[18-29 March 1819]
1819 Mar: 18th. About the 1st inst: I was at the site of the University of Virga. The hands
(negros) were then engaged in leveling the ground. Two pavillions (as Mr. Jefferson calls
them) are raised & covered in, with an extensive range of dormitories between them,
intended to be covered with flat roofs--The site is beautiful; but the buildings appear to me
to too small. The pavillions, two stories high, are not sufficiently roomy for the convenient
accommodation of a genteel family, & no plan yet of attaching gardens or back grounds to
them. The dormitories are to small for convenience, & being on a level with the street in
front, & a fine footway, under the projection of the terrace or flat roof of dormitories, will be
too publick for study. I saw no convenient place for keeping wood, & the plan of erecting
boardinghouses was not decided on, & appeared to me to attended with many difficulties.
The lod[g]ings for the students being all on the ground, will require the buildings to be
spread over too extensive a Surfice, & so much roof in proportion to the room, will be very
expensive--The lowness of the windows in the dormitories, will re[n]der the rooms both
publick & unsafe--
Our assembly broke up the 13th. inst: Satur: after a Sessn. of 98 days having gone thro' the
revision of our laws.
29th. Mar: This the day for visitors of the University to meet; Virg: Mr. Jefferson--Mr.
Brackenridge--Genl. Taylor, Mr. Madison J. C. Cabell & Genl. Cocke--Bank Stock, U.S. got
up to 118 after having been below par. It is supposed by many that the report of the Comee.
of Cong: was more unfavorable to the directors than was just--
AD (extract), ViU:Watson Family Papers, Miscelleanous Memoranda, 17.
