MONTICELLO, OR, CHEZ WINO

JUNE 7-8, 2012         

We departed Anvil about mid-morning on the 7th for our trek to Charlottesville, where we were to visit a former neighbor and go see Jefferson’s home at Monticello.  From Williamsburg, it’s about 120 miles or so, all on I-64, so a pretty easy drive despite having to skirt Richmond.  Not too many camping options in the area, so we chose to stay in a KOA a ways out of Charlottesville.  It was pretty rustic and had zero cell phone service, but decent wifi.  We had planned to meet with Joyce at her home at 4:00.  She used to live just up the block from us before relocating back east about 8 years ago.  She and Loni carpooled to UCLA so they had years of gab in their background.  We had to wait out a brief drizzle before setting off on the scoot.  About halfway there, on a windy, narrow two-lane road, we came to a dead stop in a long line of vehicles.  Nothing happened for a while, so Loni set off on foot to see what was going on.  She came back and reported it was a three-car head-on collision, with ambulances and police cars galore.  Nobody was going anywhere for a long time.  Other than this road, we had no clue as to how to reroute ourselves.  Our map was a state-sized scale, thus useless for the small roads in the area, and we have no GPS on the scoot.  Gotta remedy that.  We asked a local, who suggested we backtrack to Red Hill (where the KOA was) and take a series of roads to eventually get back to our main route beyond the wreck.  We took off, quickly got lost, and started navigating by dead reckoning.  Then the rain came down and we had to pull over to put on our slickers.  Finally having a couple bars of cell service, we called Joyce who, while a dear soul, isn’t much for directions.  Thinking we were getting close, we pulled off at a large, mansion-like building, which turned out to be a Kappa Epsilon headquarters.  A staffer pointed us in the right direction and we finally arrived at 6:00 – only two hours late.  We brought the wine and Joyce, ever the gracious host, put out a “modest” spread.  Yum.

We had to make this a brief visit (we’d return tomorrow) because the scoot’s headlight isn’t working and we can’t be driving back on these narrow, twisty roads after dark.  We ended up leaving at 8:15, and just barely made it home before the twilight failed.  This is what passes for geriatric excitement.

Friday, we breakfasted on some delish croissants from Joyce, plus fruit and cereal, then headed off to Monticello, pictured above.  What a beautiful place.  We weren’t permitted to take pictures in the upstairs area, but it was very cleverly done with a lot of advanced ideas.  Double-paned windows in his study to keep out the cold.  Two dumb-waiters to bring food and wine up from the cellars.  Skylights above.  A revolving door to admit the servants into the dining room.  This was another of those “I can’t believe I’m standing right where . . .” moments.  You look around and imagine him working in his study, sleeping in that bed.  Very cool.  Construction began in 1769 according to Jefferson's first design, which was completed (except for porticoes and decorative interior woodwork) when he left for Europe in 1784. Work on a new design for remodeling and enlarging the house began in 1796 and was complete by 1809.  He lived here from 1770 until his death in 1826, on the 4th of July. The estate was sold at auction, to pay his debts, but fortunately preserved by its eventual purchase by, first, Jefferson admirer Uriah Levy and then by his nephew, Jefferson Levy, who bequeathed it in the 1920’s to the Jefferson Society.

We did get to explore the lower level, where we could take photos, which had its own interesting items, like this circular “ice house” installed under one of the wings.

Jefferson must have gotten a lot of use out of that dumbwaiter, for he was quite the wino after spending some time in France.  And, he wasn’t drinking two-buck Chuck!  Check out those bottle seals.

Loni says she, from her history readings, had always thought of Jefferson as a lonely man after the early deaths of his wife and 4 of his 6 children.  But, his daughter, Martha, came to live with him as his hostess, first at the White House, and then at Monticello along with her entire family (eleven kids!).  And, of course, there may have been Sally Hemmings.  There is precious little, if anything, about her here.  An interesting factoid is that Jefferson kept a copy of most of the documents he wrote, by means of a “polygraph.”

The grounds outside are impressively laid out, and you can do a lot of walking to get around to see everything.  Monticello sits on a high knoll, with beautiful vistas.  Loni’s standing in front of a Catalpa tree that might date back to Jefferson’s time.

Jefferson is buried on the grounds in the family cemetery.  One of the plaques noted that he chose to be remembered as the “creator” of the Declaration of Independence, the author of Virginia’s religious freedom document, and father of the University of Virginia.  Even without noting his presidency, a nice body of life’s work.

We finished up and took off with a better sense of geography for Joyce’s home and another lovely dinner, this time topped off with a pear/almond/raspberry torte for dessert.  Oh, yes.  I can show a picture of her house, because by the time this gets posted she will have sold it and moved to Edinburgh to live with her sister.  Ahh.  Now we can plan that Scotland-Ireland trip!  I like scones, Joyce!