Monticello, Charlottesville

This was an amazing surprise! I honestly was not expecting much from visiting this place. I was expecting a lot of self guided tours, and what I received was much much more! The guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. I even tested his knowledge of the items in the rooms by pointing at drawing Jackson did that were on the wall asking "what is this?" quite a bit. He never even paused before an explanation of what I pointed at was! I was truly blown away at the level of detail and commitment this individual had put into the history of Jackson and his house. This is a wonderful place to visit and I hope anyone who has said to themselves "I should go there some day" really goes and enjoys this bit of American History. The tour plus the self guided portion took my family and me 6 and a half hours. You can spend less time here if you don't do the guided tour and take advantage of shuttles more so you can move around faster. Lots of walking I recommend comfy shoes 😁.

This is almost a full day, with various tours and subject matter. There is a bus to take visitors up the mountain. It runs every 10 minutes and makes the journey easier. Tours are mindful about accuracy and it is another opportunity to visit important history. Beautiful grounds and well worth taking the path down the mountain at the end. No photos allowed inside Monticello but you can take many of the grounds.