I’ve been to Virginia several times, and in my travels I’ve visited many of the homes of our Founding Fathers. Washington’s Mount Vernon, Jefferson’s Monticello, and James Monroe’s Ash Lawn have all been lovingly restored to their original grandeur… so much so that the original inhabitants could walk through the front door today and not notice much of difference between their homes now and 200 years ago. Sadly, the same can’t be said for Montpelier, the home of James Madison, our fourth president and writer of much of the United States Constitution.
James Madison married Dolley Todd in September 15, 1794. Dolley was born Dolley Payne on May 20, 1768 and married a Philadelphia lawyer named John Todd, Jr. on January 7, 1790. The couple had two children, John Payne Todd (born 1792) and William Temple Todd (born 1793). Tragedy struck the family that same year, when an epidemic of yellow fever devastated Philadelphia. The entire Todd family was stricken with the disease, and although Dolley and John Payne survived, her husband, her youngest child, and her in-laws did not.
Because the Payne family had been on the verge of bankruptcy when John and Dolley married, Dolley’s new husband got his mother-in-law, Mary, a job managing a boarding house. The newly widowed Dolley helped her mother at the boarding house from time to time, and by 1794 she had become friends with Aaron Burr, who was a frequent guest at there. Burr suggested that Dolley meet his friend James Madison, seventeen years her senior. James and Dolley hit it off, and the couple were married in September, 1794. (Just to make things more complicated for the reader, I should point out that the wedding took place at a plantation owned by George Steptoe Washington, a nephew of the president and Dolley’s then brother-in-law).
Dolley and James spent many happy years together… but there was a storm brewing on the horizon. James adopted John Payne as his own son, and “Payne” had a raging gambling addiction. When James Madison died in 1836, Payne had gambling debts in the neighborhood of $86,000 (approximately $1.6 million in current dollars!). Dolley and Payne tried to pay off his debts, but in 1844 Payne’s crushing debts forced her to not only sell Montpelier, but also almost everything the family owned.
The house changed hands a few times, and in 1903 it was purchased by William and Annie Rogers duPont of the famous duPont family. William and Annie kept the core of the house intact, but added wings on both sides, doubling the house to 55 rooms. Montpelier was used as a private residence of the duPont family until 1983, when William and Annie’s daughter, Marion du Pont Scott, bequeathed the property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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Because the home had been so heavily renovated, and because there were only a tiny handful of Madison artifacts known to exist – furniture, clothing, books, etc. – the Montpelier Foundation decided to turn the home into an archaeological site. By the mid 1990s, much of the original home’s plaster had been removed, exposing the brickwork underneath, and visitors could see with their own eyes where doors and windows had originally been, but had been filled in during Madison’s day. A part of the ceiling of one room had been removed, allowing visitors to see the giant oak main beams laid down by Madison’s father in 1764. The beams were said to be so sturdy that a nail couldn’t be driven into them! Also at that time, the “duPont wings”, not considered “historical”, were left as they were, and visitors could see the garish mid to late 70s decor inside. To say that the “modern 70s” decor – complete with barrel chairs and shag rugs in shockingly bright colors – clashed with the rest of the home is an understatement.
In 2003, the Montpelier Foundation began serious reconstruction work on the house. The duPont-era pink stucco was removed, allowing the ancient bricks to see daylight for the first time in ages. The “duPont” wings were torn down, and in doing so, archaeologists found a treasure trove of information. For example, a mouse’s nest dating to around 1800 was found; inside the nest were scraps of cloth and wallpaper, giving restoration experts an insight to the Madison’s style. This article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette goes in to great detail about the reconstruction, the majority of which ended in 2008.
Still, clues about the Madison’s life continue to be unveiled. This post from Slashfood talks about the excavation of the outer buildings, including the North Kitchen. A midden (trash heap) was recently found, and it’s giving researchers all kids of clues about the Madison’s eating habits. According to Montpelier spokewoman Beth Morrill, recent discoveries show that the Madison’s ate “ham with apples, roasted chickens, grits with cheese, sweet potato cakes, black bean salad, fresh tomatoes, corn relish, pickles, preserves, corn pone, figs, grapes and pound cake” during the summer months.
Who knows what other treasures await archaeologists at the site! And that’s the reason I’m telling you all this. While Mount Vernon and Monticello have their own archaeological teams, the actual houses there have a “museum feel” to them. Yes, it’s great seeing the key to the Bastille that Lafayette gave Washington, and it’s cool seeing the calendar clock that Jefferson invented. But by not having any of those things, the folks at Montpelier have created a new and interesting experience unique amongst the homes of American presidents.
Montpelier is located in Orange, Virginia, and is around 30 minutes from Charlottesville, which is the home of Monticello and Ash Lawn. Admission is $14.00 for adults and $6 for children ages 6-14. Children under 6 are free. The site is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. November – March and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. For more information, check out the official Montpelier site here.