I went to Virginia recently, and while I was there I went to Monticello. In Italian, monticello means mound or little mountain, so it makes sense that that’s what Thomas Jefferson called his mini mountain. (Most of what I write is going to be in the photos my notes.) Thomas Jefferson had weights that told the days of the week by lowering one of the weights down markings on the wall that said the names of the days of the week (sorry, that was confusing). Thomas Jefferson had around 400 slaves, even though he wrote “we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence, also, he only freed about 10 of them. And if only freeing 10 out of 400 slaves wasn’t bad, he also treated his slaves poorly, and sometimes personally mistreated them. He had his slaves working in his gardens, filled with many varieties of plants, from all over the world.

(Sorry for my handwriting, I was walking while I wrote. Whenever I wrote “TJ,” I meant Thomas Jefferson. Also, the names of the trees and plants are the names of ones he had in his garden. The seeds belong to the caster bean (ricinus communis).) And, I know, the drawings and writing is small. Sorry.

Sally Hemmings is his dead wife’s half sister, as well as one of his slaves. He has kids with Sally, from evidence it seems like it was not just a one-sided relationship. Thomas Jefferson designed his home on Monticello, and it was entirely built by his slaves. In his dining room he had a pully system for wine. He also had a turn-table closet (all of this designed by him) that food platters were put on. All of this was so that when he had a big fancy dinner, nobody would see his slaves. It was really fun to visit monticello, I got to see so much in the day I spent there. And Shane, you might want to look at some of his inventions, they’re pretty neat.

How long did it take for Monticello to be built?

Why didn’t he free more slaves?

How many books did he read in his lifetime?