Dear Readers:
During a recent trip to Virginia, I had a chance to visit both Mount Vernon and Monticello, homes to two of our greatest presidents. It was interesting to contrast the two. While George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were contemporaries, they were very different individuals, as evidenced even by their homes. Both courageous and energetic statesmen, George Washington was self-educated and a superb businessman/farmer, while Jefferson was a self-taught architect, a man of letters, and a proponent of education. Washington was wealthy, Jefferson ultimately bankrupt. Both homes were hubs of activity. The enormous properties sustained a large number of family, friends and slaves. Both drew visitors and their servants from all over the world. 677 guests stayed at Mount Vernon in one year alone.
Mount Vernon sits on a hilltop overlooking the Potomac River, near the once-thriving port of Alexandria. As Washington’s success and fame grew, so did his home. It grew from a small, bucolic house into an enormous country estate of 8,000 acres. The early rooms remained fairly simple, while the later additions were designed specifically to impress visitors with their elaborate ornamentation. (One might say ”ostentation”, but who can blame him.) The walls of his smaller dining room are glazed in a “jaw-dropping” green, similar to the color of today’s highway signs. I seem to be the only one besides George who liked them. The charming master bedroom would be comfortable even by today’s standards. In fact, most of the bedrooms at Mount Vernon were very pleasant, with great water views. And the very elegant Necessary (outhouse) had drawers beneath the seats for emptying into the fields. The man was really into recycling!
Monticello is situated in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, hence the name “small mountain”, in Italian. Jefferson’s primary residence was a forty-year labor of love. It too grew with its owner’s prosperity. The brick mansion is coolly classical in design, and its consistent restraint is in marked contrast to the later Mount Vernon rooms. Monticello is also filled with many clever European touches and purely Jeffersonian eccentricities. For example, in his dining room, Jefferson had dumbwaiters for wine hidden in the fireplace surround and revolving shelves for food service in the door. In the entrance hall, among other unique things, he had an automatic door, a large dinosaur jawbone, and a calendar clock up at the ceiling. The clock had a weighted chain that indicated the day of the week as it crept down the wall. Unfortunately, the ceiling wasn’t high enough so the weight hit the floor on Thursday. To solve this problem Jefferson cut a hole in the floor, and the weight spends the weekend in the basement until it begins its descent again on Monday. It’s a really fun house.Never having been farther south than New Jersey, I was particularly curious about the slave quarters on both estates. At Mount Vernon, the early household slaves lived barracks-style in a large building. I was struck by the fact that the bunk beds had curved headboards. Eventually, Washington began to build cabins for the families. Due to his prosperity, the household slaves were relatively well-fed and clothed, hunted, and could earn additional income. Washington’s feelings about slavery changed over the course of his life. He could never have had such a prosperous farm without them, yet Washington freed his slaves upon his death.
At Monticello, nothing remains of the slave cottages on Mulberry Row or in the outlying farms except for the foundations, excavated artifacts, and Jefferson’s documents. I must say those were pretty small foundations, although this was the “new and improved” slave housing, providing more privacy to families. Each slave was provided with four fish, a large slab of bacon, and unlimited milk per week. At the end of the workday, they were permitted to earn extra money if they wanted to improve their standard of living. While he had always maintained that slavery was an “abomination”, he freed only seven slaves over the course of his life.
These homes are both national treasures and snapshots of history. They are an insight into the lives of two complicated men who risked their lives to create a country. It knocks me out that they rose to such greatness at a time when it took an entire day just to travel 20 miles. I strongly encourage anyone traveling to Virginia to experience them firsthand. M.A.K.
