We left the RV this morning a little after 9:20 and drove through Gordonsville
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
and then north to visit Montpelier the home of James and Dolley Madison. We arrived at the Visitor Center at 9:45.
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
We paid $16 (senior price) for each of our tickets and then went in to the theater to watch a 22 minute slide presentation about the history of Montpelier and the Madison's. Then we walked up the path to meet our guide Mike on the front portico of Montpelier.
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
Our guide Mike was very knowledgeable about the construction of the home and about the lives of James and Dolley Madison. He told us that James Madison could read and speak Greek, Latin and Hebrew. His political career included Secretary of State, House of Representatives, Continental Congress and 2-term President. It was here at Montpelier that
he envisioned the Constitution and became to be known as the "Father of the Constitution".
We went inside the house and took a tour of the ground floor and saw rooms that have been restored and contain some furnishings from James and Dolley. I wish I had photos of our tour, but photography isn't allowed inside Montpelier.
James and Dolley lived here for a good part of their lives and returned here after James' presidency ended. James died here in 1836 and Dolley sold Montpelier in 1844 because of financial difficulties. Most of the furnishings were also sold and there is now a search to find and acquire the original Madison furnishings.
After our tour inside the house, we looked in at Dolley's Kitchen in the cellar
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
and stopped to sit with James and Dolley. James only stood 5'4" and Dolley was taller at 5'7".
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
We walked around the ground some before returning to the Visitor Center and Gift Shop to buy some souvenirs and post cards. We then drove over to the Madison Family Cemetery that is near the site of Mount Pleasant that was the original Madison family home.
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
James and Dolley Madison are both buried in the family cemetery. We learned on our tour of the house, that there was no grave marker erected for James Madison until 1857 when the obelisk was placed there.
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
We left Montpelier at 12:20 and drove 29 miles south to the Michie Tavern south of Charlottesville for lunch.
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
Michie Tavern dates back to 1784 and we thought this would be a great place to have lunch. We walked up to The Ordinary and got in line for the buffet.
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
From all of the items on the buffet to chose from, we both had fried chicken, pickled beets, green beans, mashed potatoes, stewed tomatoes, cornbread, biscuits (Mike also had cole slaw) and iced tea. We found a table in one of the back dining rooms.
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| From Montpelier & Michie Tavern |
Maria (all of the servers were dressed in colonial attire) was our server and she stopped by every so often to check on us and offered to bring us seconds from the buffet if we wanted any. We asked about dessert and got a menu and chose the homemade peach cobbler a la mode. The price for the buffet was $16.95 each and our bill total was $49.81 before our tip. It was a very expensive lunch, but how often do we get to eat in a 1784 tavern? The food was good and the dessert was excellent.
We stopped in at the Gift shop, of course, to buy postcards and Christmas ornaments.
We left Michie Tavern at 2:00 and drove 1 mile over to Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. We parked the car and walked up to the Visitor Center where we paid for tickets for the house tour ($24 each). The next tour was at 2:50 and we had a few minutes to look around the Museum Shop before boarding the shuttle bus that would take us up to Monticello.
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| From Monticello |
After we got off of the shuttle bus, we listened to a few instructions regarding our tour - turn off cell phones, no photography allowed in the house, no food or drinks and no chewing gum. We then walked up to the East Portico where we met our guide Elizabeth.
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| From Monticello |
We entered the Hall and it wasn't what you would expect to find. There were Native American articles (reproductions) on the walls (these were items brought back by Lewis and Clark). Our tour of the first floor included the parlor, dining room, tea room, guest bedrooms, sitting room, book room and Jefferson's bedroom.
We learned that Thomas Jefferson had learned to read and speak 6 languages. His political career included Governor of Virginia, Congressman, Secretary of State, Vice President and President to name a few. He died on July 4th the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence which he wrote.
After touring the first floor of the house, we went outside and took photos along the Flower Walk.
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| From Monticello |
Then we walked through the cellar passages into the "dependencies" where the domestic work was done.
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| From Monticello |
We saw the wine cellar, beer cellar and kitchen.
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| From Monticello |
We walked back to catch the next shuttle bus (they run about every 5 minutes) and after riding a few minutes, we arrived at the Monticello Graveyard and got off the bus to see Thomas Jefferson's grave.
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| From Monticello |
By the time we had taken our photos of the cemetery, another shuttle bus had arrived to take us back to the Visitor Center. We went shopping in the Museum Store and bought a couple of coffee cups, a book on Thomas Jefferson, post cards and Christmas ornaments.
We had planned on going to James Monroe's home, Ash-Lawn Highland, which is only a couple of miles from Monticello, but decided to call it a day since it was already 4:00.
By the time we drove the 28 miles back to the campground it was almost 5:00 and Tinker was happy to see us. We decided to give him his lunch and supper to eat at the same time when we got back - BIG mistake. We decided to have sandwiches for supper and Tinker thought since we were eating, he should be too. We told him he'd already had his supper, but he was so insistent that we gave him a little bit more his food and Tinker was happy then.
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