And so this journey begins! You might have noticed beneath my blog title the words. “Read Ten Thousand Books. Walk Thousand Miles.” This was inspired by a famous Chinese proverb (I explain this in my About Me section). As I begin to document my own thoughts and experiences, I start with traveling. This past weekend, I took a day-trip with some of my close college friends to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and also go to see a tiny glimpse of Charlottesville, VA (I’ll talk more about that in another post). Thomas Jefferson’s mountain top home was beautiful. I enjoyed catching an important bit U.S. history and seeing what life might have been like for one of our founding fathers. In addition, it was interesting to also see a part of our history, that Jefferson was indeed one of the largest slave owners in Virginia at the time, that often is glossed over in textbooks.
Work first began on Monticello in 1768. The building went through many different faces and Jefferson continued to work on designing and rebuilding the structure until his death in 1826. That’s a long time to work on a house! The entire house is very interesting and it’s clear that Jefferson built a house that was specifically for him. For instance, his bed is bookended by walls and he can climb out of his bed and either be in his study or in his “bedroom.” He had to climb stairs just to reach his closet! There are also antlers everywhere! One thing I did love was his love for books! He collected a large number of books throughout his lifetime (most of it was given to the Government to start the humble beginnings of the Library of Congress) and I hope that I one day can have a lovely library of my own. Overall, I can’t say I would enjoy living in the house personally, but it certainly fit his needs!
We were able to walk through some of the gardens (note the vegetable garden above) of the property and catch the breathtaking views from the mountaintop. Apparently, Jefferson could see UVA but someone standing on the grounds of UVA would not be able to view Monticello. Creepy, right? Just, kidding! 🙂 This is also where the Slavery at Monticello tours were held and our tour guide presented us with many stores regarding slavery at Monticello. You can learn more about the plantation and slavery here. I’d definitely recommend taking a trip here if you get a chance! Have you been to Monticello? What were your thoughts? Is there another [historic] house that I should travel to?
My Favourite Book 