Thomas Jefferson Visitors Center and Smith Education Center
A campaign for a new gateway to Jefferson's Monticello
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation seeks to provide a more comprehensive understanding of Monticello and Thomas Jefferson through the creation of a
new visitor and education center.
Located on the grounds of Monticello, the Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center and Smith Education Center will serve as an educational gateway for the visitors' experience of the Monticello mountaintop and will offer greatly enhanced services and amenities. Visitors will have the opportunity to watch an introductory film, tour permanent and changing exhibitions, enjoy a meal and shopping, and simply relax on Jefferson’s beautiful hillside. Students of all ages will benefit from classrooms and galleries, and the youngest learners will be able to participate in hands-on activities in the Discovery Room.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation is currently conducting a capital campaign to raise $55 million for the construction and endowment of this new center. As of June 2007, the Foundation has received over $42 million in gifts and commitments toward the $55 million needed for the construction and endowment of this new center. This figure includes a challenge gift from Mrs. Hunter J. Smith of Charlottesville, an emeritus trustee of the foundation. Under the conditions of the grant, Mrs. Smith she will donate $3 for every $4 Monticello raises for the project, to a maximum of $10 million, nearly doubling the value of each new gift Monticello receives toward the new Center.
The new Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center and Smith Education Center, will be composed of five pavilions, a total of 42,000 square feet, organized around a central courtyard. Designed to blend into the landscape, it will be built with natural materials such as fieldstone, brick and cedar. Its design includes "green" roofs and other innovative and environmentally sensitive elements with the goal of achieving Gold-Level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Construction work on the facility began last year and will continue into 2008.
Make a gift in support of the Thomas Jefferson Visitors Center and Smith Education Center »