Outbuildings and plantation Monticello

jefferson s vegetable garden



plaque commemorating monticello graveyard, owned , operated separately monticello association



monticello graveyard



jefferson grave @ monticello

the main house augmented small outlying pavilions north , south. row of outbuildings (dairy, washhouse, store houses, small nail factory, joinery etc.) , slave s quarters (log cabins), known mulberry row, lay nearby south. stone weaver s cottage survives, tall chimney of joinery, , foundations of other buildings. cabin on mulberry row was, time, home of sally hemings, household slave believed have had 38-year relationship widower jefferson , have borne 6 children him, 4 of whom survived adulthood. genealogist helen f.m. leary concluded chain of evidence securely fastens sally hemings s children father, thomas jefferson. later hemings lived in room in south dependency below main house.

on slope below mulberry row, slaves maintained extensive vegetable garden jefferson , main house. in addition growing flowers display , producing crops eating, jefferson used gardens of monticello experimenting different species. house center of plantation of 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) tended 150 slaves. there 2 houses included in whole.

programming

in recent decades, tjf has created programs more interpret lives of slaves @ monticello. beginning in 1993, researchers interviewed descendants of monticello slaves getting word project, collection of oral history provided new insight lives of slaves @ monticello , descendants. (among findings no slaves adopted jefferson surname, many had own surnames 18th century.)

new research, publications , training guides has been added since 2000, when foundation s research committee concluded highly jefferson had fathered sally hemings children.

some of mulberry row has been designated archeological sites, excavations , analysis revealing slave life @ plantation. in winter of 2000–2001, slave burial ground @ monticello discovered. in fall of 2001, thomas jefferson foundation held commemoration of burial ground, in names of known slaves of monticello read aloud. additional archeological work providing information african-american burial practices.

in 2003 monticello welcomed reunion of descendants of jefferson both wayles , hemings sides of family. organized descendants, have created new group called monticello community. additional , larger reunions have been held.

land purchase

in 2004, trustees acquired mountaintop farm (also known locally patterson s or brown s mountain), property overlooks monticello. jefferson had called taller mountain montalto. prevent development of new homes on site, trustees spent $15 million purchase property. jefferson had owned part of plantation, sold off after death. in 20th-century, farmhouses divided apartments many university of virginia students. officials @ monticello had long considered property eyesore, , planned acquire when became available.