When I last left off, we were boarding the shuttle bus to ride up the "mountain" to Monticello. Monticello is "Little Mountain" in Italian. The estate sits atop an 850 ft high mountain with an amazing view of the valley below. If you are not familiar with Monticello, it has been minted on the US nickel since 1938 (with the exception of 2004-2005).
This is the side of Monticello that is best known, but not actually the front entrance.
The girls holding up nickels... Excuse the shadow... not sure how I missed that! Oops!
I forget what this is called... it's a globe type thing that I am certain was used for measuring something astronomy related. (Thanks to Joannie - it's an Astrolabe)..... Among many other things, Jefferson was an astronomer.
The gardens
The view really is magnificent from the top of the hill. Jefferson knew what he was doing when he picked this for his home!
Mulberry Row - named for the mulberry trees planted there, this was the center of domestic activity for the estate.
Reflections - this fish pond was used to keep the fresh fish that were caught until it was time to use them for a meal.
Montalto (High Mount) -this is the only land which overlooks Monticello. It is 400 feet highter in elevation. In 2004 the property was purchased by the Jefferson Foundation to keep the property from being developed. I was battling the sun...
We wandered a bit more around the beautiful grounds. Even at the time of year when the leaves are just about gone from the trees, it is a stunningly beautiful place.
On the way down the mountain, the bus stopped for us to see the cemetery in which Jefferson is buried. We had to stay on the bus, so this is the best shot I could get!
We took a drive through Charlottesville, saw the Univ of VA, it is a beautiful old, historical campus. The UVA Hospital is massive, Barbara is an RN there.
We saw this statue on the way out of town, it is Lewis and Clark. (I have to admit, I did take this one from the car.. but we were stopped at a traffic light!)
The kids decided that they were ready to go home, and agreed that eating in was the thing to do. Barbara and Joel cooked and grilled us a fabulous dinner of ribs! The kids had a good time playing and hanging out. They roasted marshmallows over the fire pit and played outside until it got to chilly. The favorite indoor activity of the weekend, "sledding" down the basement steps. Too funny. I have a video I need to upload!
Barbara and I chatted about the old neighborhood, and what we've been up to since the last time we saw each other. By 10pm, we were all tired and headed to bed!
It was a wonderful day!
3 comments:
Excellent pictures. It's a gorgeous place. The views are unbelievable!
The globe-type thingy is called an astrolabe.
Love all the pictures!! Looks like you had a terrific visit!
Montecello is a beautiful spot and you captured it well with some great pictures!
I had a good chuckle at the nickle picture once my oh-so-slow brain remembered Jefferson's head is on them! LOL!
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