Fridays - Sundays at 10:35 a.m.

This 2.5 hour, guided, small-group, interactive tour explores Monticello through the perspectives of enslaved people who labored on the plantation.

February 17 and 18

Join Monticello archaeologists on a walking tour to hidden parts of the plantation and learn how archaeology informs our understanding of the lives of those who lived and worked at Monticello.

Daily; Multiple Times

These guided outdoor walking tours focus on the experiences of the enslaved people who lived and labored on the Monticello plantation. Provides guests the opportunity to ask questions and deepen their connection to Monticello’s history. Included with all tour tickets.

Monticello historian Niya Bates describes the Getting Word African American Oral History Project and how it has helped transform interpretive experience at Monticello since its inception in 1993.

Andrew Davenport, Public Historian at Monticello and Manager of the Getting Word African American Oral History Project, discusses what happened to many of the enslaved individuals after the dispersal sale of 1827. 

Follow the eventful life of James Hemings, a Paris-trained Chef de Cuisine enslaved by Thomas Jefferson and credited for popularizing macaroni and cheese in America.

Music was an important part of life for enslaved people at plantations across the U.S. Monticello guide and musicologist Kyle Chattleton looks at the ways enslaved people here and across the nation used music and at the foundational role they played in creating a distinctly American musical tradition.

Trailblazer. Newspaper publisher. Civil rights titan. Meet William Monroe Trotter, one of the most influential descendants of Monticello’s enslaved community—and someone who too many people have never heard of,

Beer was a part of most meals at Monticello, possibly served in small silver vessels known today as "Jefferson Cups." But where did the beer come from? What was it like? And who made it?

Monticello guide Kyle Chattleton looks at the close relationship of Monticello's enslaved joiner John Hemmings and his wife, Priscilla, an enslaved domestic servant owned by Jefferson's son-in-law.

George and Ursula Granger moved to Monticello in 1773, as the enslaved workers of Thomas Jefferson. The Grangers of Monticello would go on to include community leaders, skilled tradesmen, cooks, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, farmers, and cider-makers as well as caring spouses, parents, children, and siblings.