...That All Men Are Created Equal...kinda sorta

  May 26, 2011
Charlottesville, VA
Day #14

Has it only been TWO weeks since we left home?  Seems longer. 


The weather was great again today.  We drove only a few miles past some fabulous horse farms to the Thomas Jefferson Home, Monticello.



Monticello

There is a visitors center and museum on the way to the estate, it's also there that we booked our tour.  The time frame worked out well, giving us ample time to go through the museum and view a 20 minute movie.   We had to stifle a laugh when the movie mentioned  that Jefferson 'felt bad about slavery'.   Apparently, he didn't feel too bad, he owned over 650 slaves in his lifetime.  I guess he liked his fabulous lifestyle and 5,000 acre estate more.  Seems quite the contradiction that this author of the Declaration of Independence lived the lifestyle of a wealthy slave owner.  The movie also said that, although it bothered him, he chose to let future generations deal with slavery issue.    Kinda like we are doing now with the national debt!  Some things never change.

Monticello is surrounded by orchards, rolling pastures, and towering trees.  They have a kick ass vegetable garden too!  It was its own sustaining small city, actually, with  a huge wine cellar (Tom REALLY liked wine!) a brewery, ice house, dairy, smoke house...etc.  It was a great tour, and the estate was full of interesting  things, including little inventions that Jefferson was responsible for.  Apparently, he was not much of an orator, one guide told our group, having a high pitched voice.  I whispered to Jim that he probably sounded like Mike Tyson.  I guess I didn't whisper quietly enough...the woman behind us broke into a fit of giggles.

Jim kept wondering if the guide was going to mention 'Sally'  the slave who was mother to several of Jefferson's children.  The very end of the tour the fact was mentioned that DNA evidence proved that fact in 1998.

One thing that Jefferson was responsible for was abolishing a law that gave the eldest son sole right to family inheritance.  Can you imagine how many family feuds that avoided?  Thanks Tom!

After we completed our tour, we had the option of riding the shuttle the half mile back to the parking lot or walking down.  The walk was all downhill, how easy!  The path led through the woods, wide and gravel based through a stunning forest of huge trees.  But it was quite steep...like if I had fallen I could imagine myself tumbling head over heels until I reached the bottom.   Our calves and ankles are letting us know that we are getting too old to do inclines!

A partial list of Jefferson's slaves....Sucky?

Near the end of our tour, I looked at Jim and said,  "You're thinking about that pizza you saw yesterday, aren't you?"   He started to laugh, shook his head and asked how I manage to read his mind so often.  Well, after all this time, it's not difficult. 

We went back to the historic section and into Christians Pizza.  Actually, it was probably one of the healthier pieces of pizza that I've had, very thin crust, with sun dried tomatoes, black olives, artichokes (LOTS of them) and whole fresh basil leaves, drizzled with olive oil and not a lot of cheese.  Excellent.  The only problem is that it is too far away from home....or maybe that's a good thing!

Back at the Charlottesvile KOA, worst WIFI ever

Tomorrow we leave here and travel a short distance away to Fredricksburg, Virginia.  It was the closest we could get to Washington DC, which we will tour next.