James Madison’s Montpelier

Is That Ink?

One of the many interesting discoveries during the mansion restoration was a dark stain on the floor of the Old Library (M207). The stain can be seen in the northeastern corner of the room, near the fireplace. The staff had several ideas as to how it got there. Some even wondered if Madison himself spilled a bottle of ink.

We saw this as a very promising opportunity to have a specialist examine the stain to determine if it is actually ink. The staff called upon the expertise of Thomas Snyder, a conservator and owner of Williamsburg Art Conservation Inc..

a stain on the floor of the Old Library

Snyder first examined the stain under longwave ultraviolet radiation. This allowed him to see how the stain would fluoresce. Next, he compared this fluorescence to the way known types of 19^th-Century ink such as Iron Gall, sepia, and carbon, look under UV light.  He did not find any similarities.

Continue Reading…

Investigation in the Drawing Room

In the Drawing Room

Last week, Susan Buck, Architectural Finishes Conservator, visited Montpelier to continue work on two ongoing projects in the drawing room (M108): the search for curtain hanging evidence and the hunt for clues about the original wallpaper.

Small wooden markers show the depth and angle of nail holes, which might have been used to secure drapery hardware.

The search for evidence of how curtains were displayed:

One Madison era visitor mentioned the windows in the drawing room were “hung with light silken drapery.”^[1] But, how were the curtains suspended and what design did the Madisons choose?

To learn as much as possible about the drawing room curtains, we are searching for physical clues for drapery hardware. Having already eliminated the premise that the Madisons had cornices above the windows because no physical evidence survives, Dr. Buck performed additional forensic work to see whether wooden laths were nailed directly to the top of the window frame to hold the window treatments. Continue Reading…

Update June 18, 2009

Read about us in the Times!

The New York Times, that is. Last Friday’s paper featured a column in the Art and Design section about historic sites interpreting slaves and servants in addition to the homeowners. We are mentioned and there are audio links to an actor speaking the words of Paul Jennings; this is the same audio which you can hear during tours of the house. The first recording, “I was always with Mr. Madison,” can be heard in Mr. Madison’s study (M104), the room in which Madison died.

Jennings was a slave of the Madisons who worked in the White House during Madison’s presidency and later returned to Washington, DC, with Dolley Madison after James’ death. It was in Washington that Jennings earned his freedom. At the end of his life, an interview with him was turned into a short book, A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison. Our own Beth Taylor is currently conducting extensive research into the life of Paul Jennings; you can buy a copy of A Colored Man’s Reminiscences in our gift shop to help support her research.

Mr. Madison's Study

Shutters
All of the shutters have now been fitted, hung, and stamped with their location information. However, before we can hang them permanently, they need a little more work. We are sending them off to have all newly cut and fitted edges primed and top-coated and for all shutters to receive a copper cap, to get a final coat of paint, and then dry over the next couple of weeks. We will let you know when they come back and are hung again.

In Brief: Court Records
Another area of research we are investigating is court records. These can be helpful in a number of ways: to find lists of Madison property; track family inheritance and land ownership; and trace social and business connections by looking at who was involved in suits with, or against, the Madisons.

We started by looking at the records for the county in which Montpelier is located – Orange County, Virginia. The county courthouse has copies of the original deed and will books, which recorded the wills, inventories, and deeds of sale for the whole county. However, we are also searching through court proceedings to find mentions of the Madisons, some of which were moved to Richmond during the 20th century. There is a lot of material to sift through, complicated by the fact that how courts were organized changed more than once during James Madison’s lifetime. So far we have found some good leads, which are followed up by even more research in the court records!

Update May 14, 2009

Constitutional Exhibit

Now open in the south wing room of the house (M118), which is accessible from the back yard, is our exhibit “James Madison: Architect of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights”.

 


Those of you who visited Montpelier prior to April, 2009, may have seen the exhibit in our Education Center. The exhibit is self-guided, with commentary available on the audio tour. The exhibit describes James Madison’s role in the development, writing, and implementation of two of America’s most important documents – the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In addition to text, the exhibit uses images and excerpts from historical documents.

The room is arranged so that you can view the exhibit at your leisure and utilize the chairs.  We hope our visitors will discuss the exhibit, the Constitution, or James Madison with each other.  In the future we would like to have staff lead discussions with our visitors that would include topics relevant to how the Constitution affects us today.

 

Shutters

Gene Lyman stamps the top of a shutter

The shutters continue to be hung. This week they are installing more shutters on the front of the house

Since the shutters and their fittings are handmade, each shutter only fits in one window of the house. Thus, both window and shutter are assigned an identifier code.  Stamping the shutters allows them to be removed to be repainted or fixed and then be returned to their correct location.

Shutters Update April 29, 2009

The restoration crew has started to hang shutters on the exterior of the house.

Rear of the house, from the Architectural Record, Vol VI (July 1896-June 1897).

The shutters are modern reproductions based on Madison-era shutters found in a barn here on the property. There were 31 shutters found in the barn, 12 for the second floor and 19 for the first. They retained their original paint coating, a green made from verdigris pigment, which is made from weathered copper. We’ve painted the reproduction shutters the same green, basing the coloring on research by Dr. Susan Buck (see this post for a picture of the process) Continue Reading…

Depot Restoration Update – December 11, 2008

Painting

The painters are approximately ¾ finished with scraping the North elevation of the Depot.

Framing

After further investigation, it appears that the termite damage is limited to the southwestern corner of the building.  While the damage is still extensive, it fortunately will not require us to remove large amounts of the siding or the surviving interior trim and wall coverings.  Most of the heavily damaged wood was remove and replaced with pressure-treated pine.  For the framing that only suffered minor termite damage, new pieces of pressure treated pine were attached to the sides of the existing framing.  This technique, called “sistering”, is a common way of strengthening moderately deteriorated beams while still preserving the original framing.

Update

Doors

Mac Ward is installing the door jambs in the cellar.

Gene Lyman continues to install door hinges and locks.

Exterior

Blaise Gaston and Paul Pyzyana are painting the North Wing’s eastern stoop and stair

Bill Bichell is driving and clenching the wrought nails into the heart-pine lattice that will go under the portico deck. Clenching nails, or hammering the projecting end of a nail back against a piece of wood, is common method of insuring a nail would stay securely in place and has been used for centuries if not longer.

Millwork

Blaise Gaston and Paul Pyzyana are getting ready to make the transoms for the wing doorways. The muntins in the transoms are bent into an incredibly complex design and the picture below shows some of the approximately 160 pieces that will make up the shaper templates Blaise is going to use to build the transoms.

Montpelier Restoration Update – 11/26/2008 and 12/3/2008

Doors

Mac Ward continues to hang doors on the second floor.  In the photos above he is trimming the edge of one of the doors prior to installation.  The metal guide helps to ensure the circular saw stays straight through the entire length of the cut.

Gene Lyman continues to install door hinges and locks.  Gene has also installed the pine threshold for the doorway that leads out to the Colonnade deck.  Physical evidence for this very wide (15”) threshold was found on the surviving Madison-era flooring.

Keith Forrey continues to install the doors in the cellar.  In the photos he is installing a wrought-iron “H-L” hinge on the door to a closet in the 1797 cellar.

A latch-lock was also installed on the eastern door in M-109 (South Passage).  This spring-loaded lock is something of an intermediate step between the more common Norfolk latches and the more complex rim locks.  The odd handles, called stirrups or axe-head handles, are based on multiple examples found on surviving locks or archaeologically.  While these handles look unusual when compared to modern knobs, they were actually very common in the 18th and early-19th centuries.

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Exterior

Blaise Gaston and Paul Pyzyana are installing the North Wing’s eastern stoop and stair

Depot Restoration Update – December 3, 2008

Painting

The painters have moved to the south elevation and are approximately half way through removing the loose paint.

Framing

Termites. Evidence of the greedy beasts was first uncovered when a section of the flooring in the freight room was removed to install a steel support system to help carry the second floor. Further investigation uncovered that they had devoured much of the framing that supported the northwestern corner of the first floor. To repair the damage much of the heavily deteriorated framing will need to be removed and replaced. Additionally, new lumber will be “sistered” onto the original framing to strengthen and support the joists and studs that were not as heavily damaged. Needless to say, this is a very unwelcome surprise and brings with it a major blow to the project’s already tight budget. To make up the deficit we are currently looking for additional funds and grants.

Montpelier Restoration Update – 11/20/2008

Doors

Mac Ward continues to hang doors on the second floor.

Keith Forry is finishing the repairs to the original Madison doors.

Gene Lyman continues to install mortise locks on the doors and Bill Bichell is installing hinges and the recreated c. 1764 screws for the reproduction c. 1764 H-L hinges.

Windows

Joe Doody continues to install the interior storm windows in the Mansion.

Millwork

Blaise Gaston and Paul Pyzyana are painting the North Wing’s eastern stoop and stair, milling transoms and making a 15” threshold for the Colonnade deck door.

Colonnade

Bill Bichell is cutting holes and installing braces for the wrought-iron colonnade deck railings.