FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 20, 2025
Media Contact: J.A. Lyon, Director of Marketing & Communications, jlyon@monticello.org
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello today announced the identification of six additional individuals enslaved by Thomas Jefferson: Moses, Nanny, Mary Ann Hern, Robert, and two children whose names remain unknown. In August 2025, these individuals became the first additions to Monticello’s Contemplative Site, a mountaintop memorial erected in 2023 to honor and list the known names of those enslaved by Jefferson over the course of his lifetime.
“What we know about Monticello’s enslaved community is constantly growing—especially on an individual level,” said Dr. Andrew Davenport, Monticello’s Vice President for Research and Saunders Director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies. “Although Monticello is one of the most well-documented plantations in America, this research is far from complete.”
The discoveries, made between fall 2024 and summer 2025, are a result of ongoing work from Monticello’s Getting Word African American History Department. Established in 1993, Getting Word records and preserves the family histories of more than 610 people enslaved by Jefferson throughout his lifetime through oral history and genealogical research.
“Tracking small details and reading between the lines is critical when researching Black history at Monticello,” said Auriana Woods, Director of the Getting Word African American History Department. “Traces of evidence can come from anywhere or anyone, and it takes the effort of many hands—descendants, scholars, and interpreters—to bring those lives back into focus.”
Located on the historic mountaintop at the foot of Mulberry Row, Monticello’s Contemplative Site was created as a space for reflection and commemoration. The site’s design encourages visitors to consider the deeper complexities of freedom, slavery, and memory. The 60-foot-long steel wall includes all currently known names of those enslaved by Thomas Jefferson listed chronologically by birthdate. Intentional blank spaces built into the structure ensure the ability to make additions uncovered through research.
In August 2025, Monticello hosted a private dedication ceremony to honor the new additions to the memorial site.
2025 Contemplative Site Additions:
- Moses, born in February 1790
- Nanny, born in 1776
- Mary Ann Hern, born in late 1823
- Child, born in 1802
- Robert, born about 1815-1818
- Child, born about 1815-1819
Learn More
Adding New Names to the Contemplative Site Wall
About The Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation was incorporated in 1923 to preserve Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Today, the foundation seeks to bring history forward into national and global dialogues by engaging audiences with Jefferson’s world and ideas and inviting them to experience the power of place at Monticello and on its website. Monticello is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, a United Nations World Heritage Site and a Site of Conscience. As a private, nonprofit organization, the foundation’s regular operating budget does not receive ongoing government support to fund its twofold mission of preservation and education. For information, visit monticello.org.