Monticello Part 4

The Dome Room portico.

 

(photo from last year when I went with my grandma).
First off, the reason there is a door there, is because of ...symmetry. You guessed it. It has no other real purpose. It opens up to the portico above the west porch. So if there is space there, it would make sense to store stuff here. Right? Nope. It was furnished with a couch and a desk for two of Jefferson's granddaughters.

I can only imagine there were stairs to get down there, but now there aren't.

One of the granddaughters, Virginia Randolph, wrote this in a letter in 1823:

"I have never told you of the nice little cuddy that has become my haunt, and from which I am now writing. do you recollect the place over the parlour Portico into which the dome room opened? since the columns to the portico have been completed, Grand Papa has had the great work bench removed from it, and a floor layed, Cornelia ’s ingenuity in conjunction with mine formed steps from the dome into this little closet with a pile of boxes, and having furnished this apartment with a sopha to lounge upon, though alas! without cushions, a high & low chair & two small tables, one for my writing desk, the other for my books; and breathing through a broken pane of glass and some wide cracks in the floor, I have taken possession with the dirt daubers, wasps & bumble beas; and do not intend to give it up to any thing but the formidable rats which have not yet found out this fairy palace."

She wrote that at age 22 to her fiance. Apparently she and Cornelia really enjoyed themselves up there. 

I think that's kind of fun.

Monticello Part 3

The Dome Room. This is my favorite part of the entire house. I love everything about it.

This particular window has a mirror on the bottom half because of the roof line. It also helps reflect the light really well. Why a mirror and not just a half window you say? Because that would not be symmetrical. Symmetry was Jefferson's favorite architectural character.

Don't you love the yellow walls. They are exactly the color of my kitchen at home. Sometimes I have a dream of painting my whole house this color. Don't worry. I won't. But I want a quilt of this yellow and various blues for my next bed spread. Blue and yellow are my favorite color combination right now. Happy colors.

The Dome Room skylight is a single piece of hand blown glass from Germany that is 48 inches, 4 feet, across. The glass that was there in Jefferson's time was made in Boston and never lasted very long with out cracking.

 Beautiful moldings. The floor moldings are actually like 28 inches high. They seem disproportionate to the room, but they are actually proportionate to the room in regards to the rest of the house. Because of it's very high ceiling, 36" I think, they actually fit right in.

The third floor hallway with the entrance to the Dome Room on the left.

Next post I will show you the portico and cute little story that goes along with it.

Monticello Part 2

Our upstairs tour.

There are 4 levels to Monticello total. Basement, main floor, second story and third story. The second floor has windows on the floor level and the third story has only sky lights.

East Front

The first windows you see there are from the Madison room.

West Front - Pay attention to the portico and the dome room.

We went in the door that you normally exit, and then up the stairs to the second floor, above the Madison room. (See first picture where I note the window on the floor level. 

 Floor level windows. The ceilings are the standard 8 foot ceilings of the time.

 This is the room that is believed to be where Lafayette stayed when he visited Monticello.

Alcove bed. These were in multiple places in Monticello. Jefferson's, Madison's room, this room, his daughter's room on the other side of the second floor. He felt beds took up too much room and wasted space, so he put them in the wall. He also liked these octagonal rooms because you did not have any sharp angles and dark corners. 

From the second floor to the third floor - the stairs. 

They had about an 8 inch rise. You can see all the way to the basement. 

We headed up to the third floor to this room, that was most likely a room where multiple children slept. This room is on the east front of the house. (I pointed out the skylights in the first photo.)

 This room has two recesses in the wall where alcove beds were placed. The wall section, below picture, to the right, is where the chimneys from below pass up. They probably helped keep the room warm.

Stairs to the roof.

Door to the storage room, on the west side of the house. The hole in the door? It's so the cats can get in and out to kill the mice.

Then down the hall to the Dome Room. My favorite. 

Next post. 

Monticello Part 1.5

This was the tour where we got to go upstairs. So now you know there is an upstairs. Do you know how many levels Monticello has? Guess.

Monticello Part 1

Monticello is one of my very favorite places to go when I go to Charlottesville. Its the home of Thomas Jefferson.

The grounds are beautiful.

 His garden.

 The east front of the house - the tour entrance.

 The west front.

 Flowers and the west lawn.

Flowers.

 1 - The octagonal bedroom that is called the Madison Room. It's where James and Dolley Madison stayed on their frequent visits to Monticello.

2 - A parlor
3 - The East entrance hall.

4 - The family sitting room.
5 - Jefferson's library
6 - Jefferson's portico and green house
7 - Breakfast room
8 - Dining room - it used to be light blue, matching the decor on the fireplace. But recent research and paint technology has revealed that it was Chrome Yellow. It's pretty bright.

 9 - West parlor. This room has pianos, game boards, paintings on the walls. It was used to entertain his guests.
10 - Jefferson's bedroom

11 - Thomas Jefferson's Office.
After touring the downstairs we got to tour the upstairs. This is a new special tour available at a price.

It was pretty cool.

That's the next post.

Tuesday Tidbit

Journals. They are so important and very fascinating.Examples:

Last week I needed to know my confirmation date for my service missionary interview. I forgot to ask my ward. So I called my grandma who keeps a record of things that go on in her life and in the lives of her children and grandchildren. She was able to tell me exactly. It was very helpful.

Thomas Jefferson (I know, him again) was an avid journal keeper. The people who are working at restoring his home and maintaining it's true environment have been helped by his journals. He recorded everything planted and where in his garden. This was also part of his horticultural interests.


The Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg was burned to the ground in 1781. In the years prior, Thomas Jefferson resided there as Governor of the Territory of Virginia. During the 1920s and 1930s, while Mr. Rockefeller was restoring Williamsburg to it's Colonial state, they used Thomas Jefferson's detailed records of the Governor's Palace to re-built the Palace. They were able to match it almost exactly to what it was during his time.

I also find journals very interesting as they recount stories of family and of world events from different perspectives. Keep a journal. Someone suggested during our adoption classes that we records what happens and our feelings through the whole process to share with our child(ren) when they are grown. I am trying to document as best I can. I think the prophets have even shared with us the value of keeping journals. Records of our lives will serve many purposes, some of which we are not even aware. Blogs are great that way!!

Tuesday Tidbit #4

Okay, I'm off the deep stuff this week. Today's is

Macaroni and
Cheese!! Yummy

What do you know about the history of Macaroni
and Cheese?

I learned something this last week. Thomas
Jefferson was the first American to serve Macaroni and Cheese in the White House in 1802.
According to my research
Thomas Jefferson is the Father of American Baked Macaroni and Cheese. He had been in Europe
and brought home a pasta machine. He then proceeded to invent a better machine and started to
put cheese with the elbow noodles. He used cheddar, American cheese, sharp cheese, etc. So
next time you eat Macaroni and Cheese and tell yourself you are in company with one of our
founding fathers' favorite food.
Also, it was one of Ronald
Reagan's favorite foods. Here
is the recipe he liked. Presidential Food!!!