Monticello / Michie Tavern - October 18

Mom and Dad offered to watch Kayleigh and Logan for us while we did a little sightseeing in the Charlottesville area.  Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate, was about 15 minutes from Chris and Amy's house.  It is a beautiful area - and the gardens were fascinating.  I loved that the beans were growing in teepees.

Shane stands next to the air vents for the indoor privies...in the days before leaving home, Shane had done a lot of work for our friend, Allison, working on her sewer system in her back yard.  He and a man from church, Cecil, ended up laying all new PVC pipe in the back.  So anyway, I thought it was ironic that it was crappy...and funny...

The outside of Monticello - no pictures were allowed inside.  We got to see his amazing clock that kept time and days.  We saw some of his extensive library (he read in several languages - amazing), and we saw the bed where he died.  Which was rather interesting, since it was a sort of built-in-the-wall sort of bed.  It divided two rooms.

The icebox for the house - they would collect snow during the winter and it would keep things cool during the summer.  Amazing that it would last that long!

On the outside, we went on a slavery tour.  Our tour guide talked about where the houses were, and how on the way up to Monticello, it would have looked like a small town with a smithy, bakery, slaughterhouse, tanner, etc on the way up to the big house.  The slave quarters just down the hill from the house were mainly for house servants (including cooks and nannies).  It was fascinating.  Jefferson released some of his slaves upon his death.  One was the male cook, whose family was sold to pay off Jefferson's debts.  He ended up buying back his wife and son - and technically made them his slaves.  If they had been freed when he bought them, they would have had a year to leave the state in which they were residing.  So by keeping them his "slaves" they would stay with him.  Funny how you can work the system...

A gorgeous sugar maple on the way down to the Jefferson graveyard.

The fence of the graveyard...

After spending as much time as Shane could palette at Monticello, we made our way to Michie Tavern, a pub run in much the same way it would have been in the late 1700's. 

The spread was amazing, but my favorite was by far, the stewed tomatoes.  After finding the recipe online, I know why I liked them so much - they use old biscuits to make it creamy.  So super yum!  Got seconds on those!

Shane enjoys his meal at the tavern.

The beautiful fall decor with pewter and a nice rifle.  There was a fire going in the fireplace, which was rather nice on a sort of chilly, overcast day.

It was fun to go out and see some of our American heritage.  We've seen so much overseas, that it's nice to see something from our own country.  Thanks Gram and Bapa for watching the kiddos!