Monticello — Jefferson's estate a reflection of the man, his dreams

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Thomas Jefferson was the quintessential 18th-century man — a revolutionary tempered by reason. Yet a visit to his estate, Monticello, reveals his habits and interests to have been surprisingly similar to those of many 21st-century Americans.

For example, Jefferson wrote almost 20,000 letters and kept detailed meteorological records; you can almost imagine him addicted to e-mail and the Weather Channel. His obsessions with gadgets, home improvement and gardening also seem contemporary. He returned from France with 86 crates of wallpaper, copper pots, art, books and housewares; he planted more than 200 varieties of grapes in a doomed effort to produce wine; and he literally renovated his house for 40 years. Anybody who's ever overspent at Home Depot or The Sharper Image can relate to that.

Perhaps Jefferson's modern tastes and hobbies help explain why Monticello is one of the most popular attractions associated with any U.S. president, hosting a half-million visitors annually. And if a picture of that domed building with neoclassical columns seems familiar even though you've never been there, look at an ordinary nickel. You probably don't carry pictures of your own home around, but you do carry a picture of Jefferson's.

Jefferson's accomplishments were many — author of the Declaration of Independence, secretary of state, vice president, president, minister to France, governor of Virginia and founder of the University of Virginia. But Monticello showcases his talents as architect and scientist. Every aspect of his designs had a purpose, beginning with Monticello's entrance hall.

Tour guide Gina Lombardi explained that Jefferson wanted to edify visitors from the moment they walked in. Displays in the hall include maps, copies of Old Master paintings, a model of a pyramid, and items collected in the West by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. As president, Jefferson had commissioned the Lewis and Clark expedition. Buffalo hides given to them by Indians drape the balcony; antlers they collected are on the wall.

Monticello's 33 rooms are spread over three stories and a basement. The upper floors, where Jefferson's daughter Martha raised her 11 children, are closed to the public. But the first-floor tour of Jefferson's bedroom, study, library, parlor, tea room and dining room provides plenty of insights.

A clock he designed sat at the foot of his bed in an era when only one in 10 families owned a timepiece, Lombardi said.

She added that "most houses in Virginia would not have had even a fraction of the windows" found in Monticello, not to mention its 13 skylights; Jefferson liked natural light.