Monticello ~ The BS Report

While we were in Richmond, Ben and Alyse drove us out to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. It was interesting to learn more about one of the founding fathers of our country and what he was like as a man. One thing that stood out to me was that it seemed like he was always trying to improve things and make them more efficient. For example, he thought putting beds in the middle of a room was a waste of space, so he put the beds into the walls, either in an alcove or open to different rooms on either side, with storage space in the wall above the bed. If he were to get off his bed on one side, he would be in his office, while the other side was his bedroom (if you can call it that without a bed in it).

He also created a mechanism beneath the french doors into his parlor that when one door is opened, the other opens simultaneously. Out of concern for having too many visible servants while entertaining guests, he utilized dumb waiters in additional to building a pulley system on both sides of the fireplace down to the wine cellar with space to send an empty bottle down or bring a new bottle up without having a servant enter the room. I was also very impressed by his library, especially given the fact that he sold his personal library to replace the Library of Congress when it burned and then started all over again with his personal library. I loved learning about this incredible man.

As we were hiking up the trail from the visitors center to his home, Sarah dropped a water bottle off a small steep slope that landed right under a nice prickly bush. I could tell that she was torn over littering and whether we should go off the authorized path to rescue it. Needless to say, I volunteered and a few small scratches later, I retrieved the bottle.

I also thought it was cool how his kitchen had many individual burners where a fire could be lit under each. All of the food eaten there was grown at Monticello.