Tuesday, July 08, 2008

A not-too-distant trip: Monticello

We are in the days of $4-per-gallon gasoline and in the thick of summertime travel, so here is a recommendation of a not-too-far away vacation spot for most North Carolinians: Charlottesville.

It is here where if one wants "to understand who Thomas Jefferson" was, all he or she should do is visit Monticello, "his majestic mountaintop home in Charlottesville, Virginia," writes CNN.com.

... In the entrance hall at Monticello you can see one of his inventions: the Great Clock, with large iron weights that look like cannon balls. In the sitting room, another Jefferson invention: a dumbwaiter built into the side of the fireplace which lifts bottles of wine from his basement.

"He was a remarkably intellectually curious man," said David L. Holmes, professor of religious studies at the College of William and Mary and author of 'The Faiths of the Founding Fathers.' "He was the Renaissance man, the Enlightenment man in the colonies; there were others behind him in the group but he was the one."

Jefferson read widely and was interested in the beliefs and ideas of others. Among his extensive book collection was a copy of the Quran. ...

For more on Charlottesville, visit here.

2 comments:

Kevin Brewer said...

I have been three times: fifth grade, senior year and 1997.

M. Lail said...

I'm embarrassed: I've never been to Monticello.