The Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center and Smith Education Center at Monticello, housed in an addition to Thomas Jefferson’s mountaintop estate near Charlottesville, Va., opened to the public on April 15.
The new center is an impressive educational tool for all those who want to learn, grow, and understand the world of America’s third president.
The purpose of the center is to help the public discover who Thomas Jefferson was, what he accomplished as president of the United States, and what guided his actions and activities, including jump-starting America’s Revolutionary War and drafting the Declaration of Independence, his stellar achievement.
Before and during his term as the new nation’s third president (1801–1809), with his skills as an architect, he designed Monticello between 1769 and 1809 and the center of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville between 1817 and 1826, which were designated as National Historic Landmarks by the UNESCO World Heritage site.
“Jefferson's use of an architectural vocabulary based upon classical antiquity symbolizes both the aspirations of the new American republic as the inheritor of European tradition and the cultural experimentation that could be expected as the country matured” is the reason for including Monticello on its list of chosen heritage sites, according to the World Heritage Web site.
Improving Monticello
Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center and the Smith Education Center began in 2006 as part of a restoration effort for the Jefferson home, for which the Thomas Jefferson Foundation solicited $55 million in 2007, with previous commitments totaling $42.5 million.
This new, 42,000-square-foot, eco-friendly addition to the home of Thomas Jefferson, designed by Ayers-Saint-Gross Architects and Planners of Baltimore, Md., and built of wood and fieldstones, is pleasing to the eye and fits perfectly into its surroundings on the lower, southern slope of Monticello Mountain.
The new center helps the visitor gain an appreciation of Thomas Jefferson’s life, accomplishments, and ability to work within a community that included both free and enslaved people.
The landscape architect did a marvelous job of blending the new addition into the existing area, so it does not detract from the original buildings.
The professionals took into consideration Thomas Jefferson’s architectural accomplishments and “reflected [it] in the design, construction, and appearance of the new center, which stands as a modern and functional complement to the historic house, not a replication of it,” according to the Monticello Web site.
Entertainment and Education
One enters the world of learning about Thomas Jefferson at the Dominion Welcome Pavilion, buys a ticket, and then chooses to walk through the courtyard or along covered walkways to the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Gallery, the Museum shop on the left, the Carl and Hunter Smith Education Center on the right, or the Café at Monticello.
The center consists of five pavilions, built around a central courtyard with many benches for relaxing before embarking on the next educational trip. There are beautiful plants, inviting the visitor to take a deep breath, linger, and enjoy the view.
All amenities for the seasoned tourist are available, including a 15-minute introductory film called “Thomas Jefferson’s World,” a must when visiting for the first time. This film is the base for understanding Thomas Jefferson—the president and the man—as well as an introduction to the exhibits.
The exhibits are housed in the two-level Robert H. and Clarice Smith Gallery. The very interactive exhibits tell the public about Jefferson’s ideals, innovative ideas, and his influence on the past and present.
There are touch screens and animated videos that are fun to use for young and old. The designers employed the latest digital technology to enhance the learning process for everyone.
The four exhibits are divided into “The Words of Thomas Jefferson” (Stacy Smith Liss Gallery), “Thomas Jefferson and ‘The Boisterous Sea of Liberty’” (Michelle Smith Gallery), “Making Monticello: Jefferson’s ‘Essay in Architecture’” (David Bruce Smith Gallery), and “Monticello as Experiment: ‘To Try All Things’” (Jeffrey C. Walker Family Foundation Gallery).
Children ages 6 to 11 have not been forgotten. The exhibits allow young children to learn through hands-on experience. Girls can enjoy dressing up in 18th-century clothes and pretending that they are living during Jefferson’s time. There are many activities that will let time fly by for the boys and girls who venture into the Griffin Discovery Room, designed as “a hands-on activity center for children.”
Most impressive are the three classrooms with many technological amenities in the Carl and Hunter Smith Education Center, built for groups of students of all ages. The classrooms accommodate workshops, lectures, and a variety of educational programs.
The center is ready with educational materials that help shape the minds of students from elementary to high school. The classrooms hold 30 people, but can be enlarged to hold 60 people.
The avid shopper will have fun at the Monticello Museum Shop, which offers a wide variety of items, including books, reproductions of furniture displayed at Monticello, children’s toys, seeds that were harvested from plants grown on Monticello grounds, and much more.
Remembering America’s Third President
With the new Visitor Center and Smith Education Center, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has accomplished what it promised.
The visitor will understand how Jefferson fashioned the minds of his contemporaries and how his ideals still educate and expand people’s minds in the 20th century.
The visitor will take home Jefferson’s ideals as epitomized on the Monticello Web site: “Jefferson’s vision for America and his optimism about the future were driven by his fundamental beliefs in human rights, personal freedom, and democratic values.”