The West Lawn of Monticello features the iconic view of the house, showcased on the reverse of the U.S. nickel. Thomas Jefferson designed a “winding flower walk” around the West Lawn to showcase native and foreign flower species, providing a favorite place to enjoy the outdoors.
While the West Lawn was a space of leisure for Thomas Jefferson, it also may have been the site of an 1827 dispersal sale. During two auctions held in 1827 and 1829, Jefferson's heirs sold 130 enslaved men, women, and children to pay down Jefferson’s debts.
Listen as Gayle Jessup White, descendant of enslaved chef and master brewer Peter Hemings, describes the sale and separation of Monticello's enslaved community.
- Thomas Jefferson to Charles Willson Peale, August 20, 1811
Sitting below Monticello’s famed dome, the West Portico and West Front of the building served as the private, family entrance to the home. The West Portico has become the most famous view of Monticello. For more than 50 years, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has annually celebrated Independence Day on July 4th with a Naturalization Ceremony. People of all backgrounds, from countries around the world, swear an oath of citizenship to the United States, promising to uphold the U.S. Constitution and the ideals put forth in the Declaration of Independence over 200 years ago.
Thomas Jefferson recorded the planting of at least seven Tulip Poplar trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) on the mountaintop. He described the Tulip Poplar as “the Juno of our Groves.” The hollow stumps on either side of Monticello's West Front are all that remain of original trees from Jefferson's era. However, a sucker emerged from the stump of the Tulip Poplar on the north side of the West Lawn while a seedling was planted near the stump on the south side.
The design of Jefferson’s ornamental flower gardens was derived from the “pleasure gardens” he visited while traveling in England. What he called the “winding walk” meanders through the flower gardens to offer guests, in Jefferson’s time and today, an opportunity to see the many different species of plants and flowers from different angles and points of view.
Wormley Hughes was the enslaved principal gardener at Monticello and was responsible for much of the garden planting while Thomas Jefferson was serving as President and living in Washington, D.C. In Jefferson’s retirement, the planting of new bulbs and seeds was usually the job of Hughes, though he was sometimes assisted by Jefferson’s granddaughters or other enslaved laborers.
Listen as Monticello Guide Lou Hatch discusses the historic arrangement of the ornamental gardens.
As you walk through the flower gardens, look for wooden stakes labelling each plant for more information. These labels include the common name and the botanical name for each plant. If you see “TJ” at the top of the label, it means Jefferson recorded that variety at Monticello, and the year below indicates the date he first recorded the plant.
If the stake has “L&C” written on the top, it is denoting a plant recorded during the Corps of Discovery Expedition led by Lewis and Clark. Occasionally, Jefferson used unusual or archaic names for certain species. These names will appear in quotes.
In 1806, Thomas Jefferson drew a sketch of Monticello mountain, which included a designation for a “grove” of trees. This grove included ornamental trees of both native and imported species, and was divided into “upper” and “lower” portions on the mountaintop. The trees planted in the Upper Grove were not as hardy or adaptable to the climate of Central Virginia, but the Lower Grove probably served as more of an arboretum for native species. One early guest to Monticello described the groves as containing Jefferson's "pet trees."
While planning his gardens, Jefferson noted his vision for a “fish pond to be visible from the house.” Though the fish pond was mostly intended to serve as a water feature in the flower garden, it also served as a water source and location to store water at Monticello. There are records of Jefferson purchasing fish from enslaved workers who caught them in the local streams or rivers, and the fish pond may have been used to store live fish until they were to be prepared for meals. In 1812, Jefferson hoped to use other constructed fish ponds around his property to farm live fish, including chub, carp, and even eels.
A nearby stop is the South Wing of the house. To get there, follow the walking path from the fish pond that goes downhill and curves around the South Pavilion. This will take you to the rooms of the South Wing.