Montecello:
Captures the genius of Thomas Jefferson in its design and the complexity of his personality.
The house itself is a marvel of architecture. Attention is paid to the foyer, how the rooms are organized, the alcove beds and the "dome" which was built just to say 'I built this and it is the only one in the US"
There are french influences throughout due to his time as an ambassador to France. There are French strarecases to save use of physical space but then there is the Dome room that serves no purpose other than to say it was built. One example of the complexities of this man.
He was a meticulous record keeper, a botanist, a scientist. He had two acres of vegetable gardens that fed his family of 14 and the enumerable guests that visited. He was always importing and trying new plants on his extensive land holdings (5000 acres). He thought that horticulture was a way to support our young country, that it was the duty of the citizens to endeavor to bring horticulture up to modern times. To that end, he was always trying new plants, seedlings. He thought that plants fed us, provided us with medicine, beauty and was a social change agent!
He was always struggling with "the evil and depravity of slavery" at the same time as being a slaveholder of up to 200 slaves at any one time. He thought at one time that slavery should be abolished but realized the more comfortable position (for him and his fellow slaveholders) that the institution of slavery should be improved rather than abolished. I.e. decent treatment, etc. He called everyone who lived on his property his family, including the slaves. He referred to his "inside family" and his "outside family"
The Hemings family, from which Sally - his mistress, was a member, and the Fosset family were favored. He had six children with Sally who were born into slavery. Four of which survived to adulthood. Under Virginia law, they were considered white. Yet under the same law, (as Jefferson interpreted it), because they were born to a slave mother they were slaves. The way the laws were written, your mother determined your status.
Two of his children were allowed to "run away" and went on to live as white members of society. His other children were freed as was Sally. In all, he only freed a handful of his slaves, all from these two families.
Of particular note, is Joe Fosset. He freed him in his will, but not his family. Joe was an accomplished blacksmith who managed to buy his wife and some of his children. He watched them all sold on the auction to settle Jefferson's Estate. At the time of Jefferson's death, he was deeply in debt and selling his slaves and personal artifacts was the only means to settle his debt. So, families were torn asunder after having had their families units protected throughout Jefferson's life.
Hence, the anomaly.
Here was the man who was the writer of the Declaration of Independence, who espoused public education for an informed citizenry. Who had an extensive library, (6800 books) donated to start the Library of Congress. Who had vision, was a scientist, educated, educated his children and grandchildren. YET... there is this slavery conundrum.
To be honest, I am conflicted and don't quite know what to make of it. I know he did struggle with it, and managed to come to peace with it by assuaging his conscience. We will never know how successful that was for him.
I admire him and am also struggling with this contradiction in who he was, Statesman, Man of his time, Plantation/Slave holder. ???
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| Example of a slave cabin |
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| Vegetable garden |
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| Flower gardens, plants from Jefferson were denoted with "TJ" . |
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| Montecello |
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| Arbor in vegetable garden |
