The home of Thomas Jefferson, designed and built by himself upon land inherited from his father—Colonel Peter Jefferson, member of the House of Burgesses and Lieutenant-Colonel of the County. The leveling of the mountain top began, 1768. Due to successive additions and alterations, completion of the buildings was later than 1809. Following the burning of Shadwell, his father’s home, Jefferson moved to Monticello (the Southwest Out Chamber) in 1771 and in 1772 brought his bride there. She was Martha Wayles Skelton, a young widow of twenty-three, distinguished for beauty and a graceful carriage. It was an exceptionally happy marriage, ended after ten years by her death. Of six children, only two daughters survived infancy. Both left descendants. In 1781 Monticello was raided by British Tarleton’s troops, in pursuit of the refugeeing Governor and Legislature. Forewarned, the family escaped. There was no property damage. Upon his visit to America in 1824, Lafayette was a guest here, and a great public reception in his honor was held on the lawn. Monticello remained Jefferson’s much loved home until his death there, July 4, 1826, aged eighty-three. Due to financial stress, it was sold in 1830 for $7,000. In 1836 it was purchased by Commodore Uriah P. Levy of the United States Navy for $2,700. With the exception of the Civil War period, when it was confiscated by the Confederate Government, it remained in the Levy family until sold to the Monticello Memorial Foundation, 1923. Much of the original furniture and many personal relics are on display. ASH LAWN _2 mi. beyond Monticello_ Home of James Monroe, twice Governor of Virginia, U. S. Senator, Secretary of State and War, Minister to France and to England, and twice President of the United States. James Monroe was born in 1758 at his father’s home, Monroe’s Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia. He studied at Williamsburg, served with distinction in the Revolutionary War, and practiced law for eighteen months in Fredericksburg. His removal to Albemarle was the fulfillment of a long-cherished plan, as his pleasant letters to Mr. Jefferson show. One reads as follows: [Illustration: Ash Lawn. The “Cabin-Castle”. _J. Rawlings Thomson_] August 19, 1786. “I shall leave this (N.Y.) for Virginia. I have not relinquished the prospect of being your neighbor.... The house for which I have requested a plan may possibly be erected near Monticello. To fix there and to have yourself in particular, with what friends we may collect around for society, is my chief object, or rather the only one which promises to me ... real and substantial pleasure.” _Writings of James Monroe, Stanislaus Murray, Hamilton, Vol. I, p. 158._ Mr. Jefferson’s reply is also pleasant.