Monticello / Jefferson Faq

Jefferson was born April 13, 1743 at Shadwell, a slave plantation in central Virginia. He was the third child of Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor, and Jane Randolph Jefferson, the daughter of a well-known Virginia family. His father died when Thomas was fourteen but he left Jefferson with a love of books, mathematics and the outdoors.

The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million dollars.

Jefferson spent seven years in Williamsburg, first pursuing a course of study at the College of William and Mary from March 1760 until April 1762 and then reading law with George Wythe. During his two years at William and Mary, he studied primarily under Dr. William Small, which Jefferson felt was, "my great good fortune, and what probably fixed the destinies of my life."

Jefferson freed two men in his lifetime and bequeathed freedom to five men in his will. All were sons or grandsons of Elizabeth (Betty) Hemings. At least three others were unofficially freed, when he allowed them to run away without pursuit (Beverly Hemings, Harriet Hemings, and James Hemings, son of Critta Hemings Bowles).

Thomas Jefferson served two terms as President of the United States: 1801-1809

Monticello's thirteen skylights include the Dome Room oculus; two large skylights over the Dining Room and Jefferson's Bedchamber; the ones over three third-floor bedrooms; the ones over the two stairwells; and two over privy shafts.

About one-third of the window glass is original.

Thomas Jefferson lived in Paris from August 1784 to September 1789; five years that were, according to Lucia Stanton and Douglas L. Wilson, "arguably the most memorable of his life. Paris—with its music, its architecture, its savants and salons, its learning and enlightenment, not to mention its elegant social life…had worked its enchantments on this rigidly self-controlled Virginia gentleman, and had stimulated him to say and do and write remarkable things."

Jefferson was sent to Paris by Congress to join American Ministers Plenipotentiary Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. When Franklin returned to America in 1785, Jefferson succeeded him.

Monticello has 11,000 square feet of living area. This does not include the pavilions of the rooms under the terraces.

About 60 percent of the furnishings on display at Monticello are or may be items original to Jefferson. Other items are period pieces or reproductions of original pieces. In 1993, the Foundation commemorated the 250th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson with a catalog and loan exhibition, "The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello." More than 150 objects and works of art once belonging to Jefferson returned to Monticello, and many of those items remain on exhibit.

There are eight fireplaces and two openings for stoves on the main floor of the house.

Jefferson remodeled Monticello extensively in the 1790s. In his bedroom he added a skylight and a partition wall to form a bed alcove below and a closet above. The closet was reached by a steep stair or ladder. The elliptical openings in the closet provided light and ventilation.

When most people think of Monticello, they envision the dome and west-facing, columned portico shown on the nickel. But the dome and West Portico are not, strictly speaking, the "front" of the house. In fact, Jefferson never spoke of a single "front." Instead he spoke of both an "east front" and a "west front." As in Jefferson's day, visitors today enter through the columned portico of the East Front into the Entrance Hall. Presumably only the family and their guests ever used the door on the West Front, which opens into the Parlor.

Although quite beautiful with its large circular windows and oculus skylight, the function of the Dome Room is not completely understood. The only known long-term occupants were Jefferson's grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph and his bride, Jane Hollins Nicholas, who lived in the room for a number of months starting in 1815. By Jefferson's death, if not before, the room had become primarily a storage area.

There are a total of forty-three rooms in the entire structure: thirty-three in the house itself (cellar, twelve; first floor, eleven; second floor, six; third floor, four); four in the pavilions; and six under the South Terrace. The stable and carriage bays under the North Terrace are not included in these totals. The first design of Monticello had fourteen rooms total (cellar, six; first floor, five; second floor, three).

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.

The cornerstone of the University of Virginia was laid in 1817 and the university opening in 1825.