Monticello

Monticello

The house and grounds at Monticello were the home of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States and popularly known as the author of the American Declaration of Independence. According to UNESCO, which has designated the property a World Heritage Site, Jefferson was also a talented architect of neoclassical buildings. He designed Monticello (1769–1809), his plantation home, using an architectural vocabulary based upon classical antiquity that symbolizes both the aspirations of the new American republic as the inheritor of European tradition and the cultural experimentation that could be expected as the country matured. The tour of the house and grounds discussed Jefferson’s ideas of freedom and the realities of slavery that shaped the United States during his lifetime. The tour included bus transportation and entry to the grounds.