ADayintheLifeofThomasJeffersoncopy

A Day in the Life of Thomas Jefferson
“I Rise With the Sun"
A typical day for Jefferson started early, because, in his own words, "Whether I retire to
bed early or late, I rise with the sun." He told of a fifty-year period in which the sun had
never caught him in bed; he rose as soon as he could read the hands of the clock kept
directly opposite his bed.

Record-Keeping
After rising, Jefferson measured and recorded the temperature. Around four o'clock in the afternoon,
Jefferson repeated the measurement, as he found "the hottest point of the 24 hours is about four o'clock . .
. and the dawn of the day the coldest." He also recorded the direction and speed of the wind and the
amount of precipitation. From indoors, Jefferson could see a weathervane (weathervane.qt, 840K)
positioned over the Northeast Portico of the house; he could also read the wind direction off a compass
rose (connected to the weathervane directly above it) on the Northeast Portico's ceiling. Jefferson made
note of the weather and other indexes of climate, such as the migration of birds and the appearance of
flowers, throughout his life, wherever he was, including France, Washington, and Philadelphia. He shared
his records with others in the hope of creating a national database of meteorological information.

Morning Preparations
After his record-keeping, Jefferson started his own fire and soaked his
feet in cold water. He maintained the foot bath for sixty years and
attributed his good health in part to this habit.
Jefferson's clothes, according to his granddaughter, were "simple and
adapted to his ideas of neatness and comfort . . . and sometimes blending the fashions of several periods."
In his pockets, Jefferson carried such a variety of portable instruments for making observations and
measurements that he's been dubbed a "traveling calculator." Among his collection of pocket-sized devices
were scales, drawing instruments, a thermometer, a surveying compass, a level, and even a globe. To
record all these measurements, Jefferson carried a small ivory notebook (pictured) on which he could write
in pencil. Back in his Cabinet, or office, he later copied the information into any of seven books in which he
kept records about his garden, farms, finances, and other concerns; he then erased the writing in the ivory
notebook.

"Mechanical Inventions"
Jefferson kept clothes in a closet at the foot of his bed, on what his grandson-in-law called a "turningmachine" (shown in conjectural drawing). Another guest reported: "In a recess at the foot of the bed was a
horse with forty-eight projecting hands on which hung his coats and waistcoats and which he could turn
round with a long stick; a knick-knack that Jefferson was fond of showing with
many other little mechanical inventions."
Monticello was filled with Jefferson's innovations, many of which he designed
or adapted "with a greater eye to convenience." As in the rest of the house,
the bedroom's furnishings illustrate many of Jefferson's ideas about the
efficient use of time, space, and light, including prominently placed clocks,
space-saving alcove beds, and light-maximizing mirrors.

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"Drudging at the Writing Table"
After his morning routine, Thomas Jefferson settled into a lengthy period of letterwriting: "From sun-rise to one or two o'clock," he noted, "I am drudging at the writing
table." Jefferson wrote almost 20,000 letters in his lifetime, among them, scholarly
musings to colleagues, affectionate notes to his family, and civil responses to
admirers. He wrote John Adams that he suffered "under the persecution of letters,"
calculating that he received 1,267 letters in the year 1820, "many of them requiring
answers of elaborate research, and all to be answered with due attention and
consideration."

A Modern Office
Jefferson researched and wrote these letters in what has been called the
earliest modern office. Jefferson's Cabinet was, in contemporary language,
"user-friendly," with a revolving bookstand, table, and chair. Here Jefferson
used a copying machine to make duplicate sets of his letters, which he kept
filing presses, tying them into bundles organized alphabetically and

chronologically. This arrangement allowed Jefferson to pinpoint the location
any given letter, and even send for a particular one when he was away
from Monticello. A virtual reality panorama of the Cabinet is available in the "House" section.

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A "Full and Genuine Journal"
In 1823 Jefferson wrote that "The letters of a person, especially one whose business has been chiefly
transacted by letters, form the only full and genuine journal of his life." His surviving letters give insight
into Jefferson's vast interests and reveal much about his personality.
Interested in every branch of applied science and math, Jefferson corresponded with scientists around the
world. He also wrote to the leading horticulturists, exchanging information about various climates, and
requesting new seeds and plantings for Monticello and other American gardens. He corresponded
frequently with his friend and presidential successor, James Madison, advising him on such diverse topics
as the War of 1812 and appropriate wines to be served at the President's House. Although his close
relationship with second President John Adams suffered a rift, in their later years the two resumed a
correspondence and rekindled their warm friendship. And while he was pleased to have left behind the
"splendid misery" of the presidency, he continued to write Virginia's political leaders, working to establish
public education, both on the primary and secondary levels, with the most notable result being the
creation of the University of Virginia.

Stepping away from the Table
As he aged, Jefferson's wrist, which he broke while in France, troubled him significantly;
he wrote John Adams that "crippled wrists and fingers make writing slow and laborious,"
even with the use of dumbbells and a wrist cushion, designed to support and strengthen
his wrists.
The Greenhouse adjacent to Jefferson's Cabinet provided him with a welcome diversion
from writing. There he kept plants such as oranges and Mimosa Farnesiana, and the
Greenhouse may also have housed the pet mockingbirds that Jefferson brought home to

Monticello from the President's House. The Greenhouse also held a set of tools and a
workbench, on which, one visitor noted, "Mr. Jefferson was fond of exercising himself in mechanical
employments. . . . [He found] an agreeable relaxation for his mind, to repair any of his various instruments
in physical science, and to execute any little scheme of the moment in the way of furniture or experiment."
Jefferson's slave Isaac recalled in his memoirs, "My master was neat a hand as ever you see to make keys
and locks and small chains, iron and brass."

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But letters were always waiting, and Jefferson returned to what he called "pen
and ink work" more than he would have preferred.

"Our Breakfast Table"
Like many Americans in the early nineteenth century, Thomas Jefferson and
his family ate only two meals a day at Monticello: breakfast, typically at eight,
and dinner, in the late afternoon. Both meals were served in the Dining Room,
and, if extra space were needed, in the adjoining Tea Room. Before every
meal, two bells rang to alert family and guests, one to call them to the table,
and one when the meal was served.

"Fresh from the Oven"
Several guests recorded accounts of breakfast at Monticello. One visitor in particular, Mrs. Margaret Bayard
Smith, spent time with Jefferson both in Washington, D.C., during his presidency, and also in
Charlottesville, in the summer of 1789. Her excellent accounts of these visits are included in the book, The
First Forty Years of Washington Society, and reveal much about daily life at Monticello.
Mrs. Smith wrote: "Our breakfast table was as large as our dinner table; . . . we had tea, coffee, excellent
muffins, hot wheat and corn bread, cold ham and butter." Fifteen years later, Daniel Webster enjoyed an
almost identical breakfast at Monticello, partaking of "tea or coffee, bread always fresh from the oven . . .,
with a slight accompaniment of cold meat."

Seated Around the Table
Even without guests, who were ever-present at Monticello, the Jefferson breakfast table
served many. Although Jefferson's wife Martha Wayles Skelton died in 1782 after "ten years
of unchequered happiness," he did not live alone. At different times his widowed sister
Martha Jefferson Carr and her six children lived at Monticello; his sister Anna Jefferson Marks
also frequented the mountaintop.
In addition, his daughters Martha Jefferson Randolph and Maria Jefferson Eppes, the only two
of his six children who survived to adulthood, were frequently at Monticello. Mrs. Randolph
served as her father's hostess both during his second term as president and afterwards in his
retirement. Though Mr. and Mrs. Randolph owned a nearby farm, they and their children
lived with Jefferson on the mountaintop throughout his retirement. Following the death of Jefferson's
daughter Maria in 1804, his grandson Francis Wayles Eppes (pictured below) frequently joined the crowd.
All this prompted Jefferson to write to John Adams, "I live in the midst of my grandchildren."

Jefferson the Grandfather
For Jefferson, living with his grandchildren was a pleasure. Mrs. Smith reported that "he
seemed delighted in delighting them," and noted that "while I sat looking at him playing
with these infants, one standing on the sopha with its arms round his neck, the other
two youngest on his knees, playing with him, I could scarcely realize that he was one of
the most celebrated men now living, both as a Politician and Philosopher." Jefferson was
an involved grandfather, teaching Ellen how to play chess, buying Virginia a guitar, and
sharing the delights of the flower garden with Anne. Granddaughter Ellen Wayles
Randolph remembered: "He took pains to correct our errors and false ideas, checked the
bold, encouraged the timid, and tried to teach us to reason soundly and feel rightly. . . .
He was watchful over our manners, and called our attention to every violation of
propriety. He did not interfere with our education . . . except by advising us what studies
to pursue, what books to read, and by questioning us on the books which we did read."
Mrs. Smith concluded her account of the family's breakfast by noting that the children "eat at the family
table, but are in such excellent order, that you would not know, if you did not see them, that a child was

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present. After breakfast . . . it was the habit of the family each separately to pursue their occupations . . . .
Mrs. Randolph withdrew to her nursery and excepting the hours housekeeping requires she devotes the
rest to her children, whom she instructs."

"To Labour for Another"
Thomas Jefferson made a habit of inspecting his plantation in the afternoon to monitor the work of the 150
slaves who worked at Monticello and his outlying farms. Always interested in
measurements and record-keeping, Jefferson made extensive notations about
his slaves and their duties in his Farm Book and Memorandum Books. For
instance, he noted the rations his overseer distributed, the number of yards he
purchased for clothing, the daily task required by particular slaves, and the cost
of items purchased for use in the kitchen.

Mulberry Row
Some of Jefferson's slaves lived and worked along Mulberry Row, a 1,000-foot-long road located on the
mountaintop, just south of the main house. Named for the mulberry trees planted along it (and replanted
in 1995), the road was the center of plantation activity at Monticello from the 1770s until Jefferson's death
in 1826. The known buildings located along the street were stone and log dwellings, storage buildings, a
stable, a combination smokehouse and dairy, a blacksmith shop that for some years also housed a nailery,
a joinery, a carpenter's shop, and a sawmill.

Humming with Activity
During Jefferson's time, Mulberry Row would have been humming with activity, with
over thirty people at work in its shops and yards. While linens boiled in the wash
house and milkpans clattered in the dairy, the hammers of fourteen nailmakers rang
on anvils near the roaring forge of the blacksmith. Wood chips and shavings were

scattered by the axes and planes of the carpenters and joiners, and two sawyers
worked a pit saw slowly through a cherry log. Mule-drawn carts rattled up and down
this plantation "street" bringing barrels of water, firewood for the kitchens, and
charcoal for the forges. As daylight faded, the shops grew silent and the dwellings on
Mulberry Row were animated by the return of Monticello's workers, both black and
white.

Jefferson and Slavery
Jefferson's words and deeds are contradictory on the issue of slavery. Although he drafted the words "all
men are created equal," and worked to limit the stranglehold of slavery on the new country, he personally
found no political or economic remedies for the problem, and trusted that future generations would find a
solution. "But as it is," Jefferson wrote, "we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor
safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.

“Attending to My Farm"
After inspecting the shops on Mulberry Row, Jefferson might have toured his gardens
and farms.
The vegetable and fruit gardens lay just south of Mulberry Row and were surrounded
by a ten-foot high wooden (or "paling") fence. Designed to keep deer and other
foragers out, the boards were placed "so near as not to let even a young hare in." On
at least one occasion, however, the fence failed -- rivals of Jefferson's grandson broke
in and, in the words of the plantation overseer, "did a great deal of damage" while
pelting each other with unripe apples and peaches. Today, a small segment of the
fence has been recreated.

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A "Hanging Garden"
The 1000-foot-long vegetable garden was carved into the protected south side

of Monticello Mountain. The terraced beds were supported by a massive stone
wall, so that one visitor described it as a "hanging garden." The methodical
Jefferson divided the garden into twenty-four "squares," or growing plots,
arranged according to which part of the plant was harvested -- whether "fruits"
(tomatoes, beans), "roots" (beets, carrots), or "leaves" (lettuce, cabbage).

Ferme Ornee
Jefferson also ordered the landscape to create a "ferme ornée," or ornamental farm, combining function
and beauty. For instance, he discussed planting an arbor of different shades of the scarlet runner bean;
arranged adjacent rows of purple, white, and green sprouting broccoli; and planted cherry trees along the
"long, grass walk" of the garden to provide blossoms and shade. In addition to the plantings, Jefferson also
designed a pavilion to overlook the gardens and the majestic view from the mountaintop, and constructed
a series of four circuitous roads, or Roundabouts, that provided access to his fields and offered scenic
carriage rides.

The Scientific Gardener
Tended by elderly slaves (dubbed the "veteran aids") under Jefferson's
supervision, the garden served as both a source of food for Jefferson's family
and a kind of laboratory where Jefferson experimented with 250 varieties of
more than seventy species of vegetables from around the world. Plants in the
garden included squash and broccoli imported from Italy; beans and salsify
collected by the Lewis and Clark expedition, figs from France, and peppers from
Mexico. Jefferson documented his successes and failures in his Garden Book,
noting, for instance the dates when seeds were planted, when leaves appeared,
and when their fruits came "to table." He applied his analytical mindset to gardening, writing that "I am
curious to select one or two of the best species or variety of every garden vegetable, and to reject all
others."

The Fruitery
Jefferson applied this same philosophy to the orchards and vineyard, which lay further down

the south slope of the mountain. In addition to growing hardier apples, peaches, and cherries,
Jefferson experimented with harder-to-grow pears, plums, almonds, and apricots, at which he
succeeded only rarely. Jefferson also planted "berry squares" for currants, gooseberries, and
raspberries, and beds for strawberries and figs. He noted his favorites of each fruit, declaring,
for instance, that the Carnation cherry was "so superior to all others that no other deserves
the name of cherry."

The Vineyard
Similarly, Jefferson experimented with a variety of old and new world grape vines. Jefferson believed that
his native land had the "soil, aspect, and climate of the best wine countries" and that "We could, in the
United States, make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly of the same kinds, but
doubtless as good." Though he aspired to make a Monticello-grown wine, his continual replanting of the
vineyards suggests a losing struggle with grape cultivation. Many of his imported vines were probably
dead on arrival, others were not planted properly, and some European vines were virtually impossible to
grow in America before the development of modern pesticides. Nonetheless, Jefferson searched for native
vines as an alternative, supported others' efforts, and amassed an impressive collection of wines from
around the world.

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Touring the Farm on Horseback
Following his inspection of the vegetable and fruit gardens, Jefferson would likely mount a horse and visit
his five outlying farms (Lego, Milton, Pantops, Shadwell, and Tufton), which covered approximately 5,000
acres. In the fields, he might check on the cutting of clover, the clearing of land for the fall grain planting,
and the threshing of the June wheat crop. Jefferson was "attached to horticulture by inclination" and
believed that "those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God." He applied his love of good
design to agriculture by innovating a portable version of the Scottish threshing machine. In addition, he
received an award from the French Society of Agriculture for his invention of a plow moldboard that was,
he claimed, "mathematically demonstrated to be perfect."

Of his daily inspections, Jefferson wrote: "From breakfast, or noon at the latest, to dinner, I am mostly on
horseback, Attending to My Farm or other concerns, which I find healthful to my body, mind, and affairs."
Towards the end of his life, Jefferson noted that though he was "too feeble, indeed, to walk much," he rode
"without fatigue six or eight miles a day, and sometimes thirty or forty."

"Museum... In the Entrance of the House"
In the afternoon, Thomas Jefferson might have greeted newly-arrived visitors in
the Entrance Hall. The large number of guests at Monticello is suggested by the
twenty-eight black-with-gold-trim Windsor chairs that were in the room to
accommodate visitors while they waited to be received by their host.

Visitors To Monticello
Jefferson's daughter Martha remembered having as many as fifty overnight
guests at one time in the twelve-bedroom house. After Jefferson's retirement
from the presidency, guests -- including curious sightseers -- flocked to Monticello in such numbers that he
designed and occasionally retreated to a second home named Poplar Forest, some seventy miles from
Monticello. Overnight guests ranged from family members who stayed for weeks at a time to international
figures. James and Dolley Madison visited so often that the family came to call one of the first-floor
bedrooms the "Madison Room."

The Mountaintop Museum
The Entrance Hall was the only room in Monticello that guests were guaranteed to see -- and it is the first
one that visitors see today. Thomas Jefferson, always eager to educate, filled the room with such a variety
of natural, historic, and artistic pieces that several guests described the room as a "museum" in their
letters.

The New World
Among the artifacts in the room was a sampling of Jefferson's map collection
of the ancient and then-modern world; his entire grouping of maps and plans
numbered more than 350. Building on this interest in the world around him,

Jefferson displayed many minerals, fossils, bones, and antlers, some of them
gathered on the Lewis and Clark expedition that he sponsored as president.
Jefferson had a particular interest in documenting native species, in part
because he wanted to refute claims made by a French scientist that life forms
in the New World were inferior to those of the Old.

Jefferson instructed Lewis and Clark to study Native American cultures, recording their "language,
traditions, monuments; their ordinary occupations in agriculture, fishing, hunting, war, arts . . . ; their food,
clothing and domestic accommodations; and articles of commerce." Through the explorers, Jefferson
issued invitations to tribal chiefs to visit him in Washington, D.C. -- some of whom did. Among the items

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displayed in what Jefferson called his "Indian Hall" were carved stone figures, a painted buffalo robe, an
Indian map on a buffalo hide, weapons, and garments.

Arts And Politics
In addition to exploring nature, the contents of the Entrance Hall also chronicled the birth of the young
nation. Artwork -- such as paintings of Biblical scenes -- illustrated moral teachings, perhaps ones that
Jefferson found essential in the development of the United States. Busts of the French thinkers, Voltaire
and Turgot, held a prominent place in the room, just as these men did in influencing Jefferson's ideas about
government. Busts of Hamilton and Jefferson, political adversaries, were placed together, but facing one
another -- Jefferson wryly explained that the two would be "opposed in death as in life." Guests at
Monticello -- as recently as Vice President Al Gore -- have found humor in the fact that Jefferson's own
statue is significantly larger than Hamilton's. Jefferson also displayed an engraving of the "Signing of the
Declaration of Independence," and kept several printed facsimiles of the Declaration (as well as Jefferson's
rough draft) in his home. Jefferson used these pieces to relate his first-hand experiences in crafting our
democracy.
Aside from its collection, the Entrance Hall itself is unique. Two memorable features are the Great Clock

that shows the second, minute, hour, and day of the week, and the unusual grass-green floor, suggested
by the artist Gilbert Stuart.

"Dinner is Served"
Guests to Monticello noted that the first dinner bell customarily rang at three
o'clock, and the second called them to the table at four. When they arrived in
the Dining Room, they quite likely found Thomas Jefferson reading. Having a
self-described "canine appetite for reading" and hating to waste even a
moment waiting for others to gather, he kept books on the fireplace mantel.

"Dined at the President's"
Dinner was the largest of the two meals of the day, though tea was often served later. While no visitors
recorded menus of dinners at Monticello, we do have descriptions of meals served
at the President's House (now the White House) during Jefferson's terms.
Jefferson's presidency was marked by lavish hospitality; in the words of one guest,
"Never before had such dinners been given in the President's House."

Another guest describes a relatively "inelegant" meal: "Dined at the P.'s
[President's] -- . . . Dinner not as elegant as when we dined before. Rice soup,
round of beef, turkey, mutton, ham, loin of veal, cutlets of mutton or veal, fried
eggs, fried beef, a pie called macaroni . . . . Ice cream very good . . .; a dish
somewhat like pudding . . . covered with cream sauce -- very fine. Many other
jimcracks [nuts, sweetmeats, and fruit], a great variety of fruit, plenty of wines,
and good." Aside from the food, guests at the President's House during Jefferson's
tenure were often surprised (and occasionally offended) by his practice of seating guests in the "pell-mell,"
or somewhat random, style, rather than according to rank.

"Half-Virginian, Half-French Style"
Jefferson's culinary preferences were in part formed during his years as Minister to France. Even before his
time abroad, Jefferson had arranged for a French chef in Annapolis, Maryland, to train one of his slaves. On

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learning of his diplomatic appointment, Jefferson decided to bring his slave James Hemings with him to
study "the art of cookery."
Family recipes that have survived -- eight in Jefferson's own hand -- include boeuf à la mode (a beef stew),
blanc mange (almond cream), and nouilly à maccaroni (a pasta dough). Outside of France, Jefferson
enjoyed delicacies such as waffles in Holland. On his return to America, many such dishes, including ice
cream, were considered novelties. He also imported a variety of foods, such as Italian olive oil and French
mustard.
The French influence endured at Jefferson's table for the rest of his life: in 1824, Daniel Webster noted that
dinners at Monticello were "served in half Virginian, half French style, in good taste and abundance."

"Vegetables. . . Constitute My Principal Diet"
Also for health reasons, Jefferson ate meat only "as a condiment to the vegetables which constitute my
principal diet." Many family members remarked on this habit, and though we cannot call Jefferson a
vegetarian as defined today, for his time, he did eat an unusually small amount of meat, preferring the
produce of his garden. The garden featured more than 250 varieties of herbs and vegetables, including
those that others considered exotic or even possibly poisonous, such as the tomato.

Self-Service
Dinner at Monticello was an occasion for lively, lingering conversation, and Jefferson did not want talk to be
hindered by the presence of house slaves, who might either interrupt or eavesdrop. Consequently,
Jefferson and his guests served themselves with the help of a collection of dumbwaiters, two of which were
hidden in the fireplace and were used to bring wine up from the cellar.

"When the Flowers Were In Bloom"
Following dinner, Thomas Jefferson, his family, and their guests might have
spent a cool evening enjoying the gardens of Monticello.

A Family Affair
The flower gardens captivated the family's interest, and Jefferson's
daughters and granddaughters worked the plots themselves, often with the
help of an elderly slave. Granddaughter Ellen remembered scenes during
Jefferson's retirement at Monticello:
"Then, when spring returned, how eagerly we watched the first appearance of the shoots above ground.
What joy it was for one of us to discover the tender green breaking through the mould, and run to
grandpapa to announce, that we really believed Marcus Aurelius was coming up, or the Queen of Amazons
was above ground . . . . Then when the flowers were in bloom, and we were in ecstasies over the rich
purple and crimson, or pure white, or delicate lilac, or pale yellow of the blossoms, how he would
sympathize in our admiration, or discuss with my mother and elder sister new groupings and combinations
and contrasts. Oh, these were happy moments for us and for him!"

"A Winding Walk"
Jefferson designed the groupings, combinations, and contrasts of the flowers
carefully. He created his final plan for the West Lawn in 1807, as he anticipated
retiring from the presidency. A letter to granddaughter Anne Randolph contained
his sketch and ideas, which called for oval beds at the corners of the house, and "a
winding walk . . . with a narrow border of flowers on each side." In 1807 and 1808
the oval beds and the serpentine walk were laid out.

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As the family and guests walked along the roundabout path, they could admire a vast array of flowers.
Corresponding with gardeners around the world, Jefferson collected hundreds of varieties, asking
particularly for ones which were "handsome plants or fragrant." Well represented among the flowers were
bulbs such as tulips, perhaps because they were easily transported; and New World curiosities, including
the Jeffersonia diphylla (twinleaf). Named in Jefferson's honor in 1792, this delicate wildflower blooms

around April 13, the date of its namesake's birth.

"A Beautiful Lawn"
Inside the roundabout flower borders, noted Jefferson's overseer, was "a beautiful lawn of two or three
acres, where his grandchildren used to play a great deal." An 1825 watercolor of Monticello by a family
friend shows grandson George Wythe Randolph rolling a hoop, and letters of family members and visitors
describe Jefferson as the organizer and official of the grandchildren's races.

"Pet Trees"
Trees are an important part of Jefferson's landscape design, and he
planted more than 160 species at Monticello. Visitors were often given a
tour of what one guest referred to as Jefferson's "pet trees." Inspired by
the open English landscape, Jefferson also created a grove. Jefferson
realized that Virginia's hot summers made shade desirable ("our
Elysium"), so he planned for eighteen acres of trees pruned high. While
the high branches provided an umbrella-like covering, the clearing below
created open views of the managed undergrowth.

"A Delightful Recreation"
From the West Lawn, Thomas Jefferson, family, and guests could walk up the stairs
on the West Portico to reach the Parlor, one of three rooms in Monticello that were
part of Jefferson's original plan for the home in 1769. The Parlor was a public
room, designed for conversation, music, games, and reading.

Music And Games
Jefferson wrote that music "furnishes a delightful recreation
for the hours of respite from the cares of the day, and lasts us through life." The
Parlor was the site for many of these hours of "delightful recreation." Jefferson
himself played violin, and his wife, daughters, and granddaughters played several
instruments, including the pianoforte, harpsichord, and guitar. Jefferson's namesake

grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, recalled that before his grandfather "lost his
taste for the violin, he would play on it, having his grandchildren dancing around him.
The Parlor held folding tables for games, such as a chess set that according to family tradition was a gift
from the French court to Jefferson, an avid player. Another amusement was the camera obscura, a
predecessor to the modern camera, which was used by the grandchildren as an aid in drawing and possibly
in making silhouettes.

"Little Circle Of Readers”
On quieter evenings, the family gathered to read. Jefferson's granddaughter Virginia
Randolph Trist wrote: "When the candles were brought, all was quiet immediately,

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for he took up his book to read; and we would not speak out of a whisper, lest we should disturb him, and
generally we followed his example and took a book; and I have seen him raise his eyes from his own book,
and look round on the little circle of readers and smile."

A Room For Celebrations
The Parlor was the site of celebrations, as well, including weddings and christenings. The walls were,
according to one guest, "hung with pictures from floor to ceiling." Among the more than fifty paintings in
the Parlor were copies of Old Master classics and portraits of significant figures from history. In addition,
the floor was made of a parquet design in beech and cherry, one of the first of its kind in America. Among
the most remarkable features of the room -- then and now -- are the single-acting double doors (doors.qt,
780K). When either of the glass doors is opened or closed, the other follows in a mirror-like fashion.
To accommodate guests and family, there were a large number and variety of chairs, ranging from sofas
that doubled as sleeping quarters for overnight guests to campeachy chairs. Jefferson admired the
campeachy, or "siesta," chairs (pictured at left) because "Age, its infirmities and frequent illnesses have
rendered indulgence in that easy kind of chair truly acceptable." Granddaughter Ellen recalled seeing
Jefferson in the campeachy chair, "where, in the shady twilight, I was used to see him resting."

"Sanctum Sanctorum"
In the late evening, Thomas Jefferson retired to his private suite of rooms, what one
guest called his "sanctum sanctorum." The suite arrangement was a feature he had
seen in France, and consisted of four connected rooms: his Bedroom; Study, or
Cabinet; Greenhouse; and Book Room. In these rooms, Jefferson pursued any of several
activities, ranging from architecture and astronomy to the more mundane, accounting.

Architecture: "One of My Favorite Amusements"
Jefferson was a self-taught architect who learned the art by studying books on the subject. He particularly
admired the work of the Renaissance Italian Andrea Palladio, whose Four Books of Architecture
Jefferson reportedly referred to as "the Bible." Among Jefferson's first creations was the original Monticello,
which he later significantly revised. In addition, he designed the Virginia State Capitol, planned the
University of Virginia, and worked with Pierre Charles L'Enfant to create the city plan
for Washington, D.C.

Science: "My Supreme Delight"
Jefferson also used the Cabinet for experiments, claiming that "Nature intended me
for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight."
Jefferson read widely in the sciences, and corresponded frequently with enthusiasts
worldwide. His Cabinet was filled with devices for observing, measuring, and
recording nature. Influenced by Enlightenment thinkers like Sir Isaac Newton, Jefferson believed that a
rational system of order governed the natural world, and that by applying these rules of science, the
condition of man could be improved.
Fascinated with almost every aspect of science, Jefferson was particularly interested in those fields like
astronomy, which were informed "by the aid of mathematical calculation," perhaps because he noted that
"No two men can differ on a principle of trigonometry." As Secretary of State, Jefferson established
America's decimal system of currency, and argued unsuccessfully for the adoption of a decimal system of
weights and measures. President of the American Philosophical Society for seventeen years and the only
American of his time to be elected as a foreign associate of the Institute of France, Jefferson was known

internationally as a man of learning. Today he is recognized, in the late Jefferson scholar Dumas Malone's

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words, "as an American pioneer in numerous branches of sciences, notably paleontology, ethnology,
geography, and botany."

Accounting: "A Miserable Arithmetic"
Jefferson may also have devoted time in the evening to his finances. He was a careful accountant, utilizing
the double-entry system in his highly detailed ledgers. Unfortunately, Jefferson's debts, initially inherited
from his wife's father, increased throughout his life, leading him to describe his accounts as "a miserable
arithmetic." In his last years Jefferson wrote that he was "over whelmed at the prospect of the situation in
which I may leave my family." Despite efforts to protect the house, Jefferson's debts caused Monticello and
its contents to be sold after his death.

Reading: "I Cannot Live without Books"
Perhaps Jefferson's favorite evening activity was reading. He wrote to John
Adams, "I cannot live without books," and throughout his life, he collected
almost 9,000 volumes. Preferring the classics, he read in seven languages
and made it a rule "never to read translations where I can read the original."
Commenting on his daily routine, he wrote: "I never go to bed without an
hour, or half hour's previous reading of something moral, whereon to
ruminate in the intervals of sleep." For Jefferson, this moral reading might
have been his own extracts from the Gospels, "The Life and Morals of Jesus of
Nazareth."
In 1819, at the age of seventy-six, Jefferson wrote that he slept "five to eight hours, according as my
company or the book I am reading interests me."

"All my wishes end . . . at Monticello"

Jefferson once wrote a friend, "All my wishes end, where I hope my days will end, at
Monticello." After seventeen years of retirement, dwelling "in the midst" of his
grandchildren, with his books and his farm, Jefferson's days did end at Monticello, on
July 4, 1826.

The Jubilee of Independence
Jefferson died, perhaps appropriately, on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of
Independence. On June 24, 1826, Jefferson's physician was called to his bedside because of an illness, and
his condition worsened until he lost consciousness on July 2. From then on, Jefferson slept fitfully, waking
only to inquire whether it were yet the Fourth of July. Around noon on the fourth -- the Jubilee of
Independence -- Jefferson died in bed at the age of eighty-three. Coincidentally, his friend, colleague, and
co-signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams, died just hours later that day.

"I Wish Most to be Remembered . . ."
After his death, a family member found a sketch prepared by Jefferson, containing instructions for his
tombstone. Jefferson desired that his grave be marked by an obelisk inscribed with the three
accomplishments for which he most wished to be remembered, "and not a word more":

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HERE WAS BURIED
THOMAS JEFFERSON
AUTHOR OF THE
DECLARATION
OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
OF THE
STATUTE OF VIRGINIA
FOR

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
AND FATHER OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Conspicuously missing is the fact that Jefferson held all of the higher offices of political service, including
governor of Virginia, secretary of state, vice president, and, of course, president.

Monticello after Jefferson
Jefferson died in debt, a situation made more severe by the financial failure of a friend whose notes
Jefferson had endorsed. In January 1827, Monticello's furnishings and slaves were auctioned, and in the
years that followed various sightseers came to the home, finding "souvenirs" among any remaining items,
including plants, architectural elements, and chips off of Jefferson's grave. In 1831, the estate was sold to
an apothecary, James Turner Barclay, who used the property in an attempt to raise silkworms.
In 1834, the house was purchased by Uriah P. Levy, a Jewish Naval officer who admired Jefferson's
contributions to religious liberty and who believed that Monticello should be preserved as a monument.
The house remained in the Levy family's care for a period covering eighty-nine years, with a long exception
during and following the Civil War. The Levy family made needed repairs to the house and purchased
additional Jefferson property, setting the stage for modern preservation efforts.

Monticello Today
In 1923 the nonprofit Thomas Jefferson Foundation was formed for the purpose of
acquiring and preserving Monticello. Money for the purchase was collected through
a national fundraising drive, which included a "pennies for Monticello" effort by
schoolchildren. Since then, the Foundation has owned and operated Monticello with
a dual mission of preservation and education. Today, the significance of Monticello is
recognized internationally -- it is the only house in America on the World Heritage
List, a United Nations compilation of treasures that must be preserved at any cost.

Information retrieved on January 16, 2007 from:
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