Monticello - Thomas Jefferson's Home

Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia on April 13, 1743. He married Martha Wayles Skelton (born in Virginia in 1748) in Charles City, Virginia on January 1, 1772. They had six children but two daughters and a son died in infancy.

It was rumored that Thomas Jefferson fathered a child with one of his slaves, a woman named Sally Hemmings but it has never been proved and is often considered that it was an attempt by his political rivals to discredit him.

Jefferson died at home in Monticello on July 4, 1826.

Thomas Jefferson wore many hats including that of scientist, inventor and botanist. He planned and had planted a vegetable garden, a fruit garden and ornamental gardens. There were also two orchards and a vineyard.

The vegetable garden is a 1,000 foot section on the property. It's divided into 20 squares or growing plots which were used to grow the vegetables as a source of food as well as an experimental laboratory. It was called Mulberry Row because Jefferson planted Mulberry trees all along that section.

There's an ornamental bean plant that has the most beautiful orchid-like blossoms and an okra plant that has flowers resembling poppies. There are more varities than I could possibly mention.

Jefferson designed twenty oval flower beds which he placed at the corners of the house. Each was planted with a different species of flower. Some of them were rare at the time and many had been growing in the gardens of Europe for centuries and were introduced to America... Roses, Sweet William and Poppies just to name a few. Some of the flowers in the gardens, today, are very old species that disappeared after Jefferson's death. There has been a great effort to restore them.

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