My favorite home that we visited on this vacation was the home of James Madison. On
our way from Harrisonburg to Williamsburg, we made a 15 minute detour
to Orange, VA to visit James Madison's Montpelier! We were not sure if
we wanted to make the stop but I am glad we did!
All
of the other homes that we visited were rather complete. They had lots
of the original furniture and paintings, ect. This was not the case
with James Madison's home. They are actually still doing archeological
digs in order to find more items that were once in this home.
Fortunately,
they have found lots of writings by people who had visited the home.
Some of the journals were very specific about colors and how the
furniture was arranged. This has helped with the re-furnishing of
Montpelier.
James
and Dolley Madison lived at Montpelier during Jame's retirement years,
beginning in 1817, however, the property had been in the Madison Family
for many years beginning with James's grandparents.
Unfortunately,
Dolley's son, John (whom James adopted) caused a lot of problems for
the family. He is believed to have been an alcoholic and a gambler and
was often in jail. James and Dolley had to bail him out multiple times
eventually forcing Dolley to sell Montpelier. Also, she sold a lot of
their possessions to try to pay off his debts which is part of the
reason that Montpelier remains incomplete.
A
major restoration of this home occurred between 2003 and 2008 to
restore the home to the way it was when the Madison's lived there.
Since a few other families had lived there, it had changed quite a bit
before being handed over to the National Trust of Historical
Preservation
The
property was huge and absolutely beautiful. We spent some time
walking around the property and also checked out the archeology lab. It
was neat to see all of the things that had been dug up over the years.
There are also active dig sites on the property which is pretty neat.
I am definitely glad we took the little detour to Montpelier.
I think the tour was the most educational and I loved our guide, he was
so fun! I also just loved the house and the property. I highly
recommend a visit!
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