Virginia - Montpelier and Red Hill

The next day was Independence Day (yes, I'm behind) and since we weren't able to visit Monticello for the holiday, we decided to visit Montpelier, the home of James Madison in Orange, Virginia.

In the early 1760s, James Madison Sr. (President James Madison's father) built a house on the property which structure forms the heart of the main house at Montpelier today.  Built around 1764, it has two stories of brick and a low, hipped roof with chimney stacks at both ends.  James Madison Jr. later stated that he remembered helping move furniture into the home.  Upon completion, the Madisons owned one of the largest brick dwellings in Orange County, Virginia.

Phase 2 of construction began 1797, after James Jr. returned to Monpelier with his new wife, Dolley.  He was then 39 and she was a young widow with a child.  At that time Madison added a thirty-foot extension and a portico to the house.  Madison's widowed mother, Nelly, still resided in the house following the death of her husband, James Sr., in 1801.

Phase 3 of construction spanned 1809-1812 when Madison had a large drawing room added, as well as one-story wings at each end of the house.  This provided space for the separate household of the newlyweds James and Dolley Madison.  After his second term as president, in 1817 Madison retired there full-time with Dolley.

After Dolley sold the estate in 1844, the property was held by six successive owners before the du Ponts bought Montpelier in 1901.  There is a museum dedicated to the du Pont family in the Visitor's Center at Montpelier.  The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) has owned and operated the estate since 1984.

The origins of the name Montpelier are uncertain, but the first recorded use of the name comes from a 1781 James Madison letter.  Madison personally liked the French spelling of the famous resort in Montpellier, France.  Clues from letters and visitor descriptions suggest these origins of the plantation's name.

We started the tour at the bronze statues of James and Dolley Madison.

And then we took a walk to the mansion.

Hmmmm, when we were last here about 20 years ago we remembered that the home was a pinkish/salmon color but now it's brick.  When the home was restored recently, the plaster over the brick when the du Ponts had remodeled had been removed and the original brick was brought back to its previous condition.  It looked beautiful!

The front door had a Thomas Jefferson influence.  At one time the Madisons considered changing the half moon window over the door but Dolley declined saying that it would change the second floor.  Much of the glass is the original glass from the Madison days.

A few interesting artifacts in the home.

You can see the Madisons seated at the dining room table.  Dolley liked sitting at the head of the table so that she could more easily manage the kitchen staff; James Madison liked to sit in the middle so that he could converse with all of the guests easily.

James Madison's desk was placed in front of the windows so that he could look outside while he worked.  However, he was unhappy that the overhang of the porch blocked his view.  This was the desk he sat at while he was contributing to the writing of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Above the mantle in the front room of the house we viewed an unusual presentation of the Declaration of Independence and wondered why it had this appearance which is, obviously different than the original.  This is what we discovered.

"To appeal to American patriotic sentiments, John Binns began work on a 'splendid and correct copy of the Declaration of Independence with fac-similies of all the signatures, the whole to be encircled with the arms of the thirteen states and of the United States.'  In June of 1816, Binns employed as many as five artists to assist with the design, most notably Thomas Sully.  The state seal surrounding the text are a symbolic representation of national unity.  James Porter printed the 1819 Binns Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.  There are an estimated 100 copies produced."  www.nps.gov

We also saw that there was a copy of this exact Declaration of Independence at Monticello.

Note the images of Washington, Jefferson, and Hancock on this version of the Declaration of Independence designed in 1816.

We went outside to view the house from the back.

We saw the only known Witness tree at Montpelier to survive the Madison era.

Madison's Temple is used as a symbol for Montpelier.  It was built over a 2-story ice well in the early 1800s on the front lawn of the home.  It was designed to reflect the classical architecture of ancient Rome.  William Thornton, who was the architect of the nation's Capitol, drew up the original sketch.  Originally the structure has an entrance to the ice well at the base, but the grade of the property is higher than in Madison's day and the entrance is now buried.  Access is through a sealed trapdoor in the floor.

Madison's Temple

And then it was on to the cemetery.

I'm proud to be a member of the Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution

James Madison died in 1836 and is buried in the family cemetery.  His widow moved back to Washington D.C. after his death.  When Dolley died in 1849 she was buried in Washington D.C. but was later re-interred at Montpelier to be near her husband.

James Madison (1751-1836)

Dolley Payne Madison (1768-1849)

And with that it was time to leave.  We took a pause at the porch of the house to enjoy the view.

Since it was just early afternoon, we thought we needed to make one more stop on this historic day.  We'd heard on the news about an Independence Day celebration at Red Hill, the home of Patrick Henry, so we hopped in the truck for the 2 hour drive.  Hey, when you're in this historic area, you need to take advantage of it.

The party was just getting started.

Unfortunately, the news didn't mention that we needed to bring our own chairs.  So this could turn out to be a short afternoon.

First stop was the cemetery.

Patrick Henry (1736-1799), Dorothea Dandridge Henry (1757-1831)

Dorothea was Patrick Henry's second wife and they were married in 1777.  She was the mother of eleven of Patrick Henry's seventeen children.

To the memory of

Patrick Henry

Born May 29, 1736

Died June 6, 1799

His fame his best epitaph

Another witness tree!

This Osage orange tree is over 350 years old.  The tree stands 65 feet high, is 328 inches in circumference, and has a crown spread of 95 feet when it was last measured in 2017.  This tree was well over 100 years old when Patrick Henry moved to Red Hill.

Though not native to Virginia, it is believed that the Osage orange tree at Red Hill came from the southcentral part of the continent through the inter-tribal trade system.  The Saponi Indians, who lived along the Staunton River until the early 1700s, were known to have traded with native people as far away as the Ohio River valley.

We spent time in the law office of Patrick Henry, which is the only original building left on the property.

The Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution were busy!

The furnishings were nice.  It is thought that the desk on the left was used by Patrick Henry.  The desk on the right is believed to have been owned by Patrick Henry's second child and first son, John, and used in the office.

Family tradition says Patrick Henry used this scale to measure medicine or money.

This walnut document cabinet is said to have been used by Patrick Henry.  It is rural Chippendale, made in or around Winchester, Virginia, in the 18th century.  

We took time to visit the Visitor's Center and saw an interesting movie about Red Hill.  And as we walked outside, we saw the bust of Patrick Henry.

Patrick Henry died on June 6, 1799.  It is said that he was suffering from an intestinal blockage and utilizing the only known remedy for that time period, his doctor/friend, George Cabell, prescribed a vial of liquid mercury.  Doctor Cabell told Patrick "it will either give you immediate relief or...." at which point Patrick Henry finished his sentence and said "you mean, doctor, that it will give relief or prove fatal immediately?"  The doctor replied "you can only live a short time without it and it may possibly relieve you."  Sadly, he died a short time after the dosage was administered.  He was 63 years old.

At the time of his death, he was sitting in his favorite corner chair which allowed him the only position to provide him some relief.  The chair that he died in is currently in the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg and we were able to view it just a few days later.  Stay tuned for a photo.

And because it was hot and we didn't have chairs, we made the drive back to the 5th-wheel.  And with that, our stay in the Charlottesville area was complete and we would be on to our next stop.