James Madison’s Montpelier

A Tale of Two Tales

In addition to reading the the Madisons’ personal correspondence, Montpelier’s documentary researchers read memoirs and reminiscences written by contemporaries and Madison family members. There are two particularly interesting sources which survive for the life of Dolley Madison, written by members of her family. Dolley’s niece, Mary Estelle Elizabeth Cutts, wrote a set of memoirs of the life of her famous aunt, to whom she had been very close, titled Memoir I and Memoir II. In turn, Mary’s niece Lucia adapted those memoirs into a compact and readable book titled Memoirs and Letters of Dolley Madison.

Lucia presented a romantic ideal of Dolley Madison by changing names, dates and the text of actual letters. Although Mary’s admiration of Dolley is apparent from her Memoirs, Lucia changed actual scenes of Dolley’s life and those changes are reflected in her editing of Mary’s Memoirs and her own published work. Together, these works and their creators make an interesting puzzle for documentary researchers at Montpelier. Continue Reading…

Can’t Get Enough Dolley?

Tony Award nominee Eve Best as Dolley ©Kent Eames for WGBH

If you can’t wait for the March 1 debut of Dolley Madison: America’s First Lady on PBS’ American Experience you’re not alone.  Excitement has been building here at Montpelier since Middlemarch Films announced the documentary.  Anticipation really started to build when Middlemarch came to Montpelier in mid-June to film a couple of scenes!

While we can’t fastforward to March 1, we would be thrilled to have some likeminded Dolley fans join us for a special preview on February 4 at 12 p.m. at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond.  Montpelier and the Virginia Historical Society will co-sponsor the event, which will feature a special appearance by the film’s producer and director, Muffie Meyer.  The preview is part of the Virginia Historical Society’s Banner Lecture Series.

The Virginia Historical Society is located at 428 N. Boulevard, Richmond, Virginia.  Reservations are not required. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $4 for children and students, and free for Virginia Historical Society members. We hope to see you there!

Is That a Barrel or a Kilderkin?

It might surprise you to know that shopping in bulk is not a new concept. Many of us probably remember our parents or grandparents talking about a time when they went to the market each day before dinner. People like the Madisons, who didn’t live near the market often ordered and stored large quantities of ingredients at their homes.

Montpelier recently acquired a variety of barrels that represent an assortment of what the Madisons might have kept on-hand. Like many of the objects in the mansion, there’s much more to the barrels than meets the eye.

Coopers at Colonial Williamsburg and Strawbery Banke custom made a total of eight barrels for Montpelier. Student Education Director Christian Cotz hit the road to pick up the custom orders in early December. Visitors can now see the barrels in the mansion cellars.

Barrels or casks are generic terms that describe ingredient containers during the Madisons’ time. They could have other names, however, depending on the ingredient and amount a given container held. Using these terms, here is what you can expect to see when you visit the cellars:

• 1 molasses hogshead

• 1 salt hogshead

• 2 flour barrels

• 2 port pipes

• 1 kilderkin (often used for beer)

• 1 wine barrel

Building Bridges

The new demonstration trail is finally complete and we are eagerly anticipating its opening. The final step was to build a bridge to link the new trail to Poplar Run Loop, a portion of the existing nature trail.

First, the crew dug footers on either bank of the creek. Next the footers were filled with gravel and leveled.

We prepared six 20 foot-long oak boards from trees harvested on Montpelier. The crew drilled through the boards so that when in position, rods could be inserted to ensure the stability of the finished bridge.

Then, Erik Filep and Ed Furlow along with other dedicated foresters and Montpelier staff transported the boards more than a half-mile through the woods to the bridge site. The boards, each weighing close to 1000 pounds, were carried over one at a time. A log arch was used to reduce the impact to the ground and to ease the passage of the heavy beams.

Once at the site, five of the boards were set in place and rods were inserted through them. An extra board has been left at the site to be made into a bench in the near future. Railings were also constructed. The boards for the railings are from the same Montpelier oaks that were originally felled for the bridge.

With the completion of the bridge, efforts are now underway to produce signage and a brochure that will enhance the visitor experience to the demonstration trail. We eagerly await the official opening of this new trail on Arbor Day, April 30th.

Archaeology of the North Kitchen Site….The Final Word With A Few Pleasant Surprises

Expedition members at the North Kitchen site

After six months of excavation that included two university field schools and seven Expedition programs, most of the puzzle pieces have fallen into place, and we can now share the final outcome of our endeavors.  With careful analysis, the tangled web of 50 different soil layers and 53 features yielded some interesting and significant results. 

Results of the North Kitchen project include identification of intact 19th-century deposits, including those related to the Madison kitchen and surrounding landscape.  Especially significant deposits include features that represent previous locations of kitchen piers.  Archaeological evidence suggests the north, detached kitchen was initially constructed in 1797, 57 feet from the mansion.  This distance is 100 ft from the center-line of the 1797 mansion, just as the earlier south detached kitchen had been constructed 100 feet from the center-line of the 1763 mansion.

Image demonstrating basic results of the investigations

When the mansion’s north wing was constructed in 1809, the kitchen was relocated 16 feet to the north, moving the kitchen away from the wing and bringing it into balance with the south detached kitchen; both kitchens were now 38 feet from their respective wings.  This 38-ft distance from the mansion to the north kitchen is depicted on an 1837 insurance map, and the corresponding archaeological evidence confirms this.

Continue Reading…

History in your hands

Have you ever wondered what happens to artifacts once they come out of the ground? Now you have the chance to learn first-hand through Montpelier’s Ceramics Workshop, January 24-29. The ceramics workshop is the complement to Montpelier’s popular Expedition program that brings people to Montpelier to excavate during the spring, summer, and fall.

Participants will practice the three steps of artifact analysis-cataloguing, labeling, and assembling-under the guidance of Montpelier’s staff archaeologists. There will be three work stations set up to help participants get valuable hands-on experience in each of the steps throughout the week.

They will also engage in several lectures and get a behind-the –scenes look at the role ceramics play in “A Presidential Detective Story: Rediscovering the Furnishings and Décor of James and Dolley Madison.” Many of the ceramics that are reassembled will be displayed in the mansion. Continue Reading…

Christmas at Montpelier

Today when we think of Christmas, we think of Christmas trees in houses and town squares, carolers in the snow, and houses decorated with lights and bows. The season of Christmas is a visual feast everywhere you look. At this time of year, visitors often ask our guides how Montpelier would have looked during the Christmas season two centuries ago. The answer is a bit surprising.

Christmas, both the day and the season, was celebrated differently in the Madisons’ time. Many of the Christmas customs we know today did not become popular until the end of the 19th century or beginning of the 20th; other Christmas traditions were introduced when the Madisons were in retirement. Santa Claus comes from German and Dutch traditions, and St. Nick made his first appearance on a wider stage in America in Washington Irving’s History of New York, published in 1809. The first record we have of a Christmas tree in Virginia isn’t until 1842, in a house in Williamsburg. What, then, was Christmas like for the Madisons?

Christmas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was a time for visiting family and friends, hosting or attending large parties, balls, and dinners. In early December 1834, Dolley wrote to her niece Mary with news about what the family members at Montpelier were doing: “Anna & her sisters have gone to a dancing part at Newman’s – they are to keep the Christmas from this time to New Years day.” [note: Dolley Payne Todd Madison to Mary Estelle Elizabeth Cutts, December 11, 1834, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.] Little more than a year later, a friend writing from Richmond told Dolley that everyone there was still “feasting, dancing & making merry,” despite the cholera epidemic in the city.¹ Continue Reading…

Thank You!

December at Montpelier has been hopping. We had the Christmas Candlelight Tours during the first weekend of the month. Last weekend, the Center for the Constitution held its Introduction to the Constitution seminar. 2009 may be coming to a close, but the staff is abuzz making plans for 2010.

In the midst of all the excitement, we received some great news: Albemarle Family Living magazine’s readers voted to give honors to Montpelier in two categories of the Albemarle Family Favorite Awards! The readers voted Montpelier second in both the “local historic site” and “regional historic site” categories!

Thank you to all of our friends who voted for us. The Piedmont is a beautiful area filled with exciting things to do. We’re honored that you have chosen Montpelier as one of your favorites. We look forward to continuing to welcome you to the Home of the Father of the Constitution and the woman who inspired the title “First Lady.”

The Case of the Missing Painting

The Presidential Detective Story is well underway and we have already had some great finds. One of these is the painting  Pan –  Youths & Nymphs.¹ The painting recently returned to Montpelier. Here is the back story on its journey home:

Gerrit Van Honthorst, Pan, Youths & Nymphs, ca. 1630

Our curatorial team first saw Pan –  Youths & Nymphs listed in the anonymous document “Oil Paintings at Montpellier” (circa 1836-44). Next, the team found an 1846 newspaper article that describes the work hanging over a mantel in Dolley Madison’s Lafayette Square house in Washington, D.C. The article called it “a very old painting representing a group of maidens surprised by Pan while playing in a grove.”²

Then the trail went cold. We knew John Payne Todd (Dolley’s son) held a sale of her property nearly two years after her 1849 death.  A newspaper account following the sale noted at least one of the “large works” remained unsold. Could Pan – Youths & Nymphs be one of these paintings?  If so, where did it go?

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Archaeologists Identify New Structure in the North West Yard

When it comes to archaeology, it’s never easy—every day your assumptions are challenged as you unearth each new piece of evidence, be it a small sherd of porcelain or a wall foundation. Of course, that is part of what draws people to the profession and volunteers to the Archaeology Expeditions and Archaeology Excursions. Each day tells a new story. If you had visited Montpelier earlier in the year, or read the previous post on the North West Yard, the archaeologists would have told you that they were looking for a midden (trash dump), tree planting holes for the Pine Allée, and the landscape wall that defined the edge of Madison, Sr.’s formal yard.

That was yesterday. Today, we have a different story.
Continue Reading…