of the choices they had to make—when they had the luxury of making a choice. Gordon-Reed's genius for reading nearly silent records makes this an extraordinary work.

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Write a customer review. Read reviews that mention thomas jefferson sally hemings hemings family hemingses of monticello annette gordon-reed john wayles american history united states elizabeth hemings sally hemmings well written pulitzer prize founding fathers wife martha last name reading this book highly recommend james hemings great deal slave owners. Showing of reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews.

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. I was absolutely amazed at the research that Annette Gordon-Reed put into this book.

Monticello

I couldn't wait to get to the end then once it was finished I wish it weren't. Every evening I would tell my husband something interesting I had read. There is so much debate on why James and Sally Hemings chose to return to Monticello knowing they could both have Freedom in France. With the French revolution on the horizon and being sixteen and pregnant could have played a large role, even though her brother James could have possibly found a decent job. Like some many things about this family the answer is lost to history. Other reviews said they thought the book was too long, I didn't feel that way at all.

There is a lot to say about this book as most can discern from the many, varied comments posted before me. It was too long is definitely true. The author, Annette Gordon-Reed certainly did a lot of research and the historical information provided was very interesting, particularly that which most readers, unless they are Jefferson historians themselves, might not have known otherwise. Like many, I often had to force myself to keep reading. Gordon-Reed makes a point or provides relevant information, she doesn't seem to be satisfied that her readers might understand it so she repeats the same information over and over and over again.

Having said that, if you can filter out the redundancy and push on, the book has an important message, not only about the horrors of slavery but about human nature and what people are able to overcome if given half a chance. This book is about Thomas Jefferson as much as it is about the Hemings.

First Monticello | Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

In fact, there is much more to learn about the Hemings descendants that I feel should have been included. I've read numerous biographies about our founding fathers, including Jefferson, and several other books about his relationship with his slaves and Sally Hemings.

Although Jefferson was obviously a gifted and intelligent man who played a crucial role in our country, he was perhaps one of the greatest politicians who ever lived. His public persona and ability to cause many to admire him, his good manners, his musical talent, his avoidance of harsh debate and conflict is certainly a part of who this multidimensional man was. When looking beyond these positive aspects of his personality and reputation, you will discover things you can not turn away from once they've been revealed. He enslaved human beings.

Living, breathing, people who were mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, wives, husbands and children.

He was self-serving and financially irresponsible to the point that he left his slaves and his own white daughter and grandchildren completely unprotected after his death. The Hemingses of Monticello will give you much to think about. Their story is powerful and enlightening. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase.

The Hemingses were a large family whose lives were interwoven not only with each other, but also with families such as the Epps, Wayles, Randolphs, Fossett, and of course the Jeffersons. The explanations of resources and research support the historical details presented in this book.

The family tree is enlightening. The author understands the complications and complexities in the lives of individuals. She makes a convincing argument for genuine affection between Jefferson and Hemings. In exploring the history and experience of her family line, both before and after her position in it, Gordon-Reed has documented the experience of a slave in America. That is what readers can derive from the experiences of the Hemingses, an American family caught up in history forever thanks to chance and circumstance.

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A Novel Kindle Edition. Jefferson's home was built to serve as a plantation house , which ultimately took on the architectural form of a villa. It has many architectural antecedents, but Jefferson went beyond them to create something very much his own. He consciously sought to create a new architecture for a new nation. Work began on what historians would subsequently refer to as "the first Monticello" in , on a plantation of 5, acres 2, hectares. Jefferson moved into the South Pavilion an outbuilding in , where his new wife Martha Wayles Skelton joined him in Jefferson continued work on his original design, but how much was completed is of some dispute.

After his wife's death in , Jefferson left Monticello in to serve as Minister of the United States to France. During his several years in Europe, he had an opportunity to see some of the classical buildings with which he had become acquainted from his reading, as well as to discover the "modern" trends in French architecture that were then fashionable in Paris.

His decision to remodel his own home may date from this period. In , following his service as the first U.

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Secretary of State — , Jefferson began rebuilding his house based on the ideas he had acquired in Europe. The remodeling continued throughout most of his presidency — Jefferson added a center hallway and a parallel set of rooms to the structure, more than doubling its area. He removed the second full-height story from the original house and replaced it with a mezzanine bedroom floor. The interior is centered on two large rooms, which served as an entrance-hall-museum, where Jefferson displayed his scientific interests, and a music-sitting room. The room inside the dome was described by a visitor as "a noble and beautiful apartment," but it was rarely used—perhaps because it was hot in summer and cold in winter, or because it could be reached only by climbing a steep and very narrow flight of stairs.

The dome room has now been restored to its appearance during Jefferson's lifetime, with "Mars yellow " walls and a painted green and black checkered floor. Jefferson himself is known to have been interested in Roman and Renaissance texts about ancient temperature-control techniques such as ground-cooled air and heated floors. Before Jefferson's death, Monticello had begun to show signs of disrepair. The attention Jefferson's university project in Charlottesville demanded, and family problems, diverted his focus.

The most important reason for the mansion's deterioration was his accumulating debts. In the last few years of Jefferson's life, much went without repair in Monticello. A witness, Samuel Whitcomb Jr. He said, "His house is rather old and going to decay; appearances about his yard and hill are rather slovenly. It commands an extensive prospect but it being a misty cloudy day, I could see but little of the surrounding scenery.

After Jefferson died on July 4, , his only official surviving daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph , inherited Monticello. The estate was encumbered with debt and Martha Randolph had financial problems in her own family because of her husband's mental illness. In she sold Monticello to James Turner Barclay, a local apothecary. Barclay sold it in to Uriah P. A fifth-generation American whose family first settled in Savannah, Georgia , Levy greatly admired Jefferson and used private funds to repair, restore and preserve the house.

The Confederate government seized the house as enemy property at the outset of the American Civil War and sold it to Confederate officer Benjamin Franklin Ficklin. Levy's estate recovered the property after the war. Like his uncle, Jefferson Levy commissioned repairs, restoration and preservation of the grounds and house, which had been deteriorating seriously while the lawsuits wound their way through the courts in New York and Virginia.

Together, the Levys preserved Monticello for nearly years. In , a private non-profit organization , the Thomas Jefferson Foundation , purchased the house from Jefferson Levy with funds raised by Theodore Fred Kuper and others. They managed additional restoration under architects including Fiske Kimball and Milton L. The Foundation operates Monticello and its grounds as a house museum and educational institution. Visitors can wander the grounds, as well as tour rooms in the cellar and ground floor. More expensive tour pass options include sunset hours, as well as tours of the second floor and the third floor including the iconic dome.

Monticello is a National Historic Landmark. Included in that designation are the original grounds and buildings of Jefferson's University of Virginia. These drawings are held by the Library of Congress. Among Jefferson's other designs are Poplar Forest , his private retreat near Lynchburg which he intended for his daughter Maria, who died at age 25 ; the University of Virginia, and the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. Much of Monticello's interior decoration reflects the personal ideas and ideals of Jefferson.

The original main entrance is through the portico on the east front. The ceiling of this portico incorporates a wind plate connected to a weather vane , showing the direction of the wind. A large clock face on the external east-facing wall has only an hour hand since Jefferson thought this was accurate enough for slaves. The entrance hall contains recreations of items collected by Lewis and Clark on the cross-country expedition commissioned by Jefferson to explore the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson had the floorcloth painted a "true grass green" upon the recommendation of artist Gilbert Stuart , so that Jefferson's "essay in architecture" could invite the spirit of the outdoors into the house.

The south wing includes Jefferson's private suite of rooms. The library holds many books from his third library collection. His first library was burned in an accidental plantation fire, and he 'ceded' or sold his second library in to the United States Congress to replace the books lost when the British burned the Capitol in Jefferson's bed opens to two sides: In a room identified as Sally Hemings' quarters at Monticello, adjacent to Jefferson's bedroom, was discovered in an archeological excavation.

It will be restored and refurbished.