Results tagged “Monticello” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Historical figures often define a city, their presences lingering long after their deaths. Nowhere is this more the case than in Washington, D.C. Here, you can't avoid history and the legacy of America's great men. I mean, there's a giant white needle in the middle of the city to commemorate our first founding father. You can't miss it even if you try.

A large part of my summer in D.C. has been shaped by one of these great men: Thomas Jefferson. It all started when my grandpa found out I would be in D.C. this summer and sent me his copy of Jefferson's Bible. Yes, it's a real book. Jefferson took issue with the Gospels, considering the authors to be uneducated and to have written them too long after Jesus' death, so he examined a Latin, Greek, French, and English version of the four books of the Bible (aside: Jefferson spoke six languages; legend has it that he learned Spanish on the three week boat trip from America to Spain), and cut and pasted what he liked into a new version of the Gospels.

I sent my grandpa a thank you note, telling him I would return the book upon finishing it and expressing my interest to learn more about Jefferson. Instead, he told me to keep the book and sent me another: a biography of the third president--a compilation of excerpts from letters he had written--that my grandpa had bought when he and his wife had stopped at Monticello on their RV trip across the United States. So, I decided to learn more about the man my grandpa called "a genius, albeit with some human frailties."

First stop: the beautiful Thomas Jefferson Building in the Library of Congress (above), which has an ongoing exhibit on the second floor featuring the books around which the great library developed. When the British burned the Capitol in 1814, the entire Congressional Library was destroyed. Jefferson could relate because when his family home, Shadwell, burned in 1770, he grieved the loss of his books more than anything. So, in a controversial move, he sold his personal library to Congress for $23,950 in 1815. This original library has been restored in the exhibit, with Jefferson's books catalogued in an order he described as "sometimes analytical, sometimes chronological, and sometimes a combination of both." Based on Francis Bacon's method, he divided his books into three categories--Memory, Reason, and Imagination (which included History, Philosophy, and Fine Arts)--and from there, into 44 smaller categories. Two thousand original books remain, while those ruined by fire and wear have been replaced with different versions of the same edition.

I was trying to explain to my non-American husband the other day why we should go to Monticello this summer. It's incredibly unique and fascinating, I said, but I was met with a blank stare. I faltered and whimpered, "Well I was there when I was a kid and...and...it was cool. He invented a lot of cool stuff, penned the Declaration of Independence, was a red-headed president, and his home's on the back of a nickel and..."
   
He's been unconvinced until now, but today I spied Maira Kalman's post on her illustrated blog, "And the Pursuit of Happiness," on www.nytimes.com.

Kalman's spirited post, "Time Wastes Too Fast," brims with biographical info about Jefferson presented in playful white script, whimsical illustrations of Monticello interiors, and photos of its stately façade.

Kalman, an American illustrator, author, artist, and designer, explores the conflicting nature of Jefferson; a slave owner who called slavery an abomination. She touches on his alleged relationship with Sally Hemmings and mentions the ongoing archaeological work at Monticello.

She asserts that to understand the U.S. you must go to Monticello to see "its people and what it means to be optimistic and complex and tragic and wrong and courageous..." Reason enough for my husband; plans are finally underway.

Read more about visiting Monticello the July/August issue of Traveler.

What places have you visited that have helped you better your understanding of a nation and its people on a philosophical level?

Image: Maira Kalman for the New York Times