My mom really wanted us to go to an apple pres, harvest festival kind of thing. So I found one that looked fun. It was out near Charlottesville, VA. This is west from us, in the foothills. UVa is near this town, it is pretty famous in Virginia. Monticello is nearby, it has hip restaurants, and some arts and crafts type stuff.
I knew we wouldn't spend the whole day at the festival, so I decided we should do something else. I really wanted to go to Monticello, but is so so expensive! So we went to James Monroe's house instead.
It rained on and off that whole day, but it was in the mid 60's, so we considered it nice.
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| Pretty view from the car, lots of winding roads, once we got off the highway |
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| Monroe's home is called Ashlawn-Highland. When he lived there these trees did not line the drive, they were planted later. The owners called it Ashlawn, after these Ash trees. But when Monroe lived there it was called Highland. \
Our trip to Highland was really good. The property is beautiful. Part of the house in intact, from when James Monroe lived there with his family. We were not allowed to take photos inside, so no pictures.
It is so much smaller than I imagined. Much smaller than Monticello. Our tour guide was interesting and personable, she loves history and has taught herself so much about Highland and the Monroe family. There was lovely furniture, including a writing desk original to Monroe. A fantastic vest he wore when he worked in Paris, embroidered in Paris, silk on silk. They have a cut away so you can see how the walls were built, since part of the house is original, and has stood on that same spot for so long.
James Monroe was more of a self made man. He was born on a small plantation, which he inherited, but he sought out an education, worked and eventually became a lawyer. His close friend Thomas Jefferson suggested he buy the property next door to his own, so Monroe then bought Highland. So I imagine he was not as wealthy as Thomas Jefferson. His family lived here for years in between his foreign postings. He was unique in that when he was a diplomat for us in London or France he would take his wife and daughters with them.
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| This part of the house was built later. But stands just where the original house would have stood, there was a fire that destroyed this part of the original home. The color is documented from the family that built this extension, I guess the owner was a bit eccentric, and chose yellow. |
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| The white house on the left is part of the original house from when Monroe lived in it. It was unusual at the time for being two stories, the bottoms story was built into the hill. It had the kitchen, so the heat would rise up in the winter and keep the house warm. |
The kitchen is above. The room beside it had spinning looms. There was a docent sitting and showing how to card and spin wool into thread. The slaves only got one new outfit per year, and did all the sheering, carding, spinning and weaving on site. The Monroe family got to buy fancy silks and other cloth from overseas. The only founding father to free his slaves was Washington. Monroe and his family supposedly didn't approve of slavery, and that opinion is found in his writings, but didn't see a way to succeed in their society without it.
He also started the movement to send freed slaves to Africa, raising money for the cause. Those slaves were settled in Liberia, the capital of that country is called Monrovia after him.
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| I left Tanner in charge of photos. So there are some weird gaps. We don't have a photo of the little shacks here, the house slaves quarters. This photo is above the 20th century house next door, to the beautiful views and low clouds. |
Tanner's picture does show the hilly landscape. Highland made money from crops, it was a plantation. He originally grew mostly tobacco, but then found grains like barley more profitable. He built a grist mill on the property. But he also made money selling timber, he logged the hilly woods on his property. So he also had built a saw mill on the property. He probably had around 30-40 slaves at any given time, and around 200 in his life.
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| Kitchen herb garden |
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| Over the fence is the real kitchen garden. They had just plowed something under. A lot of food was bolting. I couldn't find anything on their website. I hope they donate the food they grow. |
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| Cows out in the field! |
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| This is the view I am looking at in the photo above. They have a lawn with a large covered patio, they host weddings. |
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| The statue sits at the end of the boxwood hedge garden. They sell clippings from the hedges so you can grow your own. The boxwoods are over 100 years old, so not original to when the Monroe's lived here. |
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| Some nice color in the parking lot. We missed "peak leaf" but it was still really pretty all over the area. |
A lot of things mentioned in tour felt like review for me. The Monroe Doctrine, colonization for freed slaves, his relationship with Thomas Jefferson. His relationship with the elite families in Paris was news to me, a friend of his daughter eventually married Napoleon's brother.
Tanner was impressed with what he learned. He feels like a lot of normal people, himself included, don't know much about him or his presidency. But he was very influential in the history of our nation.
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