University of Virginia Library

4. Chapter Fourth
Monticello

Monticello, the mountain upon which stood the
home of Thomas Jefferson was one and a half or
possibly two miles from the centre of the town of
Charlottesville, and a little farther from our school

We made several visits to the place during the years
we were there — visits that have left a vivid impression
of the magnificent beauty of the place, and of the
terrible condition of the road we had to travel to reach
it. Visitors must have recalled the old tune "Jordans
a hard road to trabel" when making a trip over this
particular piece of highway. Before reaching the
foot of the mountain, whether by the regular road
or by driving through the grounds of "Carlton" Judge
Rives place it was necessary to ford the river, as there
was no bridge at the time. This feat was accomplished
with much splashing and jerking. The water being
very muddy like all streams in that part of Virginia
it was necessary that the uninitiated should exercise a
wholesome faith in horse, driver and vehicle in
order to insure her own comfort when it would
seem sometimes as if the horse was about to disappear

altogether. The ascent of the mountain was by
a road, than which than which nothing could
possibly be worse. When I remember the rocks, stumps
and gullies that filled what was by courtesy called the
road, I wonder that horses could have dragged us up, or
that any vehicle could have been made that would stand
such a strain. But our courage was always equal to
the venture and the object attained justified our efforts.
The view from the summit was magnificent beyond
description. In one direction was the long level line
of the horizon with nothing to obstruct the vision
Below us the town and all about waving fields of
grain with the silver thread of the Rivanna
winding through the green fields and meadows.
No Eden could be fairer.

The house is a stately
old mansion. Through the front door we entered a
hall octagonal or hexagonal in form (I cannot be
sure which but think it was a hexagon) A clock over
the front door showed a dial both outside and inside;
the weights hanging on each side of the door in the
hall. A gallery ran around a portion of the hall
at the height of the second floor. On a high shelf
at our rightthe left of the door stood a bust of Voltaire.

The floor of the hall was a wonderful piece of work.
A hexagonal figure of some dark wood, nine or ten
inches in diameter, framed by very light wood possibly
two inches wide the whole put together so nicely that
it seemed like one solid board very highly polished.
This was the work of one of his slaves and is a marvel
of beauty and perfection. It was into this hall that
the British Col. Tarleton rode his horse when he came
with his troopers to capture Jefferson, who discovered
their approach in season to escape into the mountain
by a secret passage. We were told that the marks of his
horses shoes could be found on the floor of the hall but
we failed to discover them. We visited the parlor and
library and went up stairs. Such curious, narrow, wholly
enclosed windingflights of stairs! It would be impossible to
take a large modern chair up over them. The bedrooms
were very peculiar. Each had an alcove as large as a
full sized bed with slats of wood fitted in lengthwise
upon which the bed was made, so no bedsteads were required
and no one could get to the bed except from the front. The
windows swung in and out as transomes sometimes do.
There seemed but little to see that had belonged to the
distinguished owner. In a chamber we were shown the
chair he used after his health failed — a plain wooden
rocker. The slave quarters consisted of long low
building divided into small compartments, neither
so comfortable or cheerful as we should provide for our
cattle. The grounds about the house must have been
beautiful when Jefferson was there to care for them. A
little way from the summit of the mountain is
the family burial place which we visited, and from
which I once brought away a root of very
beautiful ivy, and one of periwinkle and sent them to a
friend who planted them and they flourished for
years. At that time Jeffersons monument had suffered
much at the hands of vandal sight-seers and was
dreadfully defaced by pieces of the stone being chipped
off to carry away as relics. I hope the place is better
cared for now, and that it has been made more
convenient for tourists to reach the home of one of
Virginia's greatest men. It would seem as if it
might be made interesting by putting the place
in charge of some one capable of giving information
on many points, which the curious visitor of my
day had to content himself to do without. It would
be of especial interest to strangers to be shown theavenue
through which Jefferson escaped the clutches of Tarleton
as well as many other points of interest, but even as
I saw it I found it very interesting — so interesting
that after the lapse of thirty years it stands as a
vivid picture in my memory, and I would give
much to repeat the tour and see through my age-dimmed
vision that which charmed the clear eyes of my younger days.