06-09 Poplar Forest

From 06-09 Poplar Forest

Did you know Thomas Jefferson had a second home called Poplar Forest? We did not but learned about it during our visit to Monticello. It is about 75 miles south of the campground. So we drove down Wednesday. It was another beautiful drive. This may be the prettiest area we have visited so far in our RV travels.

Jefferson’s wife Martha inherited the Poplar Forest plantation in 1773. It had just over 4800 acres and was located near Lynchburg. VA. They visited Poplar Forest periodically, but it was not until 1806 during his second term as President that Jefferson started building a home there. It is a unique octagonal shape. The whole structure, including interior walls, was built of brick. The interior walls were covered with lathing, and this was then covered with plaster similar to other colonial homes with traditional wood framing. It has large windows and a long skylight in the middle dining room. So it is very bright and pleasant inside.

The house has one main story with a basement below.

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The basement was used for storage. This room held his wine.

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Now the basement has an excellent display explaining the history of the house, story of the renovation, things found in archeological digs, etc.

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They are still doing archeological digs on the property. A group of college students arrived during our visit to work there during the summer.

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Jefferson later added a “Wing of Offices” similar to those under the patios on each side on Monticello.

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The “Wing” contained the kitchen, smoke house and other work spaces. The kitchen was very modern for its time incorporating features Jefferson had seen in France and were already in use at Monticello. In the right corner in the photo below there is a large round opening and 3 square ones. The round one was to keep a pot of hot water constantly available. The 3 square ones were for simmering pots. Hot coals were taken from the fireplace and placed on a recessed grate. Ashes fell below and could be removed from the opening at floor level. Then pots were placed on a grate at the counter top height to simmer. Jefferson installed the same cooking arrangement in the White House when he was President.

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There are two “necessaries” (out houses) on each side of the house. Jefferson had 3 inside toilets at Monticello but none at Poplar Forest. The necessaries are also Octagon shaped.

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Jefferson’s will deeded Poplar Forest and 1,000 acres to a Grandson who later sold the property and moved to Florida. It has passed through several owners since. One family kept the house for 118 years. During their ownership the house burned in 1845. Because all the walls were originally built of brick, they were able to rebuild in the same shape but with significant changes to Jefferson’s design.

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In the 1990’s local businessmen formed a foundation to buy and protect the home. They have acquired 600 acres of surrounding property including a golf course they own but do not manage. Without the foundation’s intervention, significantly more development would have occurred.

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They are slowly doing research and restoring the house and property to the way it looked in Jefferson’s time. They do not have near the funding as the foundation at Montpelier. The interior and exterior walls have been restored to Jefferson’s design and the office wing rebuilt. There is much remaining to be done to finish plastering and painting the walls plus adding all the molding and other finishing touches. They have examples of how it will look when finished.

Some day they also plan to restore the garden, lawn and trees to Jefferson’s design. It is pretty now, but I would love to see it with all the flowers, shrubs and trees like we saw at Monticello.

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He planted Mulberry trees at Poplar Forest just as he had done at Monticello. We had a picnic under one. I did not realize the berries look much like blackberries or boysenberries.

From 06-09 Poplar Forest

We were glad we visited Poplar Forest. It was interesting to see more of Jefferson’s work, and we enjoyed another drive across the Virginia countryside.

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.

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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.

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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.

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From 06-09 Monticello

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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

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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.

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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)

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a cooper making water buckets.

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

From 06-09 Monticello