The sun finally came out again, although it was chilly. We met up with Christopher and Marianne for a tour of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home.

Chris and Marianne are quite knowledgeable about Monticello and Thomas Jefferson. We learned a lot from them.

They showed us the memorial for all the slaves who worked at Monticello. If you look closely, you can see their names carved out of the metal.

We passed the gardens on our walk up to the house.

We saw the slave quarters.

Then took a tour through the house itself.

We ended our day at Monticello with a question and answer session with Thomas Jefferson himself. He talked a lot about the need to be well educated if you are going to be self-governed — and to know history.

Highland

After enjoying a delicious grilled chicken sandwich in Monticello’s cafe, we headed over to Highland, the home of James Monroe.

Wow. I had no idea how significant this dude was in American history!

In addition to being the fifth American president, he did a slew of other things. However, I’m going to let you look them up. The list is too long.

We were able to take a tour of the guest house. This is where people visiting Monroe would have stayed.

I got to see where the original house stood. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of it.

However, this oak tree stood behind the house way back when Monroe lived there.

After our tour of Highland, we drove over to Thomas Jefferson’s Winery and enjoyed three flights of red, white, and blended wines with Chris and Marianne.

My favorite photo of Monticello:

On to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee!