Montpelier (Orange, Virginia)

Montpelier
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Montpelier restored to its original state
Nearest city:	Orange, Virginia
Coordinates:	38°13′11″N 78°10′10″W
Built:	c. 1764
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	66000843
Significant dates
Added to NRHP:	October 15, 1966
Designated NHL:	December 19, 1960

Montpelier circa 1975, during the du Pont family's ownership of the property.

Montpelier was a large tobacco plantation and chattel estate of the prominent Madison family of Virginia planters, including James Madison, fourth President of the United States. The manor house of Montpelier is four miles (6 km) south of Orange, Virginia, and the estate currently covers some 2,650 acres (1,070 ha).

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. Its last owner, Marion duPont Scott, bequeathed it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1983. It has owned and operated the estate since 1984, and from 2003-2008 carried out a major restoration, in part to return the mansion to its original size of 22 rooms during the years when it was occupied by James and Dolley Madison. Extensive interior and exterior work was done during the restoration.

History

The Madison family

In 1723 James Madison's grandfather, Ambrose Madison, and his brother-in-law Thomas Chew acquired the land in the Piedmont of Virginia. It was part of the movement west of planters out of the Tidewater. Ambrose and his family moved to the plantation in 1732; they called it Mount Pleasant. Ambrose died six months later; according to court records, he was poisoned by three black slaves. At the time, he held 29 slaves. After his death, his wife Frances managed the estate, helped by their only son, James Madison, Sr., when he was old enough.

He later was known as Colonel Madison. As a planter, he added to the acreage at Mount Pleasant, and bought additional slaves to cultivate tobacco and other crops. He married and had a family.

Colonel Madison's first-born son, also named James, was born in 1751 at Belle Grove, his mother's family estate in Port Conway, where she had returned for his birth. The mother and child soon rejoined the colonel at Mount Pleasant, where the young James spent his first years. Colonel Madison built a new house half a mile away. This structure forms the heart of the main house at Montpelier today. Built around 1764, it has two stories of brick laid in a Flemish bond pattern, and a low, hipped roof with chimney stacks at both ends.

James, Jr inherited Montpelier after his father's death in 1801 but was living there before that. In 1797, after he first retired from politics, Madison added a thirty-foot extension and a Tuscan portico to the house. He next added single-story flat-roofed extensions at either end of the house, and around 1810 created a drawing room from two existing rooms. Madison retired there full time with his wife Dolley after his second term as president ended in 1817.

James Madison died in 1836 and is buried in the family cemetery at Montpelier. His widow Dolley Madison moved back to Washington, D.C. in 1837 after his death, first selling off some furnishings. In 1844 she sold the plantation and slaves, as she needed the money to survive. After her death in 1849, she was buried in Washington, DC. She was later reinterred at Montpelier next to Madison.

Slavery at Montpelier

The work of Montpelier was done primarily by its permanent but fluctuating staff of about 100 enslaved Africans during James Madison's tenure as owner. Most worked in the fields, but there were also slaves who served as chefs and domestic servants, and as artisans for the mill, forge, wheelwright, and other carpentry and woodworking. During the time that the Madisons owned the estate, "five, six, and possibly seven generations of African Americans were born into slavery at Montpelier."

The most well-known slave from Montpelier was Paul Jennings, who was body servant to Madison from the age of 10, when he accompanied him to the White House, to the president's death in 1836. Born in 1799, Jennings was purchased and freed in 1845 by the northern senator Daniel Webster after Madison's death. Jennings lived in Washington, DC, where he worked and became a property owner. In 1848 he helped plan the largest slave escape in United States history, as 77 slaves from the Washington, DC area took to The Pearl, a schooner, intending to sail up the Chesapeake Bay to a free state. They were captured and most were sold to the Deep South. Jennings was noted for his account, A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison (1865), which is considered the first of the White House memoirs.

The Du Pont family

After some renovations in the later 19th century (c. 1855 and c. 1880), the house was acquired in 1901 by William and Annie Rogers du Pont, of the du Pont family. A horse enthusiast, William du Pont built barns, stables and other buildings for equestrian use. They were among several wealthy families in the Upper South who were influential in Thoroughbred horse racing.

Their daughter Marion duPont (she used this spelling of the surname) inherited the estate in 1928. She preserved much of the core of the Madison home, gardens, and grounds of Montpelier as a legacy for all Americans. She also enlarged the house considerably for her own use, adding wings that more than doubled the size of the house to 55 rooms. The brick was covered with a stucco exterior for a lighter look.

In 1934 she and her brother founded the Montpelier Hunt Races on the grounds, using natural hedges for the steeplechase. The annual event has continued at the plantation.

The mansion was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

Marion duPont Scott died in 1983 and bequeathed the property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, with $10 million as an endowment to buy and maintain it. However, her father's will had stated that if she died childless, the property would go to her brother, William duPont, Jr. and his children. As he had died in 1965, his five children legally inherited the property. Scott's will encouraged them to sell or give their interests to the National Trust; if they did not, they would get no share of an additional $3.1 million trust she had set up for them. Three sold their interests in Montpelier to the National Trust, followed by the other two in 1984 after a court battle in which they tried to break the trust.

National Trust property

It has created an Education Center, where changing exhibits are shown. There is also a visitor's center.

In conjunction with the James Madison University Field School, Montpelier has been the site of annual, seasonal archeological excavations from April to November, for instance, of the South Yard, and Kitchen Yard. These have revealed early structures in those areas, including possibly slave quarters, as well as a variety of artifacts dating back to the Madison residency and their slaves. The artifacts are helping researchers form a much broader and deeper picture of the lives of the slaves at Montpelier. New exhibits continue to inform visitors to Montpelier of the lives of Africans and African Americans at the plantation.

From 2003-2008 the National Trust carried out a $25 million restoration to return the mansion to its 1820 state, less than half the size the Du Pont family had created. The National Trust has begun working on finding furnishings either original to the property or of its era, as Dolley Madison had sold most of the contents of the house as a widow, and they became widely dispersed.

Restoration

Close-up of Montpelier (2011)

Guide at Montpelier

Entrance to the gardens at Montpelier

Restored railroad depot is now a civil rights museum outside Montpelier in Orange, Virginia

A $25 million restoration project launched in October 2003 was completed on Constitution Day, September 17, 2008. A Restoration Celebration was held with major funding by National Trust Community Investment Corporation.

The restoration returned Montpelier to its 1820 appearance: it demolished additions made to the house by the du Pont family, removed the stucco exterior to reveal the original brick, restored the original brick exterior, and reconstructed the house's interior as it appeared during Madison's tenure as owner. Authentic materials were used in the restoration, including horsehair plaster, and paint containing linseed oil and chalk.

A wing in the visitors' center has been dedicated to the du Pont family. It includes a restored art deco Red Room from the Marion duPont Scott era, moved from the mansion and permanently installed here.

Today

Montpelier is open to paying visitors every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Montpelier has begun a "Presidential Detective Story" to return the furnishings and decor to the home of James and Dolley Madison.

At the entrance to the Montpelier garden is the largest of several Cedars of Lebanon, this one certainly planted during James Madison's lifetime. The estate abuts the James Madison Landmark Forest, a 200-acre (0.81 km²) stand of old growth forest, one of the largest and best preserved groves of old-growth piedmont forest in the eastern United States.

Annual events

Montpelier is the site of many annual events; three particularly draw large crowds: the Montpelier Hunt Races, the Montpelier Wine Festival, and the Fiber Festival.

The annual Montpelier Hunt Races, an autumn steeplechase event, were started by Marion duPont Scott and her brother William duPont, Jr. in 1934. The races are held the first Saturday in November. The 75th running of the Montpelier Hunt Races was held November 7, 2009. Montpelier has one of the few steeplechase tracks in the country that use traditional hedgerows for jumps. Montpelier hosts seven races at this event. Guests may watch the races directly at the rail for a close experience.

The Montpelier Wine Festival showcases distinctive arts and crafts, specialty food vendors, local agricultural products, and Virginia wine from approximately 25 different wineries in the state.

The Fall Fiber Festival is held each October and is a popular regional event. The event showcases every aspect of textile manufacturing, from the production of wool to the finished product. Events include sheep shearing, craft demos, and a host of other activities. The most popular feature of the Fall Fiber Festival is the Sheep Dog Trials.

See also

• Orange, Virginia
• Frederick Detrick

External links

• James Madison's Montpelier
• The Digital Montpelier Project, explains investigations and images as part of the restoration project
• Montpelier Blog
• "Memories of Montpelier: Home of James and Dolley Madison", a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]
• "Life Portrait of James Madison", broadcast from Montpelier from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits
• "Writings of Jefferson and Madison", broadcast from Montpelier from C-SPAN's American Writers