Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello is located outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. I have been there three times and I’d go again, it is well worth the visit. The first time I went when the tour got inside I was kind of surprised that it wasn’t bigger. The original plantation was 5000 acres. Jefferson inherited the land and began the design and building of his home when he was 26. The plantation used slave labor to cultivate tobacco and mixed crops, in later years it was switched to growing wheat. Jefferson was never good at handling money. When he had it he spent it. He was always putting money he got into his home. Towards the end of his life Monticello was falling into disrepair. Those visiting it would write that it had become old looking and worn. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation purchased the house in 1923 and the house has been restored to its former glory. Thomas Jefferson is buried on the grounds of Monticello.
James Monroe’s Highland is very close by and worth a visit and Jefferson’s best friend and ally James Madison didn’t live too far away [at least by today’s travel} James and Dolley Madison would visit his friend Thomas so often they had their own room at Monticello.
In 1987 Monticello was named a World Heritage Site.