hey let's tell him about when we visited
the house that's on the back of a nickel
yeah that was really cool
hahahaha
Well hello there parapeeps and welcome to
another episode of our haunted travels I
am your host Shawn Donley and I'm your
co-host Marianne Donley
hey that's right we are talking about
Monticello
and better yet or visit the Monticello
absolutely right
yes Monticello if you cut her video
Tuesday and most of you probably didn't
actually realize this but it's on the
back of a nickel we got even more better
information for you that's not the front
of the house white that's actually the
back of the house that's on the nickel
because it has the dome the front or the
house doesn't have the dome right he
didn't really usually talk about having
a front and a back he had the east front
and the west front yeah it was designed
what you know you just wouldn't be
received from the side that's all the
nickel yeah so I say back of the house
we actually didn't go into the side
that's on the nickel we went we went on
the other side the other side of woods
yeah which is which is the way that he
would have all of his guests enter as
well yeah yeah pressing so if you
haven't been there you probably didn't
know that right so we are talking about
panning the number one eight eight three
which is Thomas Jefferson's Monticello
yes and this is located at 9:31 Thomas
Jefferson Parkway Charlottesville
Virginia and it is open to the public
you can tour and we visited this July of
last year I believe it was July 16 so
I'll put it down there the description
yeah yeah I always should look to look
up one right there what the painting
number is yeah but it's okay that's all
right that whole time it was on the
painting d screen while he's talking to
the camera oh that's okay it's all good
folks he knows by now
we are here documenting our haunted
travels so let's before we go further
because I know you've got a bunch of
stuff you'd like to talk about let's
tell them some of the history of
Monticello okay okay so this is a maybe
a little bit longer video but it's
actually kind of cool stuff so stick
with us watch this history and come back
we're gonna tell you some of our
experiences a little bit of stuff about
Monticello and yeah we're gonna mention
folks it's haunted yeah so we'll be
right back Monticello sits atop a hill
in Virginia not far from the birthplace
of Thomas Jefferson its creator and most
prominent resident who spent more than
four decades designing dismantling and
reimagining the estate that he called
his essay in architecture this building
Monticello has been a world heritage
site since 1987 and is considered a
national treasure not only for its
beauty and historical significance but
also for what it reveals about the US
president that we had as our third
president
this complex controversial president
whose political philosophy fundamentally
changed and shaped the nation Franklin D
Roosevelt once wrote more than any
historic home in America
Monticello speaks to me as an expression
of the personality of its builder Thomas
Jefferson grew up in one of the largest
tobacco plantations in Virginia and then
at the age of 21 he inherited several
thousand acres of land that encompassed
his family's estate as well as his
favorite boyhood haunt a nearby hilltop
called Monticello Italian for little
mountain where he resolved to build his
own home
and in 1768 a year after this future
president was admitted to the Virginia
bar workers broke ground on the site
beginning a decades-long process that
would captivate Jefferson bankrupt his
family and produce one of America's most
iconic and historically significant
architectural masterpieces now at the
time that Thomas Jefferson was around it
was very common for landowners to choose
a design for their home from an
architectural handbook and then a
contractor would seem to oversee the
project from start to finish but this
particular landowner our Thomas
Jefferson he was not one who would be
interested in that in fact he had a lot
of passions you know political
philosophy archaeology linguistics music
botany bird-watching even pasta-making
but he really got into architecture and
he was remembered for drafting our
Declaration of Independence but not only
did he drop the blueprints for our
independence he drafted the blueprints
for Monticello mansion as well and all
of the outbuildings gardens and grounds
though he didn't have any formal
training we know he was an avid reader
and he had read extensively about
architecture particularly that of Rome
and the Italian Renaissance in later
years he would become an accomplished
architect whose designs would include
the Virginia State Capitol and the main
buildings at the University of Virginia
Monticello was unique though not only in
its design but also for its use of local
resources
at a time when most brick was still
imported from England Jefferson decided
to mold and bake his own bricks with
clay that he found on the property
Monticello is grounds provided most of
the lumber the stone and limestone and
even the nails that were used to
construct the buildings he had those
manufactured on site as well in 1770 the
family house at Shadwell burned down
this forced Jefferson to move into the
South pavilion at Monticello an
outbuilding until the main house was
complete now two years later he was
joined by his new bride Martha way Liz
Skelton a 23 year old widowed daughter
of a prominent Virginia lawyer together
the couple had six children only two of
them however lived to adulthood but
before Martha died in 1782 she did have
her final child of the six and then she
died just a couple months later
devastated by the loss of his wife
Jefferson decided to flee he actually
went to France he moved there and served
as the US ambassador from 1785 to 1789
while he was there he was struck by the
architecture of the buildings
particularly a certain home in Paris
that had a u-shaped design and a domed
roof along with a massive trove of art
furniture and books he returned home
with a new vision for his estate among
other enhancements that he made he added
a central hallway a mezzanine bedroom
floor and an octagonal dome which was
the first of its kind anywhere in the
United States the second Monticello was
double in its size it was designed to
accommodate not only Jefferson's steady
stream of house guests but also his
this collection of books European art
Native American artifacts natural
specimens and mementos from all of his
travels Monticello is also filled with
his unique inventions now these also
included a revolving book stand a
copying machine and a spherical sundial
and toenail clipper in addition to the
architecture though Monticello is very
renowned for its extensive gardens which
Jefferson and avert horticulturalists
designed tended and painstakingly
monitored himself every year he resided
at Monticello he kept a log of its flora
as well as all of the insects and
diseases that ravaged them in a diary
known as the garden book he grew
hundreds of varieties of fruits and
vegetables they're using cultivation
techniques that were totally
revolutionary for his time he was a
connoisseur of European wines as well
and attempted to plant a number of
different grape varieties at Monticello
although he didn't do very well at that
his vines tended to fail never did they
thrive and he developed a reputation as
America's first serious bita culturalist
Monticello was not just a residence but
it was also a working plantation and a
home to nearly a hundred and thirty
enslaved African Americans whose duties
included tending its gardens and
livestock plowing the fields and work on
its on-site textile factory one of these
slaves was a woman named Sally Hemings
she was a teenager who originally
accompanied Jefferson and his young
daughters to Paris later she served as a
chambermaid and seamstress as a house
slave at Monticello for nearly two
centuries it's been speculated that
Jefferson and Hemings may have had as
many as six children together these
claims were brought to light by a 19-9
DNA study that revealed a genetic link
between their respective descendants
although some have said that it may have
actually been Jefferson's younger
brother Randolph who was the father and
not Jefferson himself although we may
not know ever the true relationship that
Jefferson had with Sally Hemings it
would be impossible to tell the story of
Monticello without acknowledging the
irony of a home whose library shelves
were overflowing with works of
enlightenment but yet were always dusted
by slaves now along with his idea of
loving books we know that he spent
lavishly many times on books others on
wine and pretty much anything else and
when the time came for his death on July
4th of 1862 he left his heirs a small
mountain of debt a Monticello of debt I
suppose in fact that mountain of debt
was over $100,000 and his daughter
Martha Randolph was forced to sell the
estate and most of his effects the
building itself had already entered
stages of decay due to neglect over the
years and in 1836 it was purchased by
Uriah levy a real estate speculator who
is the first Jewish American to serve an
entire career as a commissioned Navy
officer now he and his nephew Jefferson
Monroe levy are largely responsible with
this restoration and preservation the
Thomas Jefferson foundation
a nonprofit organization later purchased
the property in 1923 and it continues to
this day
to operate it as a museum and
educational institution all right so
yeah that was the history of Monticello
yeah Oh sad that towards the end there
wow I guess he he was broke and actually
he got bailed out once and like did it
again so this is a cool story he had a
very vast book collection yes very vast
book collection and he sold it to the
library what sold it to Congress to
create the Library of Congress that's
how it was established because there was
a fire right that burnt the original
collection so he sold it and that's how
he got money and he got out of debt but
guess what he started spending money
bought more books yeah because he just
couldn't live without blood he couldn't
just live without books yeah when he
died he was so much in debt so yeah so I
don't know if this is like tipping to
the Library of Congress state when we'll
do that location however let's go
however you can go to the Library of
Congress and you can see some of his
original book collection and in fact
they have a whole area just dedicated to
the Jefferson we'll talk about that in
the library down the cioppino but you
can go and see all right so some
interesting things about Monticello go
ahead take it away you got some stuff
well even though he was quite the
cameras up there but I like talking to
you okay well you can to me look at the
screen cuz I'm as bad as the two because
I look at the screen watching you talk
but the camera is up there okay go ahead
that might make it in the video it might
not good just bump the computer
hopefully we're still required
all right so anyways one of the things
that I find quite interesting is that
even though he was in debt again at his
time of death and they did sell off a
lot of his possessions pretty much most
of his things including his slaves were
sold off to pay his debts at his death
its daughter by the way right and
Monticello was in disarray at that time
it was pretty tore up and yeah
what-mon took what's interesting though
is that today about 60% of the items
that are displayed at Monticello were
actually Thomas Jefferson's yeah
throughout the years yeah throughout the
years they've been able to purchase
items back and and things have been
donated back things like that and over a
hundred and fifty items including some
of the art that's hanging in the
building are actually Thomas Jefferson's
so this is one of those places to where
we weren't allowed to take pictures
inside but I'm kind of excited because
we do have audio of the tour and it's
been recovered yeah so maybe later this
is coming out on Friday so maybe later
Late Late Late I kind of keep an eye on
our channel for up we might be doing
something kind of a surprise for you
guys where we're gonna play that audio
over a live stream we have a couple
other we have an audio clip from the
cemetery that you were recording your
audio and I think there's one other I
don't know what it is but I'm gonna try
something to do like that virtual ghost
investigation review type thing or we
play the audio and it'll create a video
and you guys listen intently and see if
you hear something in Monticello because
it is haunted if you didn't catch the
video from Tuesday that go stories and
folklore I'm bout Monticello I'm gonna
put a link right here Bing
and there'll be a link down in the
description which talks about several
paranormal claims most of which when
people are on tour mm-hmm so I didn't
listen to that whole recording myself
yet yeah and actually even actually his
bedroom is actually one of the ones that
has several sightings well that's where
he died yes
so talk about his death which is quite
interesting do you remember it or do you
need to look it up and I'll talk about
so he he died on July 4th but him and
Adams right and they they they were not
like on the best of terms so you know
they were kind of late for the
presidents yeah yeah so they they were
they were both fairly ill and Adams they
were they got along but they were very
competitive yes Adams actually made the
comment when he when he was dying
literally on his deathbed well it looks
like something to the effect that
Jefferson went out he's gonna live
longer than me he didn't realize that
Jefferson already had passed away that
same day both died on July 4th which is
how many hours apart I think it was two
hours apart which was the 50th
anniversary of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence which Thomas
Jefferson was supposed to go to
Washington for ceremony of that but he
was sick and couldn't make it and he
wanted to live to that 50th anniversary
and he died that day
yeah so that's kind of interesting so he
did live to the anniversary you have
some more stuff because I there's a
quote that I want to talk about too I
really enjoyed when you go in the
entrance that you get to go in right in
the corner on your left when you walk in
the door it would be on the right if you
were facing the door but when you come
in there is there's a time peace that he
built into the building and it
told the days of the week I believe it
was was days of the week wasn't it I
think it had months on it to take
quarters inside but was that based on
the length of probably in the history
yeah based on the length that he
actually had to have one of the
dumbwaiters actually had to go down into
the the basement so it had to go down
there's a hole in the floor with the
with the chains that go down because in
order for it to actually work correctly
it couldn't just be just the height of
the room yeah yeah yeah I thought that
was four I thought that wasn't really
nifty I enjoy I was pretty enjoyed that
so did you say what kind of clock was
it's like a perpetual one yes so Thomas
Jefferson quite interesting figure you
know third president architect he was
also a de France I like I think I was
delegate and that's delegate ambassador
ambassador there faster de France I'm in
just all kinds of stuff and you know the
writer the author of the Declaration of
Independence where he wrote you know all
where all men are created equal
but yet he was a slave owner and he kind
of had issues with that yes you know it
came good well there's there's some
historians that say yes it's true and
others say no it's not true but he after
his wife passed away his first wife they
get they got married had six kids
perhaps he had children with one of the
guys actually I know yes and she
actually was with him the one that he
had Sally Hemings when he was over in
yeah he took her grants he took her to
France actually and this was in the
history video but she was a teenager and
it company Jefferson and his young
daughters to Paris and then when she
came back she was in the house she was a
house slave changers slave yeah um but
like I said there's there's there's
controversy over that and the ownership
of the slaves because he did own the
slaves yet you know and I'm not knocking
at that whole thing is you know horrible
but they did run the plantation and the
mill that was there and the brick that
made the bricks and all that stuff for
the house and everything like that I
don't know that he paid them he housed
them you know and fed them and that kind
of stuff so I don't know how strict of a
slave owner he was but the controversy
over Sally Hemings and him about him
being the father now that's out there is
that there are some historians that say
it could have been his brother it's not
him
yeah it's it could go either way you
know yeah because they did DNA testing
so yeah whatever but yeah yeah it part
of history is out there well there's
something to the fact that he did not
release his son from slavery his death
wasn't there something about that not to
say that I remember that there was some
sort of controversy over that because
everybody's like you didn't mean he
didn't even release his son yeah there
was something they mentioned that on the
tour but we haven't listened to that
audio in a while so maybe when we go and
listen that back they talked about that
yeah I remember so okay so let's get
back to Monticello a little bit um one
of the things he really liked was the
idea of open space and not cluttering
rooms you and him would gotten along so
well he'd hate it
he wouldn't he would hate me uh but he
actually had the beds and everything
built into the walls so that they
wouldn't be out in the middle of the
room in his bed he was actually built in
the wall so one side was his study and
the other side was like like this and
then his closets were actually above
that yeah you had to climb a ladder to
go up to his clothing clothing but you
know he didn't do that he had he had
people that did that you know fancy
sleeves took care of all that for him
but I I thought that was pretty pretty
interesting they weren't you know the
what's those beds the Murphy but they
weren't Murphy beds they literally were
sideways in the wall and then they were
of course were a little bit shorter and
I raised like were they really that sure
but they would sleep with a lot of
pillows up yeah a lot of times they keep
sitting all back and yeah back in the
early 1700s early 1800s they would
actually sleep sitting up because they
didn't understand the issues with acid
reflux and that kind of stuff and then
you know of course as you get older and
you get that little potbelly you're
getting acid reflux so they would sleep
setting up
yeah so the beds look really quite short
pillows up and they would be yeah right
yeah so people think all the time were
they really that short but no they just
sort of recline so the actual tour do
you remember what we paid for it I do
not really know so you go into like a
parking area very large parking lot and
then you walk up into like a Welcome
Center and they have different tours
they have the tour of the house that
sort of the gardens tour this tour that
that great thing and then behind the
scenes store which future strong and
Marianne you got a book that ahead of
time for the cells up quick yes we we
got there what like 9:00 in the morning
or something like that and it was always
it was already sold out for the day and
actually sold off for the day after as
well and they're like well you can come
back on this date so adulterer looks
like they're twenty nine dollars twenty
six if you buy them online with a
discount that's interesting online
discount there's never discounts online
anymore and so that's twenty nine
dollars for adults and that tour goes
off like I think it was like every 15
minutes so they give you like a time to
meet at a certain place which is like up
on the mountain yeah in front house okay
so the word Monticello actually means
little mountain in Italian this mountain
and I'm probably recapping the history
video but this this property was where
he played as a child his father owned it
um in the video it talks about the
property that he inherited and stuff
like that but one of the cool things
that's inside and you can find these
pictures online and they might even been
in the history video I don't know but
the map his father drew a map of
Virginia which was very popular and he
made a lot of money on it and it's the
original map is
hanging in Monticello which is very cool
you know I'm I'm really into historical
stuff and historical items and that map
is hanging in there so that made it
possible for you know Monticello being
there right so let's have the money for
that yeah yeah so original you know the
original property was five thousand
acres so that's how his father got paid
mom was in land for those maps so pretty
cool that's pretty neat though too
how did you get paid oh they gave me a
good meal in Ohio walking around drawing
a map measuring you know a lot that's
basically what all the early surveyors
did I mean that that was their thing
yeah I mean people lived their entire
lives doing just that what else do you
have for the actual building some of the
paintings that were in are in there are
important some of the ways that the
fireplaces are they're kind of
interesting and you'll hear that kind of
stuff when we do if you do that special
little video for them on Friday night
but so I don't want to give too much
away just in case they actually do get
that chance
if not we'll come back some other time
and talk about it but those are those
are interesting in the ways that you
know you got around the house and where
the different rooms were and how you got
to go in and out of the building and
where the where the basements privies
were and also where the all the wines
and things he had huge wine cellars yeah
well he tried to cisterns he's trying to
have a winery and he wasn't real
successful but you know I was like
Thomas Jefferson with the light bulb you
know
you discovered a Thomas Edison with the
light bulb sorry
he discovered 800 and some ways not how
not to make a light bulb so Thomas
Jefferson not Edison was like that too
so he like discovered so many different
ways of what different plants would not
grow in that area yes and yes the German
expansive garden yeah and everything too
he kept a journal keeping track of you
know how much they watered them and all
that other stuff and what failed or what
worked and what got disease and what you
know that was just like a little side
hobby just one of many actually then
again so also is pretty pretty
interesting they have turned the stables
into their gift shops so when you go of
course you go to a shop in a gift shop
but it's interesting that like it's in
his stables like yeah we don't want that
in the house but we did we got ice cream
and right outside of that we had the
ability to write with the the quills
the quills and they would hang him out
to dry you come back later and and pick
those off that was pretty neat the ice
cream they had wooden spoons I kind of I
liked that you know when we were growing
up we always had mmm when we were
growing up we always had those like
those little paddles but these were
legit yeah they really but they were out
of they carved out of wood they were
really cool I thought that was really
neat and then there was something else I
was gonna say 200 that they have that
this little room off to the side where
you could look at some of his inventions
about seeing you know okay let's watch
the like the moon and the Sun and how
they it was a mechanical sundial yes as
you rotate it and it would roll and the
earth and the Sun would move
so he would use that he invented it made
it I don't know if he made it or had
somebody I think she probably had
somebody else but you would rotate it
during that time of the year and he can
tell the position of the Sun with the
earth and how much Sun the garden would
get no man this guy was just like hmm
now I can't remember do you remember if
he was ambidextrous I do not remember I
can't remember if it was him I know the
Vinci was but I don't know if it was him
or not I can't remember I know he
created that that automatic thing to
flip the page of the book he invented
that I can't I can't remember seems like
the Vinci could draw with one hand and
write with the other and that is like
yeah that would be imagine just the
creases on the brain yes it's amazing so
one of the other things I was looking I
can't I couldn't find it but I know one
of the rooms in the house too
they have it they have one of the
declarations of independence you know
there were all those different kinds I
think we did a podcast maybe one time on
the different kinds but they they have
an original one there which is obvious I
mean it's almost reference and why
wouldn't you write but they do have they
do have that and one of them in one of
the rooms but you could catch our we did
do a podcast on the Declaration of
Independence which is quite interesting
if you I'll put links to our podcast
down below because you know if you're
into this kind of stuff you can go and
look at that that was it you know I'll
just briefly touch on it there was like
a committee that was supposed to be
there and these guys were like you know
whatever let Tom do it you know that
kind of thing and he like drafted like
most of it but it's supposed to be
committee of like five or six people
from what I can remember yeah yeah he
actually ended up writing most of it and
actually went in there when they were
reading and making suggestions in hand
he hand wrote suggestions and changes to
it everything and I can't remember is
that still exists or is that missing
that one one of them is missing they say
that I think is missing something
private owner could own that net but
that was one thing that I was I was up I
was a little bit upset back because they
do have like facts similes of that yeah
and when we were there you know they in
the gift shops they always have the
effect similes of the Declaration of
Independence that's right
I wanted that with his handwritten and
they had a copy of it out where we were
doing the quill writing and I'm like I
want that and they're like oh I think
you can get that down and the main and
we went down to the lake where you buy
your tickets and stuff and winning the
gift shops there because in that area
it's pretty you know like if you don't
you can go to that area and not pay for
a ticket and go in for the department
store but first they didn't have it and
I was so disappointed because that's the
one copy of it that I don't have you
know I mean you can you can get pictures
of pretty much everything else and I'm
like
so that was mean but that's not the one
that's hanging on the wall but I
remember walking in and going sweetie
look it's that version you know and and
then they brought it up that that was
one of the originals which was was
awesome yeah yeah so I pardon the audio
folks there are lawn service this year
but they just designed show up when we
started recording of course they did oh
you did get stuff from that department
store gift shop I did I did
I've been trying to get a little bit of
something-something from every one of
the presidents houses that we go to and
so I did get these seed packets they're
seeds that were collected on the grounds
of Monticello from in the gardens so I
got flowering tobacco because tobacco is
pretty much the big moneymaker you know
yeah so I saw a person grew up on a
tobacco and I got a melon and I got
Larkspur so I have I have the seeds I
didn't grow them I'm not opening them
I'm but they're going to be on one of
the displays so anyhow I I wanted to get
a few things so we have seeds for from
months yeah very cool I personal
expenses Bob we were there I do remember
it was hot I said a long time and we go
south in July it's hot it was very hot
while we were waiting to go on a tour
there was somebody who had he digs da -
heat exhaustion I don't ever met that's
how hot it was the they brought the
paramedics that was quite interesting
that fire truck trying to get it around
the shuttles and yeah I do remember that
I forgot that till you just mentioned
that but yeah yeah they were out in the
Sun
and then drink liquids if you're out in
the heat folks
oh speaking of liquids though this was
the first location that I saw that they
had bottle refilling stations oh yeah
that was really yeah that was cool too
I never anywhere else in efforts to keep
you know from creating so many bottles
they of course they would sell water but
they highly suggested to you just to
have a bottle and keep refilling it and
that was really cool because so many we
sell you a bottle of water for five
dollars you know or whatever they had
free refilling stations for water yeah
yeah that was really cool and it you
just put your bottle there and it just
would fill it up you just put it in and
hit the button and knew how much water
to fill in that was cool yeah we did
another video too that came out
Wednesday about the cemetery so I'll put
a link to that great here and it's also
down in the description but yeah don't
want to talk about that one
so we there are pictures we did about
sanitary and yeah Thomas Jefferson's is
actually buried there on the property so
yeah so when you visit the house and
visit the gift shop and make sure you
sure yeah is it his grave stop and pay
your respects that Thomas Jefferson's
gravesite there do you have anything
else and then we'll talk about why this
place should be you could be haunted
just they they do have a ton of
artifacts in in the house and if you go
on the tour they will talk to you about
the artifacts and which ones are real to
the period which ones are actually
Thomas Jefferson's which pieces of the
architecture of the house he
specifically wanted a sir
way who stayed in what rooms so that you
know there's all kinds of money on a
regular basis - yeah
it was party central yeah so I highly
suggest the door oh yeah definitely
definitely yeah if you're in the history
you have to go to the Monticello maybe
you have if you have been there leave us
a comment especially if you've had a
paranormal claim whoo yeah so let's talk
about why this place could be so hard
most of the hauntings there and reports
of Jefferson you know so let me show you
this quote okay okay
this is a quote by Thomas Jefferson I am
as happy no where else and in no other
Society Thomas Jefferson once wrote and
all my wishes end where I hope my days
will end at Monticello and his days did
end at Monticello he did die in his bed
at his famous Monticello so this is
property that was in his family played
on as a child this is property that he
inherited when his father passed away
this is a project Monticello that he
worked on for over 40 years
yeah he didn't just build the house one
no no no and all the little side
projects and everything that he did if
we have the ability of free will to come
back where else would Thomas Jefferson
go yeah absolutely so the potential for
haunting unless you have others no I I
think that's the he loved this place
literally love this
yeah and all of his stuff was there and
so many of his things have come back
yeah you know and it would make sense
yeah if anywhere else it would be his
book collection at the library I sold it
but yeah he's obviously you know what I
did have that book but I know where it's
at I'll be right back
that could be that could be yeah but
yeah he definitely loved it there and he
would he would want to spend more time
there absolutely
so darling you have anything else about
Monticello not at the moment I hope you
remembered everything
we really should skirt this out that's
all right makes it much fun they enjoy
seeing our banter yeah if it all makes
it into the video all right so all right
folks till next time thanks for watching
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