Field Trip Itinerary Itinerary

Bus Offload: Students should bring only what they need for the tour and leave non-essentials on the bus. Lunches should remain on the bus and can be picked up after the tour.

Security screening: All visitors pass through a brief security screening at the visitor center. Be prepared for bag inspections. Divide students into groups of 25 or less, with at least one adult per group. Please line up students in a single file with one adult leading, and one adult at the end, to keep the group together. 

Restrooms: After screening, encourage students to use the visitor center restrooms beside the theater. Restrooms are limited on the mountaintop, and there are none inside the house.

Group Reservations Check-In: While students use restrooms, the lead teacher should check in at the Group Reservations Desk in the lower lobby (enter through the ticket office building—staff can direct you). Have final head counts ready: total number students and total number of adults. Additional adults who were not included in the original count will be required to purchase their own tickets and may not be able to join the group, depending on tour capacity. The Group Reservations Desk will issue tour tickets and distribute tickets to each lead teacher. Tickets are required to board the Monticello shuttle up the mountain.

Begin boarding the Monticello shuttles at least 15 minutes before your tour start time.

Proceed to the shuttle bus loading area, on the upper level of the visitor center, next to the bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson.

Please have students line up in a single file to board the shuttles, with one adult leading, and one adult at the end so the group stays together.

A lift-equipped shuttle is available for guests who need assistance; allow an additional 10 minutes.

Once you arrive on the mountaintop, a Guest Services team member will direct you where to line up for your house tour. House tour times are fixed—please arrive on time. At your scheduled tour time, a guide will come out to greet your group and begin the tour. A Monticello Guide will lead students through the first floor of Monticello.

Your guide will conclude the tour at the North Terrace. From there, you are welcome to continue exploring Monticello on your own.

Thank you in advance for your active participation throughout the tour. We appreciate your support in helping manage student behavior so the guide can focus on interpretation and provide the best possible learning experience. Cell phones should remain put away unless directed otherwise.

There are several mountaintop spaces and exhibits your group may choose to visit independently, either before or after the guided tour.

Exhibits in the South Wing, basement, and North Wing: Step into Monticello's working basement, where exhibits illuminate the labor, lives, and daily rhythms of the enslaved people who kept the household running.

Sally Hemings Exhibit: Students can visit the Sally Hemings exhibit (right next to the post-1809 kitchen) and watch a 5 minute audio/visual presentation of her story as told through the words of Madison Hemings. Limited space – only one class allowed inside at a time.

Mulberry Row: Monticello's main plantation street features reconstructed cabins and workshops — including the Textile Workshop, Storehouse for Iron, and Hemmings Cabin — telling the stories of the enslaved community who lived and worked here.

Vegetable Garden: Visit the 1,000-foot vegetable garden that supplied food for the Jefferson family but also showcased Jefferson’s love of gardening and botany. The vegetable garden is located just below Mulberry Row.

Contemplative Site: At the end of Mulberry Row, the Contemplative Site is centered on a 60-foot long steel structure pierced with the names of the over 600 enslaved people known to have been enslaved by Jefferson.

When returning to the Visitor Center, go back to the same drop-off point on the mountaintop to catch the shuttle down. Students could also walk to the cemetery past the Contemplative Site, down a short trail back to the visitor center. (Less than half a mile). Best to space out groups so not all shuttle at once.

Shuttles briefly stop at Jefferson’s Cemetery (marked by a tall, obelisk-shaped monument). His epitaph lists what he considered his three greatest achievements.

Please have students line up in a single file with one adult leading, and one adult at the end so the group stays together.

Students can grab their lunches from the bus and head down a short path to the picnic tables. This area is adjacent to the bus parking lot. Ask a Guest Services staff member for directions.
Note: picnic tables are first come, first served