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Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

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zabelle
zabelle
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5 out of 5
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A Miniature Monticello Alongside the Blue Ridge Mountains

  • March 4, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by eamar1 from St. Louis, Missouri
A Miniature Monticello Alongside the Blue Ridge Mountains

This property is still under reconstruction and it is very interesting to see the building in various stages, so you can see how it was constructed. The tours are very informative. Incredibly beautiful.
Editor Pick

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

  • September 20, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by zabelle from Portland, Connecticut
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

This was Thomas Jefferson’s vacation home, where he came to escape from the hordes who felt that they could visit him at Monticello, where he could rest and have family time with his grandchildren, where he could truly be a private citizen.
Construction began on Poplar Forest in 1806. He had already owned the land for over 30 years. What he envisioned and created was a classical villa in the ideal of Palladio but the final result is a combination of ancient, Renaissance, Palladian, eighteenth century French with a peppering of British and American elements. Jefferson was in his sixties and a seasoned architect by the time he designed this house and his maturity is evident in the melding of the designs. He was a self taught architect who learned from not only what he read but also from what he observed.

From his earliest designs he was always fascinated with the Octagonal and here was his opportunity to turn his design into a reality. It is a mathematical design and results in four elongated octagonal rooms with a square room in the center. This design provides for a light and airy interior and a striking exterior.

As you would expect the house can only be visited on a tour. There were 9 people on our tour. We were requested to gather by a little out building where we spent between 10 and 15 minutes. Our guide was Glenda Cash and she was enthusiastic and well trained. She was able to make the tour interesting and answer any questions that were asked of her.

If you are expecting a house like Monticello you will be very disappointed. At this point I would call Poplar Forest a work in progress. What we have here is a shell in the process of being returned to the house it was during the tenure of Thomas Jefferson. At his death in 1826 it passed to his grandson Francis Eppes. Within two years it was sold out of the family and when it finally came into the possession of the non profit who owns it today, the 4000 acres were down to 50 and the house was in very fragile condition. A great deal of the restoration work that has taken place here has been to more all the alterations that were made over the years.

It is amazing to hear about all the work that has been done and all the problems that have been solved and also those that have yet to be resolved. Conservators are constantly working to understand and to duplicate some of the construction materials and techniques used by Jefferson’s craftsmen.

At any given time you are apt to find an archeological dig on the property as there is an ongoing effort to understand what was happening here 200 years ago. As you walk around the grounds be sure to notice the octagonal privies. Allow at least an hour and a half for a thorough visit of the cellars and grounds.

From journal On the Road to Lynchburg

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