Good Times at Monticello (part 2)

Let’s say you read last week’s post on Monticello, and now you’re ready to plan a trip.

On the positive side, there’s so much good info on their site. On the challenging side, there’s so. much. info.

So here’s the breakdown on admission and tour options and when to be where – the stuff that confused me when I was first planning to visit Monticello.

Getting In: How Much Is Admission?

Unlike a museum with optional tours, there’s not a general admission that lets you just wander around Monticello. Instead, you purchase a timed tour ticket that also acts as your day pass.

Tours vary based on what they cover and cost. The most basic, most popular one is the Monticello Day Pass and House Tour ($20-28, see below).

Which Tour to Choose?

All Monticello Day Passes/Tour Tickets include:

Guided tour of at least the ground floor of the House.
Access to self-guided areas of the mountaintop.
Garden and Grounds Tour (offered April–October, no reservations required)
Slavery at Monticello Tours (no reservations required)
Sign language interpretation (with advanced notice). Contact Visitor Services at (434) 984-9800 or accessibility@monticello.org at least two weeks before your visit.

You’ll want to find a tour that fits your interests, schedule, mobility, and the time of year you’re visiting, so here are summaries to help you sort it all out.

Tours Offered Year-round:

Monticello Day Pass and House Tour – This is the main tour, and it takes you through the first (ground) floor of Monticello.

30-40 minutes
Wheelchair accessible. (Small strollers are also allowed.)
Adults: $20-28, Children (ages 5-11): $9

Behind the Scenes House Tour and Day Pass – Tour of the first, second and third floors, including the Dome Room.

The upper floors are not wheelchair accessible.
Not recommended for children under 7.
$48-60.

Monticello Neighborhood Pass – Combination ticket that includes Monticello Day Pass and House Tour, Ash-Lawn Highland admission and tour (home of fifth U.S. President James Monroe), and the Michie Tavern ca. 1784 Tour.

Save up to $6 on adult passes, if you visit all 3 sites.
If you only plan to visit 2 of the sites, buying tickets individually is a better deal.
I was not able to confirm whether you have to visit all 3 sites in one day.
Adults: $34-43, Children (ages 5-11): $19

Touch Tours for blind / seeing impaired individuals or groups are available by advance appointment.

Contact Visitor Services at (434) 984-9800 or accessibility@monticello.org.

Monticello Private Guide – Tour for 1-8 people, which includes the Dome Room and the gardens and grounds or museum galleries. Tailored to your interests.

Call (434) 984-9884 at least two weeks before your visit to schedule your tour. Subject to availability.
3 hours
1-4 people: $600, 5-8 people: $750-1200

Tours Offered Seasonally or on Select 2017 Dates:

Hemings Family Tour – Interactive tour of the House and Mulberry Row that centers around stories of seven members of the Hemings Family.

February – November, Friday through Sunday
1 hour, 45 minutes
Not wheelchair accessible.
Not recommended for children under 12.
$27-30

Family Friendly Tour – House Tour with hands-on activities geared toward children ages 5-11.

April 3 – 23, June 10 – September 4, October 7 – 9, December 26 – 30
40 minutes
Wheelchair accessible.
Adults: $20-28, Children (ages 5-11): $9

Walk-Through Tours – Alternative to Monticello House Tour with guides stationed in each room.

April 14 – 15, May 27 – 28, June 3 – 4, July 1 – 2, September 9, October 7 – 8, November 26
Wheelchair accessible.
Adults: $20-25, Children (ages 5-11): $9
Add 30-minute Upper Floors Tour on these dates: +$25

Hamilton Tour Takeover – Interactive House tour that contrasts the ideas of Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, followed by a moderated discussion.

April 7, 28-29; May 6, 12 – 13, 19; September 15 – 16, 22 – 23, 29 – 30
1 hour
$40

How to buy passes?

In-person at the Dominion Welcome Pavilion, subject to availability. Plan to wait in line.
Online and print out yourself – This gives you more choices of tour times, plus you can skip the lines when you arrive. Under delivery options, select “print at home” at checkout. As far as I know, only paper tickets are accepted.
Online and pick them up at Will Call – If you don’t have access to a printer or don’t want to worry about losing/forgetting tickets, you can select “Will Call” under delivery options at checkout. You may have a small wait for Will Call, but otherwise you get the same benefits as above.

Regardless of whether you print or pick up, purchasing online saves you about 10% on adult passes. You can buy tickets online from maybe 3 months in advance up until midnight the day before you visit.

Other Event Tickets:

Tickets for other events at Monticello may not include a House Tour/Day Pass. To attend a Harvest Tasting Tour (offered weekends May – October), for example, you’d need to purchase one of the Day Passes above plus a ticket for the tasting tour itself ($15). There are also a la carte workshops (which we sometimes feature on our Happenings List) like Get to Know Your Trails on April 1 ($18) or Toddler Time, the third Saturday of each month ($10).

When Should I Arrive?

Even if you’ve already purchased and printed your pass, you can’t just roll up to the parking lot at tour time. It takes time to get up to the House. Here’s the “Last-Minute Monticello” list of the minimum time Monticello recommends you allow each step of the way.

Last-minute Monticello:

Arrival – At least 30 minutes before tour time (1 hour if you plan to watch the introductory film)
Shuttle – Board at least 15 minutes before tour time. (Shuttles arrive every 5-10 minutes.)
In front of the House (East Walk) – 5 minutes before tour time.

Allow additional time during peak travel times (weekends, holidays, etc.).

If you are pressed for time, you can check out the visitor center exhibits after your tour. (This is what we did, because we were really tight on time.) However, arriving at least an hour before your tour allows you to get some context before going up to the House.

The Monticello Mellow itinerary is my suggestion for a less rushed way to take it all in.

Monticello Mellow

A mid-morning tour time would allow you to explore the visitor center and get up to the mountaintop before the most crowded part of the day (11am – 3pm).

Arrival – 1-2 hours before tour time. Park, pick up tickets (if needed), see the introductory film, and visit exhibits.
Shuttle/walk – 30-40 minutes before tour time be at the shuttle stop or walk (.5 mile) up to the mountaintop.
If you get to the mountaintop with time to spare before your tour, check out the dependencies, cellar, fish pond, or hang out on the West Lawn. You may want to set an alarm so you dont get so engrossed that you miss your tour!
At the East Walk of the House – 5-10 minutes before your tour, find your way to the staging area for your ticket group. Check with a guide to make sure you’re at the right spot.
House Tour lasts approximately 30 minutes.
Afterwards, explore the rooms below the House and Mulberry Row.
From April to October, there are additional tours offered that are included with admission, no reservation required. If time allows, check out the Garden and Grounds and/or Slavery Tours.
When you’re ready to head back down the mountain, you can check out the Monticello graveyard (the shuttle stops there on the way back) and/or any exhibits you missed at the visitor center.
Have lunch at the cafe, drive over to Michie Tavern, or pack a picnic.

You could probably spend most/all of the day at Monticello if you wanted to. Or, spend a few hours there then take a hike, tour another historic site (both Ash-Lawn Highland and the tour at Michie Tavern are included in the Monticello Neighborhood Pass), visit at vineyard, or just chill in Charlottesville.

We were guests of Monticello.

March 23, 2017

Our Time at Monticello (part 1)

The fog had started rolling in as we wound through the woods on the way to Monticello and had thickened by the time we were standing outside the House itself. It obscured the view, swallowing up all but the nearest trees. We stood on the side of the House away from the waning crowds, and, for a few moments, it was as quiet as if we were the only ones in the world. As if we had traveled back in time. As if, at any moment, we would hear approaching hoof beats and see Thomas Jefferson emerging through the white-gray veil.

Even in his day, visitors to the House would not have been unusual. In fact, Monticello had already become a tourist attraction during the former president’s lifetime [audio].

People touring the U.S. or who wanted to learn more about Jefferson stopped at his Charlottesville, Virginia home frequently enough that they strained the resources of both the residence and the residents.

Today, people continue to stop there for many of the same reasons as those early admirers – although a visit no longer comes with free wine or overnight lodging.

The House and plantation buildings continue to perch atop their hill (a.k.a. the “mountaintop”) with orchards, vineyards, and gardens stretching out across the landscape.

Nearly 100 years ago, a foundation was set up to maintain the House and the grounds, continue research, and manage the steady flow of visitors. In keeping with Jefferson’s ardor for order, the whole place still runs like clockwork.

Places you can visit at Monticello:

The main House (Monticello itself, see #2 below)
Mulberry Row – where plantation workers lived and worked (#3)
Monticello Graveyard and African American Graveyard
Visitors center complex (#1)
Gardens, orchards, and vineyards (tours included with admission April to October)
Hiking and biking trails

1. Visitors Center

The entry point for contemporary visitors is a complex of buildings at the bottom of the hill. The Rubenstein Visitor Center, Smith Education Center, Milstein Theater, Smith Gallery, gift shop, and cafe all form kind of a square around a central courtyard.

Visitor center exhibits take a variety of forms: models of Monticello, a projection of key Jeffersonian ideas, hands-on activities for kids, explanations of Monticello’s architecture, and interactive LCD screens about liberty.

At the far end of the square, there’s a shuttle stop with a covered waiting area. Shuttles arrive every 5-10 minutes to take you to the mountaintop, parking you directly in front of the East Walk to the House. You can also walk the half mile (25 minutes) to the top. Either way, make sure you have your ticket first.

If you haven’t already purchased and printed out your pass, you pick it up at the Dominion Welcome Pavilion on your way in from the parking lot.

2. The House

When the shuttle dropped us off for our House Tour, there were still crowds of people around the East Portico, waiting for their tour time.

You need a timed ticket to go inside Monticello.

While we waited for our tour, we saw how the guides work in sync to keep groups staggered just the right distance apart. Once a tour headed inside, the next one began right there on the front-porch-like portico, while the following one was gathered off to the side.

We saw two different guides’ introductions. They each had their own style but were very knowledgeable and passionate about the place and its history.

The main house tour is wheelchair accessible, but you need to be in a chair that meets a certain size requirement. If not, you can borrow one of theirs. Even though some of the spaces are tight, the guides know exactly how to navigate through and are very helpful, making sure everyone on the tour is taken care of.

A few objects that stood out:

The Great Clock has faces inside and outside and a system of balancing weights that also show the day of the week. The days were listed down the wall and, due to a miscalculation, had to extend down through the floor into the cellar. It is still wound weekly [video].
Books – Jefferson’s entire collection went to help re-establish the Library of Congress after it was burned down during the War of 1812. The original volumes are still in D.C. on exhibit at the Library of Congress (Southwest Pavilion, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building). So Monticello curators have stocked the Book Room’s shelves with other copies of the titles he owned that were published around the same time.
Jefferson’s bed was wedged into an alcove between two of his private rooms, as a space saving measure, and he would sleep sitting up. (I’m not convninced it actually saved space, but Jefferson was really into putting beds into alcoves.)
Polygraph – clever writing implement used to make copies.
Wine dumb waiter – contraption to bring bottles straight up from the wine cellar into the dining room (and the fixture in the House I may be most jealous of).

To visit the second and third floors, you would need to purchase a Behind the Scenes Tour (or Upper Floors Tour) ticket ahead of time and be able to navigate a steep staircase.

3. The Plantation Community and Grounds

Before or after your tour, you can check out the self-guided areas of the mountaintop.

Walk through either the North or South Cellar Passage to go under the House. You can see food preparation and storage areas and wander into the wine cellar to find where the dumb waiter lands.

I should note that present-day Monticello does not shy away from – but certainly doesn’t condone – the fact that many of Jefferson’s workers were enslaved people. The introductory film even addresses the paradox that such an advocate for freedom also denied it to people on his own estate.

In recent years, Monticello has moved to provide more information about the entire community who lived there along with Jefferson, highlighting the skills of the craftspeople, adding exhibits about enslaved individuals, and creating a Slavery at Monticello app. There’s also a House Tour option that focuses on the Hemings family, and all Day Passes include the option of an additional Slavery at Monticello tour.

We did not venture into the grayness to find Mulberry Row or get off the shuttle at the Monticello Graveyard stop that already-dark evening, opting instead to head back to the warmth of the visitors center.

As much as we enjoyed the romance of our fog-cloaked winter visit, condensation droplets hanging on bare branches like tiny glass ornaments, we hope to visit again on a clearer day, when leaves are back on the trees, and we have the luxury of a little more time.

More info

Monticello is open 364 days a year (closed Christmas Day)
Parking is free.
Monticello is a short drive from Charlottesville, and there are a variety of lodging options there, incuding the Omni where we stayed and the Oakhurst Inn near UVA.
Your tour/day pass is your admission ticket. Adult passes start at $20.
Monticello is not a National Park. The House and 2500 acres (of the original 5000) are owned and maintained by a non-profit organization without federal or state funding.

Photos

No photos are allowed inside the house, due to certain items being on loan from other institutions or individuals.

You can also get a glimpse of what the tour is like and a close-up of some of Monticello’s objects and features in videos by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. There are also 360 views of rooms on the first floor, as well as an image gallery on Monticello.org.

Planning

If your schedule allows it, I’d recommend planning on at least half a day there. Visit Charlottesville suggested visiting Monticello in the morning, having lunch at Michie Tavern, and then visit another historical site (like Ash-Lawn Highland) in the afternoon.

I’ll have more itinerary recommendations for you next week, plus tips for picking your tour and planning your time.

We were guests of Monticello.

December 19, 2016

San Xavier del Bac: Before and After

The last time – no, the time before last – we visited San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, one of the towers was shrouded in scaffolding while restoration work was done on the 200-year-old mission.

When we visited just this past week, at the end of a quick trip to Tucson, the restored tower had been unveiled, standing in contrast to its mate that has yet to undergo that process.

On the whole, the Mission has held up remarkably well, considering it welcomes 200,000 visitors every year and is still home to an active congregation.

Weekly masses are open to anyone, and we attended a crowded Easter Sunday service there one year. I love that it’s not just an empty historical building but the center of a vibrant community.

“The Mission was created to serve the needs of the local community here, the village of Wa:k (San Xavier District) on the Tohono O’odham reservation, as it still does today.”

– Statement on Mission usage

November 3, 2016January 10, 2020

What’s the deal with Vegas weddings?

Las Vegas is a famous spot for risk-takers, and perhaps the biggest gambles happen in the city’s many wedding chapels. The so-called “Sin City” is also known as a place to be joined in holy matrimony.

A wedding invitation from a friend in Vegas made me curious about the lore of the Las Vegas wedding. So if you’ve ever wondered about drive-through weddings, making Elvis a part of your big day, or why this desert city is such a popular place to get married, read on!

1. Do that many people actually get married in Vegas?

Yep. More weddings happen there every year than in any other U.S. city. In 2014, there were 81,000 Vegas weddings! And that number is actually a bit lower than previous years.

2. How did Vegas become known as a place for weddings?

It started as early as 1912, according to Las Vegas Weddings by Susan Marg.

When neighboring California instituted a 3-day waiting period between getting a marriage license and getting married, then later began requiring blood tests, Nevada did not follow suit. Instead, the state welcomed couples wanting to be wed – or re-wed. It also established what was, at the time, the shortest residency period needed for a divorce.

Las Vegas, in particular, went all in, with deputies on deck 24/7 to keep up with the demand for marriage licenses. Over time, it became known for non-traditional nuptials and earned the nickname “Marriage Capital of the World.”

3. Can you have a spur-of-the-moment wedding in Vegas?

Many couples plan out weddings in Las Vegas like they would anywhere else.

But since the Vegas wedding industry was founded on no-wait marriage licenses, it’s not surprising it’s thought of as a place where people get married impulsively.

However, it’s not just a convenient sitcom plot twist or movie premise, you probably could actually get a marriage license today.

The Las Vegas Marriage License Bureau is open until midnight 365 days a year. Unmarried couples can just shuffle in with their government IDs, $77, and an application (you can even fill it out online ahead of time) and may be issued a license as soon as that day.

Once you have a license, you can get married in the nearby Office of Civil Marriages ($75 fee) or the Nevada venue of your choice (fees vary wildly). And there are a lot of choices.

Which brings us to #4…

4. Can you really have a drive-through wedding?

Yep. There are a handful of Vegas venues where you can say your vows in your vehicle.

It’s not entirely like rolling up to order late night burgers, however. Not only are the stakes (much) higher, you still need to get your marriage license ahead of time and check the venue’s availability. Couples may put down a deposit months in advance to hold a certain date.

I found these chapels with drive-through options:

A Little White Wedding Chapel (which, incidentally, is no longer little, boasting 5 different chapels of various sizes) claims to have created the first drive-through wedding window in 1991. Dubbed “The Tunnel of Love,” the driveway features an elaborately painted cover with cherubs watching over engaged couples, their guests, and their car. You can get married in your own vehicle or rent a convertible, limo, or stretch hummer.
A Special Memory Wedding Chapel has a simpler wedding window where the officiant leans out to conduct the ceremony. The couple either twists sideways in their seats to say their vows, or, if they make use of the complimentary limousine service, pops up through the sunroof to pledge their love.
Vegas Weddings offers drive-through packages named “Fast,” “Faster,” and “Fastest” either in their drive-thru wedding tunnel (what’s with the tunnels?!) or in front of their “Wedding in Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. Reservations are recommended.

5. What about Elvis?

Elvis got “movie-married,” real married, and staged a comeback in Vegas, which all somehow lead to him now being ingrained into the city’s wedding scene.

Many chapels offer add-ons like having an Elvis impersonator officiate the ceremony, sing, walk you down the aisle, or chauffer you in a pink Cadillac. Some have multiple types of Elvis-themed ceremonies to choose from.

Here’s just a sampling of Elvis wedding options in Vegas:

A wedding that is both drive-through and Elvis themed.
Elvis singing while you get married at the historic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign.
Invite Elvis to your ceremony. (In case you just want the King to be there hanging out, I guess-?)
A Dueling Elvis Package, where two impersonators perform.
An entire Elvis wedding chapel.

6. Why are there so many places to get married on The Strip?

When resorts started popping up outside of town (on what’s now called The Strip) to avoid taxes and gambling restrictions, they tried to include everything Las Vegas visitors would want – casinos, shopping, dining and even a place to get married – to keep guests spending money on site.

The Little Church of the West, which opened at the Last Frontier Hotel in 1942, was the first structure in Vegas built specifically as a wedding chapel. It’s been moved three times and is now located on the south end of The Strip, not far from the Las Vegas sign.

With movies set in venues along The Strip and celebrities who have been married there (sometimes more than once), Vegas weddings became – and remain – a part of the culture.

7. Why stop at weddings?

If you’re not ready to commit or are already committed (and happen to be flush with cash), you can still have a vow renewal, group renewal, “just for fun,” friendship, or “I was just kidding” ceremony. (That last one also requires a $75 bogus minister fee.) (I could not make this stuff up.)

Viva Las Vegas.

– More Info on Vegas Weddings –

Photo credits:

1: My playing card scrapbook.

2, 5 7 : Thomas Hawk

3: Total 13

4: Greg Lilly

6: Alan Kotok

October 31, 2016October 27, 2016

Exploring Salem: Day Two

[Part Two of Jessica Tennant sharing her adventures in Salem, Massachusetts.]

We woke up on our second day in Salem to our Red Riding Hood basket breakfast, and wisely decided to use the free street parking on Sunday so that we didn’t have to walk through the sketchy area of Salem. We parked near a park central to the village of Salem, where we could walk around the town and the wharf area and not worry.

Salem Witch Museum

We started the day’s adventures with the Salem Witch Museum, since tickets were included in our stay at The Coach House Inn.

The experience started in a darkened hall of sorts where the story of the witch trials and the hysteria that resulted in the execution of 20 people (and more who died in prison) was told through narration and lit-up dioramas with nearly life-size models of people – and one slightly disturbing dog who looked to be taxidermied, accompanying a sculpted John Proctor. There was also a creepy, lit-up, gargoyle-like devil figure looming over us, which seemed a little over the top for a historical museum.

The presentation covered the origins of the hysteria, the trials and the craziness that was conducted in the courtroom, prison conditions, and hangings. It was a bit dramatic but interesting and informative, and seemed to catch the attention of even the youngest audience members.

This was followed by a guided tour of the rest of the museum which explored what the word “witch” means today, witches in folklore and movies, herbal remedies, a timeline of witch trials and mass hysteria, Wicca and common misconceptions surrounding it, and THE BEST TIMELINE EVER of how scapegoating has caused tragedies and marks on our history throughout the ages, including Japanese Internment and the Red Scare.

It was a comprehensive look at how mob mentality and hysteria can cause horrific events, starting with witch trials through modern day.

Count Orlok’s Nightmare Gallery

We followed up that somewhat somber historical museum with what, in my mind, is a hidden treasure of Salem…Count Orlok’s Nightmare Gallery.

I hate haunted houses (especially when things jump out at you. I ended up at one with friends years ago and just ran around every corner yelling “BOO!” so that I could, hopefully, startle the actors before they scared me.), and Count Orlock’s Nightmare Gallery is NOT like that. It’s a carefully curated collection of models and life masks from various horror movies dating back to the 1920s, including Nosferatu, The Fly, Salem’s Lot, Hellraiser, Aliens, and more.

They even had a model (somewhat) showing the makeup my own father designed from Hocus Pocus, which was neat to see (although he wasn’t credited in the display and it wasn’t quite right). What I loved (that some may not) was that you had to read the display notes to get the background behind each piece, and so you basically read and observed your way through the creepy museum. My husband is a huge fan of classic horror movies, and I am a huge fan of special effects makeup artist work. It was an off-the-beaten-path but worthwhile attraction.

Heritage Trail Houses

We walked along the red-lined Heritage Trail, and came to the Witch House, which was a house that was in Salem at the time of the trials and was a judge’s home. “Judge House” didn’t have quite the same ring to it, so they named it Witch House (makes sense). We skipped out on the house tour, though, because we were planning to go to The House of the Seven Gables, and how many house tours/museum tours can you really do in one day, especially when they look eerily similar?

The House of the Seven Gables tour was fantastic, and cheaper once I found out that they had a teacher discount. Bryce was horrified that I introduced my teacher status by asking if I had time to pee before the tour started, and when told no, I said, “That’s okay, I’m a teacher, I can hold it pretty much forever.” BUT, unadvertised teacher discount for the win!

The tour was of the house, which inspired the Nathaniel Hawthorne gothic romance The House of the Seven Gables. He didn’t live there, though…his cousin did. And, when he visited, the house didn’t actually have seven gables.

It was neat to see evolution of the house: the original structure and then the parts that were added when the first owner, Captain John Turner, became super wealthy from his textiles trades with China…but then how several gables were taken down to make it more in fashion for the times.

It was later taken over by a very wealthy woman, Caroline Emmerton, who was devoted to returning it to the seven-gabled state it was in when tales told by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s cousin Susannah inspired his novel. Mrs. Emmerton apparently took liberties with the house too, constructing a secret room above a fireplace that aligns with the novel but was never a part of the original house. Pretty cool, if you enjoy old architecture and historical homes and literary connections. The gardens were gorgeous, too.

Marblehead

After lunch at Flying Saucer Pizza (again), we left Salem and drove to nearby Marblehead, a neat historic harbor town in its own right, but a great place for an afternoon walk to admire fancypants houses along the seashore on the island connected to the mainland via sea wall causeway called The Neck.

While we were only there for the walking, we found a steel frame lighthouse on the rocky northern tip on the Atlantic, houses with more hollyhocks than I’d ever seen in one place, grand mansions with private beaches, and a beautiful, secret-feeling public park nestled between two mansions called Castle Rock.

Castle Rock was absolutely beautiful — a giant rock formation overlooking the ocean with a rocky beach to the left where people fished, and a cobbled beach to the right that sounded like a rain stick on crack as the waves came in and out.

It was gorgeous, worth the 10 minute drive, and fun to live vicariously by walking through the neighborhoods of the fancy.

Stopping in Salem

I am so happy that we found a new (to us) New England stopping point between our home and Maine. Salem was a great combination of the historical, the spooky, the literary, and natural beauty. I would love to come back for a repeat visit…maybe if I’m brave enough in October, when Salem is at its spooky, kooky best. I have to say it was pretty amazing in July, too.

Photos –
1, 3, 5-9: Jessica Tennant.
2: Al Peabody, on Flickr, color corrected. CCL.
4: Robert Linsdell on Flickr, cropped and color corrected. CCL.