The kids and I were recently invited to visit Montpelier for Dolley's birthday on May 20.  The afternoon before, I got an e-mail from a friend asking if we'd like to join them for a drive to Montpelier. Her daughters wanted to wear their colonial costumes and they hoped my kids would wear theirs too.  Costumes?  Oh yes!  The kids agreed.  My son deliberated on whether to wear his "farm boy" costume or his General Lafayette costume. I suggested he wear his "farm boy" costume. Lafayette visited Montpelier in 1824, years after he wore his Continental uniform.  Also, I told my son I was a bit hesitant for him to wear the Lafayette costume since I put a lot more work into it, mainly the epaulettes. I told him with the "farm boy" costume he could play all he wanted to,whereas with the Lafayette costume he'd have to be more careful with it.  As I dug the costumes out of the closet, I found my daughter's empire dress.  That would be more appropriate to what Dolley wore at Montpelier, but that is a fancy dress and I'd rather her play in her cotton colonial dress.

     It was a beautiful day and a lovely drive.  I love driving through rolling hills, farm land and old barns. 

     This was the first length of time our kids spent with each other and they got along well!  Once there, my kids couldn't wait to show them a few of their favorite places. (This was my friend's family's first time there.)

     The kids and I got to visit Montpelier last Aug, when the final touches of the renovation were underway for the grand opening in September.  When we were there, a few rooms were shut off, there was no fence and no grass.  This time fence and grass were there. What a difference.

     I wasn't expecting any furnishings, because last August our guide told us it takes a year for the plaster to cure so the house wouldn't be furnished for another year.  Surprisingly, we did find a few furnishings in the rooms and paintings on the walls. 

     We ate our picnic lunches on the patio and enjoyed the lovely view. During lunch we were served birthday cake and lemonade.

     Everyone was impressed with the kids' costumes. When we went to the temple, my friend and I stood there and talked and the kids ran up and down the hill. They were really fun to watch, running around with their costumes on.  My friend's oldest daughter sent me a picture she took of my son and her sister running down the hill.  Doesn't that look like fun?

     At one point, when they ran down the hill, a car stopped and the driver asked them to pose for a picture.  Throughout the day, other tourists took their pictures too.

     While we were there, this sculpture was installed behind the house. We were wondering if it was life sized.  We've always heard that James Madison and his wife Dolley were on the small side and this statue was definitely on the small side.  I checked the web site when we got home and indeed it is life sized.  The only other statue, recently, I have stood next to is of George Washington and he was a big man compared to James Madison.   Nevertheless, Madison was big on ideas and is known as the Father of the Constitution.  In fact, Jean Fritz has written a great children's biography about him, called The Great Little Madison. 

     The kitchen on the Madison's side of the house now has great interactive displays on cooking.  I think that is their best museum display. The kids went to the tent to work with the different tools of the era.  We also went to the archaeology dig which is now on the temple side of the house.  We asked lots of questions and learned a few new things.

     Sadly, one the Cedars of Lebanon on the other side of the house is doing very poorly.  When Lafayette visited during his grand tour of 1824, he gave the Madisons three Cedars of Lebanon. They are now huge.  But one is dying because the archaeology dig was taking place there last summer. The roots do not like to be messed with and it stresses the tree.  One of the other Cedars of Lebanon nearby is doing very well. Surprisingly, we saw some men drilling into the tree and digging around it.  My son asked if they were installing a lightening rod. Yes!  I was thinking that would ultimately be good for the tree, but is the drillling and digging going to stress the tree and cause more trouble? 

     We spent a lot of time in the garden. Turns out I'm not the only one who loves the flowers!  One of my friend's daughters took took lots of pictures.  I wonder if she took more than me?  While walking through, my friend found the other Cedar of Lebanon. We could not find that one last August.  Those trees are huge.  Since my friend was so helpful in identifying the flowers in my garden, I asked her about all the flowers in the Montpelier garden.  Later in the gift shop we found a Mid-Atlantic gardening book. I've been telling my husband since we arrived in Virginia that I had to get a local gardening book.  I had a green thumb in Texas.  However there are a lot of plants in Virginia I am not familiar with. Also the growing seasons are significantly different.  I am now enjoying putting a name to these flowers' petals!

The morning after a full day in Washington DC, we packed up the van and drove to our next hotel in Charlottesville.  But first, we were going to spend some time at Montpelier.  On the way we saw several Civil War Battlefields, including the Battlefields of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania. There were also several signs near Chancellorsville marking  Stonewall Jackson's final battle. I told the kids to imagine the fighting, as we drove by the now empty fields with lonely cannons.   

As we entered the Blue Ridge Mountains, we arrived at Montpelier, home of the Father of the Constitution, author of the Federalist Papers and Bill of Rights, and our fourth president, James Madison. 

Montpelier has been undergoing renovations for the last few years.  They are nearly complete and will have their grand Restoration Celebration on Sept 17, the anniversary of the Constitution.  We got to see all the work that had been done.  Our excellent tour guide gave us lots of fascinating information on the restoration process.  It was like "If Walls Could Talk" on hgtv.  After the Madisons passed away, the house and furnishings were sold at auction.  New owners made extensive changes to the mansion.  In December 2003,  the Montpelier Foundation began to restore the home to the era of the 1820's.  Hidden clues revealed former structures.  Neighbors found mantle pieces, etc in their attics and barns.  Paintings and furniture from nearby and abroad have been returned.   

James Madison himself had enlarged his boyhood home, using design ideas from his good friend, Thomas Jefferson. The restoration will take us back to how James and his wife, Dolley, knew their home in their final years.  We got to go inside the house and see almost everything.  It was nearly complete and gorgeous!  The views from the house were stunning: a protected forest in the back and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the front.

The side yards are landscaped in a typical manner of a mansion, beautiful tall trees to block the slave quarters.  The Marquis de Lafayette visited the Madisons here on his Grand Tour in 1824.   As much as Lafayette loved America and his American friends, he abhorred the slavery.  He often appealed to Madison, Jefferson, and Washington that America could not be truely free if slavery existed. 

Knowing how much the Madisons enjoyed plants, the Marquis gave them 3 Cedar of Lebanon seedlings.  All of them survive to this day!  When the tour guide told us about this, my son pointed out to him that those trees were used to build Solomon's Temple.  The tour guide was surprised to hear that from him.  From then on the tour guide relied on my son to answer all of his questions!  LOL Sadly, these beautiful trees are suffering.  Archaeological digs are going on nearby, disturbing the sensitive root structure. The Montpelier Foundation is trying to work with the archaeologists on a way to resolve this problem.

One of the most amazing items recovered in the digs was a piece of china from Marie Antoinette.  Apparently James Monroe brought it back from Paris with him.  It is possible to sign up to join the digs.  I would do this if I could, but Texas is a bit far away...

The property is beautiful and serene.  We saw horses behind the gardens...

We saw horses on the way to the family cemetary...

James and Dolley Madison's graves...

After lunch we took a garden tour.  This is a blend of the Madison's and Dupont's.  The Duponts were the final owners of the mansion before turning it over to the Madison Foundation. 

One of my favorite places was the Madison Temple.  James Madison often came here in the summer time to sit and study and write.  Many thought he chose this lovely spot for inspiration. The scenery would certainly inspire me!  However his choice of sitting here was for more practical reasons. There is an ice house under the temple and he came here to sit to keep cool!

Oops!  My husband found me enjoying the beautifully serene scenery!

We went to a little museum behind the garden to see a movie and see some of the furnishings that have so far been collected for the house.  There is a dining room display with life-sized cardboard figures of James and Dolley Madison, the Marquis de Lafayette and his son, George Washington Lafayette.  It recreates a special dinner given in the Marquis' honor when he visited on his Grand Tour in 1824.

We had wanted to walk through the old-growth forest behind the house.  James Madison did not like seeing all the development going on and the trees being chopped down.  (I agree!)  He left the forest behind his house untouched and the Madison Foundation continues that tradition today.  However thunder and lightening prevented our hike when a storm blew in for the rest of the afternoon.  

One of my son's favorite things to do was to play in the children's tent where he could whack away at wood with old fashioned tools.  

Finally we needed to leave.  We drove down beautifully twisty roads to go to Charlottesville.  On the way I was hoping to purchase some sweet corn to take back home to Texas.  Corn grown in Texas is not good tasty.  As a little girl I remember going to Pennsylvania to see my mom's family and eating delicious sweet corn. Alas, I couldn't find any to purchase, even though I saw tons of corn fields!  On arrival at our Charlottesville hotel, we were pleasantly surprised to see that we were surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains!  I couldn't get enough of the view!  I kept getting frustrated when people would close shades at the restaurants.  I wanted to open them and enjoy the beauty!  Oh well.  Here are some of the lovely flowers from Madison's garden!  Enjoy!