Charlottesville and Monticello

Charlottesville and Monticello   …   Monday 20^th and Tuesday 21^st May 1213

Yesterday we left Williamsburg and drove to Charlottesville.  In the afternoon, we walked around the pedestrian mall and then went to visit the University of Virginia.  We had heard that the old portion of the University, designed by Thomas Jefferson was a World Heritage Site.  We were bowled over with the beauty of the rotunda and the “academic village”.  It was such an unexpected delight. 

Today we visited Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, a few miles south of Charlottesville.  We spent a lovely day exploring the gardens, the house and the museum.  I think that I had failed to appreciate that Jefferson’s interests and influence were so broad reaching.  While I knew that Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the USA, I didn’t realize that he also served as Vice President under John Adams and as “ambassador” to France. He ran his five thousand acre plantation and had a strong interest in agriculture and botany. We saw a plow that he had designed, read about the grain thresher that he built based on a model sent from Europe. Jefferson had a life long interest in science and it’s application.  For 17 years he was the president of the philosophical society, a forerunner to the National Academy of Science, and he was the driving force behind the Lewis and Clark expedition.  On a personal level, he recorded the weather each day and carried a thermometer and compass in his pocket wherever he went.  We read that in the course of his life he wrote over 19,000 letters using a ‘polygraph machine’ to make an exact copy of each one. All of this and I haven’t really mentioned his contributions to American architecture.  He was an impressive individual.

On a lighter note we must mention dinner. After a hard day and some fine steaks at a local restaurant, Mike’s mum fell asleep after finishing her meal. We too were very full and ready to get the bill when up she bolted, wide awake and insisted on ice cream for dessert … and I think this made her day!

Gloria

Rotunda - University of Virginia

Cloisters

Pillars - abstract

Ceiling lights - abstract

Edyth at University of Virginia

Monticello

View from the garden pavilion in the vegetable garden

Cicada (?)

Poppies