In 1773, Thomas Jefferson and his wife, Martha, inherited nearly 5,000 acres of land in Bedford County, Virginia, upon the death of Martha’s father, John Wayles. While he visited the property many times over the years, and it would serve as a steady source of farming income, more than three decades would pass before he began building on the site. In 1805, just after his election to a second term as President and the tragic death of his daughter Maria, he began construction on a retreat at Poplar Forest. The house was mostly completed in 1809, as he left the Presidency and began his retirement years.
A talented architect and landscaper, Jefferson gave free rein to his imagination in planning Poplar Forest, incorporating Italian and French design elements. The octagonal villa included floor-to-ceiling windows, skylights, columns and porticos. It was the centerpiece of a five-acre garden bounded by a tree-lined, circular carriage road.
After Jefferson’s death in 1826, the property passed through many hands. In 1984, it was purchased by the nonprofit Cooperation for Jefferson’s Poplar Forest. Restoration of the exterior was completed in 1998, winning the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s coveted Honor Award.
Poplar Forest gives visitors a unique opportunity to tour a historic house as it is being reconstructed. It’s an active archeological site. Plaster is still going up on the walls, bricks and boards are still exposed, and furniture is restricted to a few reproduction chairs and tables.
Even without furniture, it’s clear that this was Jefferson’s retreat, the place he came to escape the din of public life. The main living space contained just two sleeping chambers, a small dining room, and a parlor. The south-facing parlor, where Jefferson sat to pen countless letters and read from his library of some 700 volumes, is by far the most graceful room: a bright and airy space with a wall of triple-sash windows and a glass door looking out onto a small portico and a broad, sunken back lawn.
Our particular guide was knowledgeable, but could have been a bit more animated; when leading a group around an unfinished and unfurnished interior, a guide has to do more "filling in the blanks" than on a normal historic-house tour. At 40 minutes, the tour was a bit long, especially for the children in the group.
Visitors are welcome to explore the main grounds on their own, including the wing of "offices" -- kitchens, laundries and cellars -- jutting out on the east side of the main building. A short distance from the house, archaeologists have found the remnants of the slave quarters, and have built a "ghost" structure to show the dimensions of the average slave cabin. Back at the Visitor’s Center, there is a gift shop and large hands-on history pavilion for both children and adults.