Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s magnificent mountaintop home in Charlottesville, Virginia, has attracted public attention ever since Jefferson’s day, when sightseers regularly visited the grounds in hopes of catching a glimpse of the former president. Today, each year more than half a million people from around the world visit Monticello, the only home in America on the United Nations’ list of World Heritage Sites that must be protected at all costs. Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello is a superb collection of essays, adorned with beautiful color photography, that showcases this American treasure. Designed by Jefferson himself, Monticello is a model of elegance and symmetry. It is also home to Jefferson’s world-class collection of art and porcelain from France, scientific instruments from England, the finest American furniture from Philadelphia and New York, and enduring furnishings made in Monticello’s own joinery by enslaved craftsmen. The celebrated gardens and grounds form an experimental yet breathtakingly lovely landscape featuring flowers, fruits, and vegetables of the Old and New Worlds. Featuring essays by Monticello’s scholarly staff, this stunning book explores all aspects of Jefferson’s home. A section on the plantation and the enslaved community at Monticello provides a larger context in which to place and understand the house, its activities, and its owner.