MONTICELLO

                                 http://www.monticello.org

 

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is located near Charlottesville in Northern Virginia.

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation owns and operates Monticello, the mountaintop home of President Thomas Jefferson. This is the only home in America on the elite World Heritage List of the United Nations.

 

What is special about this place:

Jefferson was an avid gardener, and he had a great interest and curiosity about plants.

The gardens at Monticello have been maintained as they were during Jefferson's time.

They are a botanical showpiece, a source of food, and an experimental laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world, all collected by Jefferson himself.

Jefferson grew 250 varieties of more than 70 different species of vegetables; and he painstakingly recorded the details of the growth of each individual plant in his garden. 

He was also interested in fruit trees. In his property he had 170 fruit varieties, including apples, peaches, and pears.

Trees were Jefferson's favorite plants. He designed The Grove which is an ornamental forest in Monticello where he and his guests could visit his "pet trees."

Do not miss the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants where historic plants are collected, preserved, and distributed.

There is also a gift shop where you can purchase these historic plants and seeds.