Thursday, June 26, 2008

Independence Day at Monticello

In my opinion, there is no better day to visit Monticello than July 4th. Thomas Jefferson preferred to celebrate Independence Day rather than his own birthday (April 13th). As he said in his last political statement:

May [July 4] be to the world, what I believe it will be -- to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all -- the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form [of government] which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.


The Thomas Jefferson Foundation also invites the public to Monticello every July 4th, to attend a Naturalization Ceremony for what is usually over 100 people who wish to become citizens of the United States. Here's a video clip on YouTube of Sam Waterston, as the speaker for the Naturalization Ceremonies in 2007, and a transcript of his speech.

NOTE: The speaker this year was actually the sitting President, George Bush.

I suggest you get there at least an hour early and take a walk around the mountaintop while waiting for the ceremony to start. Although you must buy tickets for the House Tour, the Gardens and Grounds Tour, and the Plantation Community Tour (all are included in one ticket), there is still plenty to see. If you feel like seeing everything, you can buy another ticket to see Montalto, the Jefferson property on the next mountain west that the Foundation acquired in the past couple of years.

What I like to do is take a walk through the vegetable garden, walk down Mulberry Row, and follow the path down the mountain. I always stop at the Monticello Cemetery, where there is a wreath-laying ceremony after the Naturalization Ceremony. It's a beautiful walk (about half a mile long, but not handicap accessible) and gives you time to contemplate the founding of our nation over two hundred years ago.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Charlottesville as the Center of the Universe - A meditation on books

Sometimes, in conversations with people from Charlottesville or the University of Virginia, one gets the impression that we believe Charlottesville is the Center of the Universe. We don't actually believe that. Really.

Sometimes it just seems as if Charlottesville is the center around which all things move.

I was reading the Washington Post this morning, as I do every Sunday morning, and by some strange confluence of ideas, two of the books reviewed in the Post's Book World magazine have connections to Charlottesville, and there's a small blurb on Charlottesville in the Travel section of the paper. I'm always amazed at what varied topics are related to this area, so I thought I'd give those who have a "Charlottesville Reading List" the heads-up on these books.

Most closely related to this area, in my opinion, is The Billionaire's Vinegar; The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine, by Benjamin Wallace. Wallace gives a non-fiction account of intrigue and mystery that centers around several bottles of wine that purportedly belonged to Thomas Jefferson. The researchers at Monticello's Jefferson Library at Kenwood are involved in this mystery.

American Eye; Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the "It" Girl, and the Crime of the Century by Paula Uruburu, is a more distant connection. Nesbit, a showgirl, had had an affair with architect Stanford White of McKim, Mead, and White of New York, when she was only 17 and he was in his 40s. Nesbit eventually married millionaire Harry K. Thaw, who in 1906, murdered White by shooting him point-blank during a show at Madison Square Garden. What is the connection to Charlottesville, you ask? McKim, Mead, and White was the architectural firm that renovated the University of Virginia's Rotunda (in fact, the Rotunda was Stanford White's project), and which designed Carr's Hill (the University President's mansion) and Old Cabell Hall.

Another interesting book (it came out in 2006) is Archie and Amelie; Love and Madness in the Gilded Age, by Donna M. Lucey. Amelie was Amelie Rives, a granddaughter of Senator William Cabell Rives. She was a popular writer of sensational novels who owned Castle Hill on Louisa Road (Rt. 22) in Albemarle County. The story is fascinating, reminding us that even the rich can behave badly.