Charlottesville and Thomas Jefferson

*Part one of Charlottesville 2019

Charlottesville is three hours away from DC – just far enough away that it can’t quite be a day trip but just close enough to make you wonder “do I really need to devote a whole weekend to this?” In the case of Charlottesville, the answer is yes, yes you do. I spent last weekend in Charlottesville, arriving Friday evening and leaving late Sunday afternoon.

Charlottesville’s main claim to fame is the legacy of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s home Monticello is just outside the city, and the Charlottesville is home to the University of Virginia (UVA) which Jefferson founded and designed the campus. Over the weekend I checked out both and, history nerd that I am, I think they are worth a long weekend.

Monticello
I have to start with getting this off my chest – there is no public transportation option to get to Monticello. You’d think there’d at least a bus or something, but no. It’s cars or bust. US infrastructure in a nutshell. If you aren’t a car person like me, you are stuck with cabs/Lyft.

Monticello is beautiful. The visitor’s center is at the bottom of the hill (Monticello means “little mountain” but it was a hill) but the house and grounds are at the top. There is something about being in an historical place, even if it’s only 200 years old. First stop was the tour of the house, which is only accessible by official tour with a guide. Mine was excellent. It focused on Jefferson’s later years rather than the more famous accomplishments, but also discussed the enslaved people at the time. My mind kept jumping to various songs from both 1776 and Hamilton at various times during the tour.

There were two additional tours at Monticello, one on Slavery at Monticello, and one on the Grounds and Botany. The former was terrible – I wasn’t sure if the guide knew the topic of her own tour, given how little time she actually devoted to the enslaved population and the horrors of slavery. The latter was excellent though! Fun fact, any member of the Virginia gentry had to have a chinaberry tree if they wanted their garden to be taken seriously.

I was impressed with the exhibits, however, most of which which focused on the enslaved population. There was a specific one about Sally Hemings and her family. It was brief but very informative (I love a well-done informational placard) and even discussed the issues of consent, or rather lack thereof, for enslaved women. Its very important that historical sites don’t shy away from these things, but address them and grapple with both the good and bad of history.

Both the grounds and the house were littered with souvenirs, including botanical ones, from the Louis and Clark expedition. Logically it makes sense that Louis and Clark would be sending things back to President Jefferson during their expedition, but it definitely never occurred to me. I love seeing how different bits of history intersect. Most of the non-botanical souvenirs were reproductions made recently by Native Americans for the Historical Society to display, aside from one set of elk horns.

University of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson designed UVA, at least the historic campus, and boy does it show. The Neoclassical DNA of the buildings is clearly baked into both. They just look similar enough too have been designed by the same person. Of course, the newer campus is designed to emulate the Neoclassical architecture of the old.

Look familiar?

The most famous bit of the Historic Campus is the Rotunda – which is definitely Monticello’s little brother. The rotunda was beautiful, the interior was clearly Roman-influenced with the oculus in the domed ceiling, but it was pretty dull and barren otherwise. The most interesting thing was a small display, with helpful pamphlets (my second favorite after placards), on African-Americans, both free and enslaved, in the history of the university.

The pamphlet actually showed walking tour of the key sites on African-American history. I tried to follow it but there weren’t any markers or placards or the like on campus corresponding to the map. Or maybe there were, but I looked and didn’t see any. But I did find lovely little courtyard gardens, and read the pamphlet thoroughly there, so I don’t think I missed too much history. Regardless of the lack of placards, UVA is lovely to wander around – particularly because it was almost entirely empty, either due to it being summer or just generally nasty out or both.

Charlottesville is definitely worth visiting. It takes some work to get there, especially if the train is delayed (grrrrrrr) but it’s beautiful. The history isn’t just irritating hero worship, but actually, at least for the most part, legitimately tries to contend with the incredibly dark aspects of their history that often goes ignored or elided past, along with the legitimate triumphs, architecturally if nothing else, that are more commonly known. You only need one weekend in Charlottesville – I have no intention to return – but it is absolutely worth that weekend.