While we loved both places, Monticello was, hands down, our favorite. So much history, but so much neat history! Thomas Jefferson had so many stories to tell. We learned about his family and his friends, about his work in government, we learned about how much he enjoyed being on the cutting edge of what's new in the world, and we learned about the Jeffersons and slavery.
Ok, remember what I said about not being able to narrow down photos? Yeah. Well. I made it through a teeny tiny portion of what we have and this is what I have for now. :/
Monticello:
In touring Jefferson's home, the guide made a point several times to tell us how close Thomas and his family were to the Madisons. Apparently, Monticello had a room that the grandchildren called "Mr Madison's room." After learning that, we thought a trip to Montpelier was in order.
Montpelier:
This was a neat place too, but they are still working on recovering furnishings and artifacts from when James and Dolley lived there. Major restoration was finished around 2008, but there were no records kept when Dolley had to sell everything, so getting period pieces back has proven difficult. Regardless, it was very cool.
Sorry for the limited pics. Maybe I will be able to go through them again in a couple days and pick out some more. Right now though, my internet is rebelling and my eyes are crossing.
We spent two days at these historic places, but they will meet our homeschool requirements for history for quite some time! We are still googling things as we remember them. We go back through photos and talk about what we learned, and we even took information that we learned (either from googling, or by going back through brochures/pamphlets) and made lists on SpellingCity so they could practice spelling and vocabulary words from our trip.
I know I've said it before, but seriously...I am shocked by how much fun we had learning about these two men and their families!
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