06-09 Michie Tavern near Charlottesville, VA

From 06-09 Michie Tavern Virginia

On Friday we decided to go touring in the afternoon in spite of the rain. The campground has a nice brochure with several day-trips laid out. They range in drives of about 80 miles to almost 200. We are not likely to make any of the long drives because that would take us away from Clay too long. We decided to look for something we could do inside and selected a visitors center and museum about Thomas Jefferson. However the brochure map does not have specific addresses and the person working at the office Friday was new to the area. So we started out only having a vague idea of the center’s location.

We stopped in Charlottesville for lunch and ended up in a very nice shopping center. We wondered around there for a while. It was at least dry inside. We stopped in a Barnes and Noble, and I picked up a tour guide. That helped me decide on some places to visit while we are here. We also wondered through a really nice gardening store just to look around. I still love gardening.

We decided to drive toward Monticello thinking the museum was somewhere along the route. We ended up driving right through the UVA campus, and it looks lovely – but oh so crowded. We would like to tour the Rotunda and other buildings designed by Jefferson, but parking will be a real issue.

We never saw the museum, but came upon the Michie Tavern, which was a recommended stop. So we pulled in and ended up having a great tour. The building was constructed around 1774 and then opened as a Tavern in 1784. It was originally located about 17 miles from the current location. It was taken apart and moved to the current spot just down the hill from Monticello in 1927.

The tour guide explained about life in a Tavern. The first room was used as a gathering place to have some locally brewed beer, cider or wine; sit and talk to other travelers; smoke your clay pipe; or play cards and games.

From 06-09 Michie Tavern Virginia

Next was a bedroom where a guest could rent room on a bed he shared with another guest, a spot on the floor or perhaps he just rented a chair. The bed “springs” were rope. The phrase “sleep tight” comes from the need to occasionally tightened the ropes to remove the droop. The ropes were covered by a straw mattress. (That would have been a killer for my allergies!)

From 06-09 Michie Tavern Virginia

Usually only men stayed at Taverns. Women traveled much less than men. When they did travel they hopefully found a nearby boarding house. However this tavern had a room you could rent for more money that had a private door and could be used by a woman.

From 06-09 Michie Tavern Virginia

The kitchen was in a separate building primarily due to the higher risk from fire. Cooking in front of a fire place was a hot job, especially in the middle of summer.

From 06-09 Michie Tavern Virginia

Upstairs was a room used for meetings, dances, etc. It did not look large enough for a dance to me, but the guide says she gets about 50 people in the room from a tour bus and sometimes has them learn to dance a Virgina Reel. So it can be done.

From 06-09 Michie Tavern Virginia

Attached to the Tavern is an old log cabin that was already on the site and dates from about the same period. It is used to serve a noon day buffet meal.

From 06-09 Michie Tavern Virginia

There are several other buildings on the grounds including a clothier that was closed the day we stopped and a general store and grist mill. We may go back and visit some of these buildings while we are in the area.

From 06-09 Michie Tavern Virginia

We returned Saturday to tour Monticello and stopped for lunch at the tavern. It was outstanding but a bit expensive for a lunch time meal. More about Monticello in the next post.

From 06-09 Michie Tavern Virginia

06-09 Monticello

From 06-09 Monticello

Saturday was a beautiful mostly sunny day so we set off for Monticello. We arrived about 12:30 after stopping for lunch at the Michie Tavern. We should have arrived at 9am so we could have had more time. If you have not been to Monticello, by all means go – and allow a full day.

I previously mentioned that we had searched Friday for the a Visitor Center and Jefferson Museum. It turns out it has just been relocated to the grounds of Monticello. I think it has only been opened a few months. It is fantastic and we plan to go back because we did not nearly finish reading all the exhibits.

From 06-09 Monticello

You have to sign up for a set time to visit the house. Ours was at 2:20 and lasted about an hour. Regretfully we could not take pictures inside. Jefferson was such a brilliant man and interested in so many diverse things. The front foyer is full of reproductions of Indian artifacts, many brought back by Lewis and Clark. His bedroom and study were full of scientific instruments and books. He had a huge library that eventually was sold to the Library of Congress. Jefferson was not brilliant with money. He was in debt much of his life. So much so that all his possessions and the house had to be sold after his death. Two families owned it. The first only briefly, and then a Mr Levy,a great admirer of Jefferson, bought it and kept it in his family until it was ultimately bought by the foundation that now operates it.

The museum explained how Jefferson designed and redesigned every detail even down to the drawings for individual window curtains. It was helpful once in the house to see all the details that had been explained in the museum.

The outside grounds are beautiful. We also took the garden tour and this was as interesting as the house tour. Jefferson was a great collector of flowers, trees, and garden plants.

He had a long terrace built for his vegetable garden. It took his slaves two years to build the rock retaining wall and haul in the dirt.

From 06-09 Monticello

He grew a specific type of Crab Apple to produce his cider. He insisted that each apple (about 10.000) be inspected and any blemish cut out before making the cider.

From 06-09 Monticello

He attempted to grow grapes for wine but had poor results. Today however they do grow and produce their own wine at Monticello.

He had beautiful flowers all along the walk that enclosed the large lawn.

From 06-09 Monticello

From 06-09 Monticello

From 06-09 Monticello

From 06-09 Monticello

One interesting thing the docent explained was Jefferson’s design for gathering the water used for the flowers and garden. There are four huge cisterns under the lawn – 2 on either side. Rain was channeled down from the roof to the cisterns. Likewise there were two huge decks on either of the house that ran along a portion of the lawn.

From 06-09 Monticello

These were also used to capture rain and channel it to the cisterns. Below these decks were the stables, kitchen, privies, wine cellar and other work rooms.

Near the gardens was another work area called Mulberry row because it was separated from the house and lawn by a row of mulberry trees. A few times a year, craftsmen come from Williamsburg on weekends to demonstrate different crafts. Luckily for us, this was one of the weekends.

We saw a basket weaver

From 06-09 Monticello

a blacksmith who is making nails. Jefferson had a nail making operation to supply his own needs and to sell in the community to raise cash.

From 06-09 Monticello

a joiner (a woodworker who made doors, windows, and decorative finish work such as cornices and mantels, balustrades and railing. Most also made cabinets, and one especially talented slave at Monticello, John Hemmings, also made furniture)

From 06-09 Monticello

a cooper making water buckets.

From 06-09 Monticello

There is so much to see and learn at Monticello. I hope we come back again on another trip.

From 06-09 Monticello