February 17, 2009: James Madison's Montpelier

The major event for today was seeing President James Madison's home in Montpelier Station, VA (outside of Charlottesville, VA). The drive from Winchester, VA to the Madison home was about two hours. Much of it was on state routes. There was a lot of beautiful scenery as the road went through farm lands with rolling hills and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background. See the photos.

Madison's home is along the Constitution Highway. It is a long drive off the road to finally get to the visitor center. The final private owners of the home were members of the DuPont Family. They tripled the size of the already large home. The last owner stipulated in her will that the property should be given to the National Historic Trust and returned to its state when Madison lived there. This meant that a total renovation was necessary, including demolition of everything added by the DuPonts.

The weather was nice and sunny but fairly nippy outside.

I visited the home for the first time in October, 2007. It was under total reconstruction. A small part of the DuPont structure was still present. The floors were unfinished. Some of the stairs were not finished. Some of the walls had to be reconstructed (including the wall of the room where Madison died). At that point, they said it would be totally finished on Constitution Day, 2008 (September 17th).

When I returned, substantial work was done. However, none of the furniture was in place and original artwork was also not in place. The floors were mostly complete. The tour this time focused more on the Madisons and less on construction (which was the focus of the 2007 tour). It was a good tour overall. See exterior photos.

In one of the upstairs rooms, Madison wrote the draft of what would become the U.S. Constitution. The tour guide noted ink stains on the floor. These were dated to somewhere between 1800 and 1810, so there is no chance they were from the draft of the Constitution. This was Madison's study where he had thousands of books when he lived there.

After visiting the house, I saw the kitchens, which were in the basement and available for a self-guided tour. These had not yet been developed in 2007. (Photos will be posted tonight or tomorrow.)

I also visited the "Garden Temple" which was is the only remaining structure outside of the mansion from Madison's days. Madison would go to this structure to contemplate the new republic. See the photos.

Finally, I saw the Madison family cemetery, which is located on the property. President Madison and Dolley Madison are both buried there, along with various family members. Madison simply had his name and dates listed on his monument, according to his wishes. Nothing was listed about his political achievements. (As a side note, his friend Thomas Jefferson hated the presidency so much that he too did not want it listed on his monument.) Dolley Madison moved to Washington, D.C. after Madison's death. She was originally buried in the Congressional Cemetery. Years later, her remains were moved to the cemetery at Montpelier, next to her husband. See the photos.

(In my October 2007 visit, I toured the homes of Jefferson (Monticello), Monroe (Ashlawn-Highland), and Madison (Montpelier) all in one day. I was so exhausted by the time I saw Montpelier that I never bothered to see the Garden Temple. I simply wanted to get on the road to the next hotel, which was four hours away. I also forgot to visit the cemetery.)

After we finished visiting Montpelier, we had to get on the road to our destination in North Carolina, which was a four hour drive.

February 16, 2009: Start of a new trip

A friend is attending an event in North Carolina this week. He invited me to come along. I thought it would be a good break from the winter blahs.

Today we drove to Winchester, Virginia. Along the way, we passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia.

We stayed at the George Washington Hotel. The hotel is very elegant and is located in a historic part of town. My friend got a great rate on it via Hotwire.com.

For dinner, we went to a Thai restaurant. This is the first time I ate at a Thai restaurant. The food was delicious. I chose the medium level of spicyness but could have gone to the next higher level.

Tomorrow we'll be seeing President James Madison's home in Montpelier Station, VA.