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| Monticello Visitor Center |
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| Jefferson Statue |
Hello!
We started today at Monticello,
Thomas Jefferson’s 5,000 acre farm on the outskirts of Charlottesville. We were able to get “behind the scenes” tour
passes for their first tour of the day – 9 am, and spent the next two hours
covering the three floors of this beautiful mansion. As it turns out, Monticello was sold in 1836 to a Naval officer, Uriah Levy, who was
a great admirer of Jefferson, and who worked very hard over the years to restore
the house and estate to its earlier condition.
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| View of the surrounding area |
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| House on top of the hill! |
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| Done of Monticello |
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| Great windows! |
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| Me in Dome room! |
Unfortunately, we were unable to take photos inside the
house, except for the “dome” room – which apparently Jefferson used as an
ATTIC! The views were absolutely
amazing, and the octagonal shape of the dome and the various rooms made them
very, very unusual to say the least! I’m
so glad that we were able to get behind the scenes, as the second and third
floors of the house are not usually open to visitors.
From the unusual entry way – there is a clock that has
weights so that, in addition to telling time of day, also is able to designate
the day of the week – this is done by using 18 lb. weights that go from the top
of the 18½’ ceiling down below the floor level – there are holes in the floor
to accommodate this! There are also
holes in many of the interior doors that are to accommodate cats that were
provided to take care of the rat problem that apparently was endemic!
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| Another entry to Monticello -- with the dome! |
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| Hemmings slave cabin ... for the whole family |
In Jefferson’s own suite of rooms, the bed is actually in
the middle of the floor – makes getting out of either side much easier,
right? There was also a clock built
above the end of his bed, so whenever he got up, he would know exactly what
time it was. The guide said that
Jefferson was responsible for winding all his own clocks. Made me think of one of Robert’s Sunday “chores”
– going around the house and winding all of our clocks!
The house also had three rather primitive “privies” to
accommodate the family and guests…hmmm…
Once we finished the house tour, we headed over to one of
the slave cabins to take that tour. I
have to admit that that was a bit more than I could take, and we decided that
we had had enough. Seriously, how could
the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence own 600 slaves? I just truly can’t wrap my mind around that
one – the fact that a person can “own” a human being as “property” – my liberal
tendencies tend to get the better of me, that’s for sure. In his lifetime, Jefferson apparently only “freed”
a handful of slaves, all of them men. He
actually gave away slaves as wedding presents!
Brrrrrrr…..
The gardens and the grounds were really lovely. I would imagine that in the spring, things
would be absolutely stunning!
By lunch time we decided to start making our way to Leesburg
VA (about 2 ½ hours north of Charlottesville) and about 15 miles from Dulles,
where we head tomorrow for our return trip to Phoenix.
Stopped at Arby’s
for a quick sandwich and we were on our way.
Most of the time we were on small side roads; US 29 and then Route 15,
as we wound north. It was a beautiful
drive – through some wonderful horse country, and past some lovely stables and
farms. Reached the Hampton Inn Leesburg about 2:45 pm.
Lovely corner room on the 3rd floor – very big and
comfortable, and we’re very pleased! Off
in a few minutes for dinner down the street.
More later!
m
xxx
Hello! Just back from
Tuscarora Mill restaurant, which was
about 1.1 miles away (meaning I could have some wine without worrying too
much!) Got there for our 6 pm
reservation and it’s in a very lovely series of buildings (an 1890’s mill that
has been restored). Some
wood, some stone. All in all, a lovely
setting. Tuscarora was on the second floor, and we had a really lovely booth
to ourselves for the most part (although the other two booths in the area
filled up before we were ready to leave).
For starters, R had their seared rare tuna with soba noodles, seaweed
salad, wasabi, pickled ginger and soy glaze.
He loved it. I had their baby
wedge salad: baby iceberg, smoked gorgonzola dressing, bacon, cracked pepper,
tomato and tobacco onions. Fabulous!
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| Lovely restaurant and wine! |
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| My wedge salad |
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| R's seared tuna starter |
For mains, I had the grilled flank steak with bourbon
molasses glaze, tobacco onions, whipped potatoes and French beans and
corn. The flank steak was perfectly
cooked (rare) and the only quibble was that the French beans were overcooked –
but tasty anyway! Robert had the Harris Ranch* filet mignon with
cauliflower potato gratin, Madeira truffle sauce, French green beans and corn
with tobacco onions. YUM!
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| R's Harris Ranch filet |
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| My flank steak |
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| YUM! |
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| Amazing dessert! |
Robert drank his dessert in the form of a glass of Armagnac. I, however, had their warm dulce de leche
cheesecake beignets with raspberry sauce, whipped cream and fresh berries.
Incredible! Truly one of the best
desserts I’ve ever had! What a nice way
to celebrate the last night of our trip!
Safely back at Hampton Inn by 7:45 pm and now watching a
baseball game and finishing the blog!
Lots of love,
m
xxx
*As it happens, we stopped the Harris Ranch in the San Joaquin
Valley (just off IS 5) for lunch just a few weeks ago. Highly recommended. Odd coincidence to run across their filet
here in Virginia.Y
That was truly a very nice trip!
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