We at Monticello are saddened by yesterday’s passing of President George H. W. Bush. We had the pleasure of hosting a State Dinner at Monticello for President Bush, his cabinet, and the nation’s governors during the 1989 Education Summit, held at the University of Virginia. Like Thomas Jefferson,...
“Rebellion to tyrants is Obedience to God” – We have come to think of this impassioned phrase as distinctly Jefferson, but there’s more to this story. In December 1775 the Pennsylvania Evening Post included a brief transcription of what was said to be the epitaph of the famed regicide John Bradshaw...
In 1804, after journeying thousands of miles through Central America and northern South America, Alexander von Humboldt -- who would later gain international renown for exploits and writings -- made a special stop in Washington, DC, to see one of his intellectual heroes, Thomas Jefferson.
While Jefferson often gets the credit, it was enslaved chefs like James Hemings, who created Monticello's famed "half Virginian, half French" cuisine. Food Historian Leni Sorensen explains how Hemings's training in France and the installation of stew stoves changed cooking here.
In January 2000 the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation (the predecessor of today’s Thomas Jefferson Foundation) issued a report concerning the allegation that Thomas Jefferson was the father of some or all of the children of Sally Hemings , an enslaved woman at Monticello. A special research...
A Statement by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation The issue of Jefferson’s paternity has been the subject of controversy for at least two centuries, ranging from contemporary newspaper articles in 1802 (when Jefferson was President) to scholarly debate well into the 1990s. It is now the Thomas...
Monticello is one of the most beautiful and recognizable houses in America. It’s elegant and harmonious, and it was revolutionary for American architecture at the time. If you ever need a quick reminder of its features, just fish a nickel out of your pocket. So, when I saw a listing for a...
Jefferson described the Polygraph as "the finest invention of the present age." Monticello guide Charles Morrill, who's been working on reproductions of various versions of the Polygraphs Jefferson owned, describes the device's importance to Jefferson. Polygraph appears courtesy the University of...
