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Donate NowThe water supply at Monticello was a constant struggle for those living on the mountaintop. In 1769, when construction began on Monticello, Thomas Jefferson directed a crew of enslaved workmen to dig a well near the South Pavilion. The men spent 46 days digging through 65 feet of rock.[1] Dry weather conditions, however, caused the well to fail for six of the years between 1769 and 1797.[2] Whenever the well ran dry, enslaved laborers had to cart water up from springs lower down on the mountain.[3]
In 1808, Jefferson ordered construction of four eight-foot-cube cisterns.[4] The cisterns were positioned near the house to capture rainwater running off the roofs and terraces.[5] Work on the new project began in 1810, but it took many years of trial and error to create a waterproof plaster before the cisterns held rainwater — and even then, it was never a perfect system.[6]
- Monticello Library Staff, 2011; video added 2017; podcast added 2023.
In this episode of "A Rich Spot of Earth," we talk about how water was collected and used at Monticello, plants sent back to Jefferson from the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the American Chestnut.
