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Chapter 8
The Building Campaign of 1823
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Jefferson Ill
The old sage of Monticello, who had recently bragged to Consul Appleton of his sound
health, actually was so desperately ill that by late July he could not even write a note to
Brockenbrough to request a meeting at Monticello on university business.[589] Senator
Cabell, hearing at home in Nelson County that "Jefferson's health is so feeble," felt
concerned at having troubled Jefferson with letters about the new jail planned for Nelson
County.[590] Brockenbrough sent a short note to Cabell to update him of Jefferson's
condition on 27 July, writing that "he was something better than he had been," and adding
that the "Rotunda progresses well The walls are partly up to the upper floor."[591] It was
nearly mid-August before Jefferson ventured writing again,[592] and by the third week of
August joiner John Neilson could report to General Cocke from the university that "the
work of the Pantheon goes on rapidly. Mr Jefferson is got well he was here yesterday."[593]
When he paid that visit to the site, Jefferson informed E. S. Davis of Abbeville, South
Carolina, the library's walls had risen to two-thirds of "their intended height, and thus will
attain their full height in the course of another month. but the roof being weighty & from it's
spherical form pressing outwardly in every direction we shall not venture it on our walls
while green. it will not be put on therefore till the next summer, and the interior will require
perhaps still another year."[594] On 8 September Jefferson invited his old friend William
Short, who was returning from a lengthy tour of Canada to Philadelphia, to spend the next
spring season in Albemarle County, when "we shall then have more for you to see and
approve. by that time our Rotunda (the walls of which will be finished this month) will have
recieved it's roof, and will shew itself externally to some advantage. It's columns only will
be wanting, as they must await their Capitels from Italy." Furthermore, Jefferson challenged
his old friend, "in your substitution of Monticello instead of your annual visit to Black rock,
I will engage you equal health, and a more genial and pleasant climate. but instead of the
flitting, flurting and gay assemblage of that place, you must be contented with plain and
sober family and neighborly society." [595]
589. TJ apparently wanted to discuss setting the gymnasia under the Rotunda's terraces for
cover. See Martha Jefferson Randolph to Nicholas P. W. Trist, 4 April 1824, in NcU:Trist
Papers (discussed below).
592. See TJ's two short epistles to Brockenbrough about details of the Rotunda, 10, 11
August 1823, in ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia:
The Rotunda, 27. On 10 August Jefferson wrote to Edmund Bacon, Monticello's former
manager who had departed for Kentucky several months earlier: "we had here from the time
of your departure the finest weather possible, and were every day remarking how lucky you
were in your weather. our family is all well and has been generally so, except myself. with
me it has been a year of bad accidents. in Nov. I broke my arm & dislocated my wrist, and
have still very little use of that hand. as soon as I was able to ride I got a fall from my horse.
next after that he fell with me into the river in water to his belly, and being alone I was near
drowning. lately I have had a fever of 3. weeks, from which I am recovered but still weak.
the milldam I was building when you left us was soon after swept away by a fresh, leaving
not a particle of timber, and I am just now going about another. this is my history since your
departure. . . . our University goes on well" (MHi:TJ). On 13 August TJ drafted a letter of
recommendation for Richard Ware: "The bearer mr Richd. Ware Carpenter & House-joiner
has been an Undertaker of the Carpentry & Housejoinery of some of the best buildings at
the University. he has executed his work faithfully, skilfully and to our entire satisfaction.
his conduct while here has been entirely correct, and I can recommend him to employment
as an honest man and excellent workman" (DLC:TJ).
593. Neilson to Cocke, 23 August 1823, ViU:JHC. Neilson's letter contained specifications
for the Fork Union Meeting House built later this year. See the miscellaneous material
concerning the meeting house located in the end of the year material for 1823 in ViU:JHC,
including Cocke's Meeting House Memorandum, 12 July 1823, William Galt to Cocke, 13
August 1823, A Bill of Prices for a Church, 1823, and Bill of Timbers for a Church, 1823.
|
Chapter 8
The Building Campaign of 1823
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |