After the excitement of the USC blowout we decided to slow it down a notch and take a huge step back into American History and visit Monticello. Driving through the magnificent country roads near Charlottesville surrounded by full grown, bright green trees was a treat in itself. Turning onto our third presidents driveway you could immediately see why he loved Monticello so much. The grounds surrounding his house on the hill were in full bloom and looked amazing. After we bought our tickets (along side many other USC fans) we were put in a shuttle, headed up to the top of the hill, and dropped in front of the main house. It looked just like the back of a nickel...literally. It should since it is on the back of the nickel (in case you didn't know). We walked around the grounds while we waited for our guided tour inside the house. While we were visiting the gardens we joined the plantation tour all ready in progress. It was a little sad to hear about all the things that Thomas Jefferson probably didn't want to be remembered for. For instance, DNA points to the fact that Thomas was most likely the father to one of his slaves (Sally Hemings) 6 children. He also had over 200 slaves and he only freed 2 in his life and 4 in his will (they all were Hemings decedents...coincidence?). I find it funny that Thomas was so outspoken on the immorality of slavery yet owned and refused to free his many slaves. Don't get me wrong, Thomas Jefferson was a great man and did many amazing things for this country. Most notably, writing the Declaration of Independence, spearheading the Louisiana Purchase and founding the University of Virginia. Not to mention being our 3rd President. He also was very kind and generous man. He was a very devoted scholar, architect, horticulturist, paleontologist, and enjoyed a good glass of wine, daily. He went out of his way to fight for equality and abolish slavery. He even signed a bill in 1807 abolishing slave trade. Yet historians say that Jefferson was in so much debt that he couldn't afford to free his own slaves. After his death his slaves were sold to pay off his debts. In Jeffersons behalf it was recorded that Thomas was a very fair and kind slave owner. It is also said that Thomas allowed some of his slaves to receive an education. This was very rare during that time.
Anyway, back to Monticello. We headed down to see Thomas Jefferson's grave stone and then our time to go in the house had arrived. The house tour was very interesting and our tour guide was very informative. I was surprised that the rooms were so small and that the molding and woodwork were only appointed to the lower level of the house (I guess in those days they only put effort into the part of the house that important guests were allowed to see). I also enjoyed walking through the many rooms under the house. Peyton liked the fancy shaped children's blocks. Sterling liked beating daddy in a quick game of old fashioned checkers and Tanner enjoyed writing with a quill feather pen. All in all, we all had a great day visiting Monticello.
Down the road from Monticello was the home of James Monroe our 5th president (Tanner and Sterling have been memorizing the presidents and currently can dictate up to the 25th president....just a bragging mom) we didn't go in but did drive by to snap a picture. The boys found it pretty funny that the 3rd and 5th president were neighbors. 
