Cuddy
Jefferson's granddaughters claimed this tucked-away attic space beside the Dome Room as their own private retreat, nicknaming it the "Cuddy" after a small nook found on a ship.
Photographic image of the "cuddy" in the dome room of Monticello; (c) Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Jefferson’s granddaughters nicknamed this attic space adjoining Monticello's Dome Room the "Cuddy" after a small nook on a ship. These two young women, desperate for privacy in a house overcrowded with nearly 30 people, set it up as a sitting room. Writing of their space, Virginia Randolph explained: “breathing through a broken pane of glass and some wide cracks in the floor, I have taken possession with the dirt daubers, wasps & humble bees; and do not intend to give it up to any thing but the formidable rats which have not yet found out this fairy palace.”
-Monticello guide staff, 2017
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