After Jefferson - The Levy Family

Monticello after Thomas Jefferson

The history of Monticello does not end with Jefferson's death. Nearly a century passed from the time between Jefferson's death and 1923, the year that the Thomas Jefferson Foundation assumed the stewardship of the property. The story of the intervening years has been recorded with many variations, but of one fact there can be no disagreement: Monticello survives because of the efforts of its two major owners of the period, Uriah Phillips Levy, USN, and his nephew, Jefferson Monroe Levy. These two men and their families held a very modern notion that the houses of great men should be preserved as "monuments to their glory," and their stewardship of the home and property is remarkable and significant.

Uriah Levy: Preserving a Heritage for the Nation

Uriah Levy's first view of Monticello -- eight years after Jefferson's death -- was dismaying. Upon learning that it was for sale, he decided to buy it and preserve it for the nation. What he acquired was 218 acres of overgrown fields surrounding a dilapidated, almost empty house, for the sum of $2,700. Levy promptly hired Joel Wheeler as overseer to supervise a restoration of both house and garden. Tourists began visiting the property in ever growing numbers and were often guided through the house by Uriah Levy himself. By 1837, he had enlarged his property to 2,700 acres.

Upon his death in 1862, Commodore Levy left a complicated will, naming the United States as administrator of the estate, to be used as a school for orphans of naval officers. Meanwhile, the Civil War began, and the Confederate government seized and then sold the property to another owner. Following the war, a long period of litigation was required before Commodore Levy's nephew, Jefferson Monroe Levy, became Monticello's sole proprietor.