Bed Chamber

Jefferson's Bedchamber with oval-shaped closet windows above the alcove bed

The Bed Chamber is the most private space of an intensely private man. Jefferson's regimen of rising in the morning and retiring in the evening all took place in this room filled with his most personal possessions, away from visitors and most family. With an eye toward “comfort and convenience,” Jefferson furnished his Chamber with stylish silk curtains, marble-topped tables and upholstered armchairs from his house in Paris. These imported furnishings mixed well with the Virginia-made bureau his wife used during their marriage and furniture made at Monticello. It was in the Alcove Bed in this room where Jefferson spent his last hours, passing away on July 4, 1826, 50 years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

• Virtual tour of this room

Dimensions: 18' 7" × 13' 5"; ceiling 18' 8"

Order: Ionic  

Source: Temple of Fortuna Virilis from Palladio; frieze from Desgodetz, Les édifices antiques de Rome^[1]

Color: There is evidence that this room was once wallpapered; today it is painted blue-green, a shade popular when Jefferson lived in Paris in the 1780s.

Purpose of Room: Bedroom 

Architectural Features: An alcove bed, open on both sides, joins the Bedroom with Jefferson's Cabinet, or office – a hinged, double-door folding screen separates the two rooms when shut; a privy was located near one end of the bed, an early example of indoor bathroom facilities in America; the room features one of the house's thirteen skylights.

Bedroom portholes: In 1815, Thomas Jefferson wrote to his daughter Martha, "In the closet over my bed you will find a bag tied up, and labelled 'Wolf-skin pelisse,' and another labelled 'fur-boots,' wherein those articles will be found."^[2] The "closet" refers to the small storage space above the bed, ventilated by the three oval-shaped, porthole-like openings. The storage space is reached through the doorway to the right of the head of the bed, which conceals a ladder-like set of stairs.

Furnishings of Note: Clothes "horse" in closet (reconstructed); obelisk clock at foot of bed enabled Jefferson to get out of bed "with the sun"; crimson silk counterpane with fringe (designed by Jefferson) covered the bed in winter, while a blue silk duvet saw service the year through; mirrors were used to maximize the natural light.

Objects on Display in this Room

• Alcove Bed
• Bookcase with Press
• Thomas Jefferson's Riding Boots

Primary Source References

1807. (Sir Augustus John Foster). "... the President had his bed placed in a doorway."^[3]

1814. (Francis Calley Gray). "Mr. Jefferson took us from his library into his bed chamber where, on a table before the fire, stood a polygraph with which he said he always wrote."^[4]

1815 November 4. (Martha Jefferson Randolph to Jefferson). "In the closet over my bed you will find a bag tied up, and labelled 'Wolf-skin pelisse,' and another labelled 'fur-boots,' wherein those articles will be found. the pelisse had better be sowed up in a striped blanket to keep it clean and uninjured; the boots in any coarse wrapper."^[5]

1823 January 18. (Margaret Bayard Smith). "The bed is built into the wall, in a sort of alcove, which in winter must be very comfortable, as it excludes every draught of air – but in the summer, must for the same reason be very uncomfortable. I observed the same arrangement in all the chambers I saw. On the wall, at the foot of the bed was hung his pistols and sword, which I imagine has not been removed for many a year: against the wall, at the head of his bed, was a lamp, which enabled him, when he wished to read, to do it with great safety and convenience."^[6]

An Unusual Detail - The Acorns on the Fireplace Entablature in Jefferson's Chamber

Jefferson's Obelisk Clock