October 19, 2010 - Tuesday

     We woke up to the alarm on Sam's phone going off - over and over and over!  The phone was in the livingroom and we were warm under the covers in the bedroom!  Sam finally braved the cold and turned off his phone.  We did get up - dressed, had a quick breakfast and left around 8:30a.m. to head to Monticello.  It took about an hour to get to Thomas Jefferson's home.
     It is quite the operation - you drive in and pass lots and lots of parking "lots" and even a lot just for buses to park.  We were lucky in the fact that we arrived early in the day and got a parking spot next to the group of buildings.

A huge Linden Tree in
front of Monticello.

     We took an elevator up to the main level to purchase our tickets.  We were given a 10:20 house tour ticket.  It was interesting because when we went out the door we were outside on another level of the buildings - gift shops, theater, cafe and an exibit hall.  We went into the exibit hall and looked around and took another elevator up that opened to another outside area where we meet the shuttle bus.  Now we have been on the grounds for an hour and still hadn't seen any sign of Monticello.
     The shuttle took us on a drive through the woods and up the mountain.  We drove by Mulberry Row, the slave quarters and ended up at the front walk of Monticello.  We had a wait of about 15 minutes before our tour began so we set on a bench under a tree and just took it all in.  The trees on the front lawn are HUGE!
     When our tour began we walked to the front steps and got the rules - no touching - anything - even the doors, no gum, no candy, turn off cell phones, no pictures taken inside the house.  Ok - I get most of those but no pictures?!
     The inside was nice and pretty ingenious use of space.  The sides of the fireplace in the livingroom had narrow dumb waiters just wide enough for a bottle of wine.  Thomas Jefferson called all serving carts "dumb waiters" -anything that had to do with serving food but did not speak were dumb waiters.
     I was a little surprised at the size of the rooms and the house.  It was large for the times but in my mind I had made it much larger.  It really wasn't until you were outside that you really saw how ingenious the layout was.  When you are in the house you don't see any of the "workings or outbuildings".  They are all covered by a walkway.  It is when you go down a terrace on the side of the mountain that you see the washroom, stables, privy, ice house, wine cellers, beer room, kitchen, smoke house - all of the workings.  There is an area called the "crossroads" which would have been very busy - it was the area that everything was put on "dumb waiters" and brought into the house.  Such a great plan!

Sam in the gardens of Monticello

One of the unusual plants
in the garden.
(I bought seeds for this plant!)

     While walking through the gardens I saw several plants I had never seen before.  Alot of research has been done and everything that is growing there now was in Thomas Jefferson's original gardens - some even from the original plants and seeds.  They were collecting seeds from one of the plants while we were there. 
     After we walked through the gardens we walked to the family graveyard.  Thomas Jefferson and his wife are buried there and it is still being used by the family today.    
     Sam and I then took the .3 mile walk to the buildings in which we first started the tour.  It was a beautiful walk in the woods.  You could just feel Thomas Jefferson riding his horse through the same area that we were walking.

     We then went to the gift shop for postcards. I also got some heritage seeds.  I would have liked to get salt cellers just like on the Jefferson's table but I could justify 5 sets for the kids at $20. a set.  Oh well, hopefully it's the thought that counts!  Sam and I then headed to the theater and watched a 15 minute film on Jefferson and Monticello.

     We then decided to head on over to Michie Tavern and get something to eat.  At the Tavern they serve a mid-day fare of Colonial favorites.  Colonial Fried Chicken, Bar-b-que Pork, Black-eyed peas, Cole slaw, Mashed Potatoes, Whole Beets with Radishs, Green Beans, Stewed Tomatoes, Biscuits and Corn Bread.  We choose apple cider to drink.  Sam's favorite was the chicken - mine was the tomatoes.  I liked the tomatoes so much that I got the recipe!
               MICHIE TAVERN STEWED TOMATOES
     4 cups peeled, seeded & quartered tomatoes - they use canned
     1/4 cup sugar
     1/4 cup butter
     1/4 teaspoon salt
     6 crumbled biscuits
         Cook altoughter for about 15 minutes. It will get thick.  Serve warm. 
The room we ate in was one of the original ones with the long walls and stone fireplace.  It was more than 230 years old.
     It was getting late so we didn't do the tour of the rest of the buildings but planned to come back.  We headed on back to the RV.