Encyclopedia
1796 Mutual Assurance Plat
A plat by Jefferson with detailed descriptions and sketches of the main house, South Pavilion, and structures along Mulberry Row.
Monticello (Plantation)
Articles about the operation, organization, and people of the larger 5,000-acre Monticello.
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![Thomas Jefferson's 1796 hand-drawn Mutual Assurance plat showing Monticello's main house, South Pavilion, and Mulberry Row structures with written descriptions, Massachusetts Historical Society.]()
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![Page from Thomas Jefferson’s Farm Book showing the name and lineage of Allycroker and her foals, including Caractacus; courtesy Massachusetts Historical Society.]()
EncyclopediaAllycroker
A look at one of Jefferson's favorite riding horses, Allycroker, an early generation Thoroughbred who foaled several other of his horses.
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Bartholomew Kindred
Bartholomew Kindred was a free white craftsman who worked as a weaver for Thomas Jefferson during the American Revolution.
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![A honeybee on a purple aster flower; photographic image courtesy the United States Geological Survey, public domain.]()
EncyclopediaBees and Honey
Find out about Thomas Jefferson's interest in bees, beekeeping, and honey at Monticello.
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![Modern black-and-white map of Virgina by Rick Britton]()
Betsy Hemmings
Betsy Hemmings was an enslaved laborer at Monticello, the daughter of Mary Hemings Bell. Jefferson gave her to his daughter, Maria Jefferson Eppes, as a wedding gift.
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![Digital model of a Nailery (lighter colored building on the left) and Blacksmith's Shop (darker colored building on the right), both with simple, non-glass windows and large doors.]()
EncyclopediaBlacksmith's Shop
Workshop for blacksmithing and nail-making on Mulberry Row
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![Detail from "Blacksmith 1st Mass. Arty. Harrisons" by Alfred R. Waud, 1862; Library of Congress]()
EncyclopediaBlacksmithing
A critical trade and a useful skill at Monticello
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![Sparks shoot from glowing piece of metal above an anvil and below a blurred hammer.]()
Brown Colbert
An enslaved nail maker and blacksmith at Monticello who gained freedom and emigrated to Liberia
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![Entry in Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book showing the name and lineage of Caractacus, Jefferson's Thoroughbred riding horse foaled May 7, 1775; image courtesy Massachusetts Historical Society.]()
EncyclopediaCaractacus
Learn more about the lineage of what was perhaps Thomas Jefferson's most well-known riding horse.
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![Digital model of the Carpenter's Shop, a wooden building with barn doors, shuttered windows, and an a-frame roof.]()
EncyclopediaCarpenter's Shop
Temporary workshop for basic woodworking that also served as short-term living quarters.
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![A engraving depiction of charcoal burning showing men working next to two conical mounds and two low mounds from which smoke is rising. Fabrication of Charcoal engraving from Encyclopédie Diderot D' Alembert 1751; courtesy Wikimedia Commons; Public Domain.]()
EncyclopediaCharcoal
A source of heat and power for Monticello and its forges
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![Digital model of a coal shed on Mulberry Row at Monticello, a small wooden building with an A-frame roof, a door, and no windows; image by RenderSphere, LLC.]()
EncyclopediaCoal Sheds
Shed for storing charcoal
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![A drawing of an a-frame building with a water whell on it's lower right sits next to a railroad track and ando ther building]()
EncyclopediaCoopering
Learn how barrelmaking (coopering) by enslaved workers at Monticello was a profitable source of income for Jefferson.
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![AI generated image from an original Monticello photograph]()
EncyclopediaCotton
Enslaved laborers cultivated cotton at Monticello for several decades.
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![A drawing of Shadwell looking toward Montalto with Monticello to the right (marked with a small o above it) and Jefferson's mill on the Rivanna to the left.]()
Craven Peyton
Craven Peyton was a merchant in Albemarle County, Virginia, with financial and familial connections to Jefferson.
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![A small wood-and-daub, a-frame structure with a simple wooden door, two windows, and a chimney on one side.]()
Critta Hemings Bowles
A look at the life of Critta Hemings, an enslaved domestic servant at Monticello from about 1775 until 1827, when a Jefferson's grandson purchased her freedom.
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![A 20th-century painting by Nathaniel Gibbs depicting a wheat harvest at Monticello]()
EncyclopediaCrops, Produce, and Livestock
Information about the types of cash crops, produce, and livestock raised at Monticello and when certain crops were cultivated.
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![Drawing of two women working with milk on opposite sides of a room lined with shelves holding bowls of various sizes and two small butter churns on the floor.]()
EncyclopediaDairying
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![Painting of Monticello and its West Lawn with two girls in white dresses, a boy playing with a hoop, and a man sitting to side sketching or painting.]()
EncyclopediaDogs
Learn more about Thomas Jefferson's interest in working dogs and his objections to wild dogs.
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![A stone dwelling with a door, pyramidal shingle roof, and no visible windows.]()
EncyclopediaDwelling (MRS 1)
Stone dwelling probably for enslaved domestic workers
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![A small a-frame clapboard structure with a simple wooden door, one window, and a chimney on one side.]()
EncyclopediaDwelling (MRS 2)
An unnamed log dwelling for the enslaved not listed in Jefferson's records.
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![A small wood-and-daub building with a door and a log-and-daub chimney on the side.]()
EncyclopediaDwelling (MRS 4)
Dwelling for enslaved people
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Edmund
A hired enslaved field laborer at Monticello.
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Edmund Bacon
Edmund Bacon was an overseer at Monticello whose recollections of his experiences and his relationship with Thomas Jefferson were published in 1862.
