Presidential Homes

Well, we have been “off the grid” for a while and I haven’t been blogging, due to illness and 'busy-ness'…at least that is my excuse. However, after spending a month with Colin, Leslie and the grandkids, everyone is well again, Don and I are back on the road and I am back on the computer.

When we were in Richmond we had a wonderful Christmas with the kids and then everyone started dropping like flies with whatever was going around…twice for most folks. Was once not enough? I certainly thought so!

We wanted to do some fun things with the kids when they were out of school, but due to The Plague, or whatever it was that we had, that plan just wasn’t possible. As a result we took them out of school for a day and visited Mt. Vernon, George Washington’s home, a couple hours away from Richmond.




The adults in the house all agreed that they would probably learn more history on that one day than they would in school, so off we went. Please do not call their teachers and rat us out!



A chilly day at Mt. Vernon for Grandpa and the kids.

Alex and CJ meet George and Martha.

Mt. Vernon is a wonderful place to visit. There are enormous grounds you can walk around on that I’m sure are unbelieveably beautiful in spring or summer. And, of course, there is the tour of Mt. Vernon itself, the large home that George and Martha and their children lived in.


In addition to several out buildings, kitchen, smoke house and many others, the Washington’s are also buried on the grounds.



Mt. Vernon

Potomoc River from the front porch of Mt. Vernon.

Relax on the porch and gaze at the scenery at Mt. Vernon.

Kitchen and Smoke House at Mt. Vernon.

Path to the cemetery at Mt. Vernon.

Tomb of George and Martha Washington.

In recent years they have built a beautiful museum that is amazing. There are life-sized reproductions in addition to wonderful pictures, of people involved in various activities surrounding the life and times of Washington.


There is also a full display on the subject of George Washington’s teeth. Mr. Washington had severe dental problems that he battled his whole life, and he did have rather primitive set of false teeth, but no, his teeth were NOT made of wood.

One of the things that I always regret when going to the homes of historic figures or museums such as this one, is the prohibition on taking pictures, especially of the really interesting stuff. I really wanted to show you George’s teeth. Sorry, but as usual, they said, “No pictures of the teeth!”

George Washington had a keen interest in exotic animals and so arranged to have a camel brought to Mt. Vernon at Christmas time. Now as part of the current Christmas celebrations, one is brought there every Christmas to carry on the tradition. “Aladdin” found Alex and CJ of great interest and checked them out rather closely.

"Aladdin"

"How about a little Christmas kiss, Sweetie?"

One of the activities at Mt. Vernon at Christmas is the demonstration of making of chocolate the way Martha Washington and her slaves would have done it long ago…an extremely labor-intensive process.




On this particular day, they then took the finished product and made it into hot chocolate although it was not as strong as if Martha would have made it back in the day. It was also slightly sweeter, but not by much. They passed out small samples for all of us to try.

Alex and CJ, who normally love hot chocolate, thought they were being poisoned, as it was much stronger than they were used to and barely sweet at all, certainly not what their mom makes for them.




I wish I had a picture of their faces when they tasted it! Needless to say, they did not finish the tiny little cup of hot chocolate they were given and did not ask for seconds.

If you ever get a chance to visit Mt. Vernon, it is worth every minute you can spend there. The house itself sits on a hill overlooking the Potomac River, a beautiful setting. Add to that an immense amount of American history, and …well, I just hope sometime you can go and spend an entire day there!

After the kids went back to school, Don and I decided to visit some of the other President’s homes since we “were in the neighborhood.”




The state of Virginia produced a total of eight Presidents early in the life of our nation. Some of them were virtually neighbors and friends.

The next Presidential home we visited was that of James Madison, called Montpelier. It is near Charlottesville, Virginia and is a huge and very beautiful estate. Most of these men were quite wealthy and large landholders at the time that they became President.




Most of them also owned a lot of slaves to work the estate and amazingly, most often they also died penniless.

Montpelier

Long pathways lead to the house.

Bronze statue of the Madison's under the trees on the lawn.

The guide we had at James Madison’s home was a delight. He was extremely knowledgeable and an avid history buff. We, and a few other folks touring with us, hung on his every word and asked him a lot of questions because he made it so very interesting.


James Madison and family members were also buried on the property.

Grave of President Madison.

Next on the list was the home of James Monroe. He lived only two miles from Thomas Jefferson and they were good friends.


However, unlike Jefferson and Madison, James Monroe was not a very wealthy man nor did he have an large or opulent estate, but lived in a rather small and simple farmhouse. He had a few slaves, but he didn’t need many to maintain his more modest property.

The James Monroe home.

James Monroe statue on the grounds of the home.

Back of the home.

Bust of James Monroe in the garden.

While Don and I were still raving to each other about the wonderful tour guide we had had at the home of James Madison, the guide at the Monroe house was as bad as the Madison guide was good.




That was a disappointment, of course. Although we learned a lot that we didn’t know about Monroe, we knew that much more information was available, but our guide was rather sleepy and seemed poorly informed herself.

Outbuildings on the property

The following day we went to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home.


This is another one of those amazingly huge and beautiful estates, and again this time we had a great tour guide. We had actually visited here several years ago, but being the old folks we are, we really didn’t remember much about it, so were glad to see it all again and be reminded.

Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's Home.

Rear of Monticello.

Jefferson’s estate was so large that he had some 300 slaves. He had a vegetable garden that was 1,000 feet long. It takes a lot to feed that many people and of course, there were many dignitaries and guests that they must entertain and feed as well.

The One Thousand Foot Gardens.

There were long hallways under the house where there were kitchens, "bathrooms" (of sorts), wine and beer storage rooms and other rooms necessary to the running of the estate.

Wings on both sides of the house covers long hallways that run the length of the house and both wings.

Inside the tunnels under the house.

There is also a sizeable cemetery on the estate where not only is Thomas Jefferson and his immediate family buried there, but a large number of extended family members. Some of his descendents still alive today are eligible to be buried there when they pass away.

Jefferson Cemetery

After leaving Monticello, there is an old historic tavern very near by, Mackie Tavern, where we stopped for a lunch of Southern style food.


Mackie Tavern was a fun place because it is where the travelers and our founding fathers would stop when passing through, spend the night, eat and drink. All the servers were in period dress and would come by and bring you seconds on anything you wanted. It was a bit different than lunch at McDonald's with the grandkids.

Mackie Tavern