Taking the Kids: A trip to Monticello, getting acquainted with Jefferson
What do you know about Thomas Jefferson?
"He wrote the Declaration of Independence!" one boy answered.
"He was the third president!" answered another.
"He was a nice man," said 5-year-old Hannah, who added that, "I really don't know anything about Jefferson."
Forty minutes later, Hannah and the kids, after a special family tour of Monticello, Jefferson's mountaintop home and estate, they knew a lot more. (Monticello is spread over 5,000 acres in Charlottesville, Va., which is about two hours south of Washington, D.C. (a perfect add-on for a spring break trip!)
I wish some other historic sites would take a page from Monticello in how to engage kids. Before you visit, there are new online tools, including a virtual tour of the house, complete with 3-D models and details on who lived there and special family-friendly tours.
It is only fitting that the home of our third president and the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence is so kid friendly. Jefferson was very fond of his 12 grandchildren, many of whom lived here with him after his retirement.
"This is a house full of kids," explained the family guide, gesturing toward the South Square Room where Jefferson's daughters and grandkids might have had their lessons. The parlor is where Jefferson's family gathered to play games and musical instruments.
He had two surviving daughters with his wife Martha Jefferson and is believed to have fathered six children, four of whom survived to adulthood, with his slave Sally Hemings, who was also his wife's half-sister.
Confusing? Absolutely! But so was Jefferson's conviction of liberty from Britain for the colonists, but not for slaves. Think of the interesting conversations you will have with your kids as you visit Mulberry Row, the principal plantation street that was home to 100 slaves, including children (by age 10 they were working full time, the boys making nails from sun up to sun down; the girls might have been weaving cloth. "I didn't think I would like that," said 10-year-old Andrew Carrier.
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