Granny Beth's Visit to Monticello

On Beth's last day here in Virginia we took her to Monticello where we met up with John's brother and family.  When John and I were there before, we didn't go through the passageways under Jefferson's home.  It was a most cleverly built structure - a design I wouldn't mind copying!

This "cellar" was really earth-bermed "dependencies."  They contained laundry facilities, kitchen, household staff quarters, stables, wine cellar, dairy, an ice house...  None of these things were noticeable from the first floor of the house.  Very clever!

During this visit with Beth we did go through these halls and passageways. 

This view is down the side of the north wing.  Notice the very far left of the photo.  That round structure with the wood top is the ice house.  The next photo is of the passageway that literally goes under the house.  Notice on the right side of the photo the top of the ice house.  (John was standing at the corner of the two wings to take these photos.  It certainly lets you see how long they were!)

With nine bedrooms, fourteen family members living here during the time of Jefferson, and numerous visitors, there was a huge amount of clothing and bed linens to be cared for.  Ironing would have been done with "flat irons".

There is definitely a trick to ironing with these as there was no thermostat to control the temperatures.  One is larger than the other, and the small one has a very pointed end.  I'm guessing the larger one was for broad swaths of fabric like the billowing skirts women wore then or the back of men's shirts, probably bed sheets, too.  The smaller iron would have been for ironing smaller areas of cloth, reaching close to seams with the pointed end or pressing lace.  The laundress would have used one iron while others would be re-heating on a rack near the fireplace.

Jefferson learned to love French cuisine while acting as U. S. minister to France.  When he returned to Monticello he brought a French chef with him and built a kitchen similar to those in France.  This is what was known as a stew stove:

Charcoal would sit on the grate up top, ashes would fall through the grate to be shoveled out of the openings in front.  The charcoal allowed for better control of temperatures.  I wish I had an eight-burner stove to work with - especially during holidays!

With good French food one needs good wine.  This is the wine cellar.

It would have been located directly under the dining room where the dumbwaiter would be loaded with preselected bottles of wine and one of four trolleys raised up to deliver fresh wine directly to Jefferson's table.  The trolleys of the dumbwaiter were hidden in locked compartments of the dining room mantlepiece upstairs.  Only Jefferson and Jefferson's butler would have had a key.

This is one of the rooms used by household servants:

We've seen "dependencies" cluttering up the land around plantation homes.  I think Jefferson's solution was a really, really nice one!  I wonder if it's something he saw in Europe during his time there??