Monticello is Thomas Jefferson’s plantation and a visit here provides an incredible insight into United States history. Monticello is located in the mountains of Virginia and its location is definitely one of the highlights of your visit.
Despite the beautiful scenery, it’s important to remember that Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner and that hundreds of slaves lived here at some point in their lives. As you visit Monticello, you’ll notice a big emphasis on this aspect of life at the plantation. This can be uncomfortable but I believe it’s important to learn about.
So, let’s talk about everything you need to know about planning a visit to Monticello.
How to Get to Monticello
Monticello is nestled in the mountains of Virginia, just outside of Charlottesville. When I visited, I stayed in Staunton and combined this with a visit to Shenandoah National Park. In fact, my mom and I didn’t originally intend to visit Monticello, but given all of the rain and poor visibility, we scrapped our hiking plans. Instead we decided to visit Monticello and spend the day learning about US history.
Parking at Monticello
Parking is free at Monticello.
Buying Your Ticket to Monticello
You can purchase your tickets online in advance. During the high season, this is probably the best idea. We visited on the first Saturday in October and while we were still able to buy a ticket at the gate, we were limited in which times we could get to do the tour inside the home.
The timed entry on your ticket refers to the time you can tour the interior of Monticello. But your ticket also provides transportation on the shuttle, which does a loop around the Monticello plantation. You can tour the rest of Monticello while you wait for the timed entry on your ticket, if you arrive early.
If you don’t buy your ticket in advance, the employees at the front desk will go over all of the times with you. If you buy your ticket in advance, just make sure to arrive at Monticello a minimum of fifteen minutes before your ticket time (although I’d say 30 minutes is much better).
What To Do At Monticello
A visit to Monticello is more than just touring the main home. There’s actually a lot to see here and I’m going to try to cover all of it.
The Museum
Just off the main visitor center is a series of museums telling the story of both Thomas Jefferson and Monticello. If you visit here first, you’ll get a much better overview of what you’re about to see. In fact when we bought our tickets, it was recommended we go here first.
However, my mom and I ignored this advice. Normally I wouldn’t, but there was rain predicted for most of the day and when we arrived the rain hadn’t yet started. We wanted to see as much of the grounds as we could, before the rain started.
If you’re not racing against bad weather, I would recommend following the employees’ advice. Visit the museum before you venture out into the grounds.
Monticello – Outside the Home
Take the shuttle from the visitor center and get off at the first stop. This will take you to the main house. Employees will be waiting when you get off the bus and can give you more information about the best place to get started. If your timed entry is starting soon, obviously start with the interior of the home. Otherwise, you can spend time exploring outside.
Mulberry Row
East of the house is what is known as Mulberry Row. Here is where some of the slaves at Monticello lived and worked. In the buildings, there is information about some of the specific slaves who worked here. This was what I was most impressed with. It’s been so well researched that they are able to tell you the names of the people who were here and what they did. It makes it more impactful, because with an actual name, it feels more personal.
Cellars
Under the home, there are levels on both the north and south sides of the home. These exhibits tell more of the story of Monticello. You’ll see the kitchen, dairy, smokehouse, and more. There’s also a room dedicated to the life of Sally Hemings, the slave that bore four of Thomas Jefferson’s children.
More of the Grounds
You can also walk across the lawn to the fish pond and the gardens. We ran out of time to do this before our tour of the inside of the home. When our tour was over, it was raining pretty heavily, so we skipped the gardens.
Monticello – Inside the Home
When you visit Monticello, your tour of the actual home is short. It’s a guided tour that lasts about 45 minutes, although it may be a little longer if your group has a lot of questions. You’ll walk through the front doors and see the parlor, Jefferson’s bedroom, and the dining room. While informational, it felt crowded, almost like there were too many people on the tour. But it’s only for a short time, so it’s tolerable.
Additional Tours
Continuing with the your visit to Monticello, there are two additional tours you can do. The “Grounds and Gardens” tour teaches you about the gardens at Monticello, which are very expansive. We did not do this tour because of the rain. Had we had more time (and better weather), this is a tour I would have done because I was so impressed with everything else we had done at Monticello.
While we skipped the “Grounds and Gardens” tour, we did take the “Slavery at Monticello” tour. This is not a lighthearted topic and is very frank and factual about what happened at Monticello. Technically you walk down Mulberry Row with a guide who will tell you more stories about the slaves who lived and worked in this area of the plantation. I say technically, because it’s advertised as a walk, but I think at most we walked a quarter of a mile. Even still, if you do one tour during your visit to Monticello, make it this one.
On your map, you’ll see a location to “meet Thomas Jefferson” at certain times. We did not do this so I can’t speak to this experience at all, but I have to mention that it’s a thing you can do.
The Cemetery
Finally, there is a cemetery at Monticello and you can visit Thomas Jefferson’s grave. You can walk here from a path near Mulberry Row, but the shuttle also makes a stop on the way from the main house on the way back to the visitor center. Had it not been pouring rain, we would have stopped.
Some Quick Notes
All of the experiences I have mentioned are included in the price of your ticket.
There are additional tours of the main house, but these cost extra and are much more limited. If you want to learn more, visit the Monticello website.
How Much Time Do You Need
You could easily spend a full day on your visit to Monticello if you did every tour and the entire museum. Our visit consisted of Mulberry Row, the North and South Wing exhibits under Monticello, a tour of the interior of Monticello, and the Slavery at Monticello tour. We also popped into the museum at the end for a quick visit. Our entire visit lasted about four hours and we felt very content with what we saw.
When To Visit Monticello
Monticello is open all year round, but I recommend trying to pick a day that will have decent weather. The grounds are beautiful and since the additional tours are outdoors, you’ll want a bit better weather. That said, you can still visit in the rain.
If you visit in fall, you’ll get to have the trees changing colors which is very nice.
Final Thoughts
Visiting Monticello was not on our original itinerary, but it was something I had researched briefly, just in case we needed something more to do. Well, we needed something more to do because hiking through Shenandoah National Park in the sopping rain was just not going to happen.
So even though visiting Monticello wasn’t part of our original plan, I’m glad I got a chance to visit. Even though we didn’t see everything, I feel like we got a tour of the highlights of Monticello. I got a chance to learn about history, including some of the darker parts of US history. Plus, everything at Monticello was so well organized that it was such an easy day.
Continue Your Adventure
More Estates: If the highlight of this tour was the mansion at Monticello, look at some other mansions across the United States. Newport, RI is famous for its mansions. Or in Asheville, North Carolina tour the Biltmore Estate.
Virginia: Not too far from Monticello is Shenandoah National Park with plenty of hiking options.
West Virginia: For one of my favorite national parks, consider a visit to New River Gorge.
Itineraries: Monticello was just one stop on my road trip from Washington DC to Savannah, GA.