Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

Like its architect Thomas Jefferson, Monticello – the “little mountain” – is a site of paradox. The mountaintop was the home of America's foremost philosopher of liberty, the primary author of the transcendent values statement upon which the United States was founded. It was also home to some four hundred of the more than six hundred men, women, and children whom that pillar of liberty enslaved over the course of his lifetime, all the while writing with great perceptiveness about slavery’s moral evil. Monticello embraces Jefferson’s paradoxes as a taproot of our past, as a window into our present, and as a downpayment on our future. “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past,” Jefferson wrote to John Adams in the summer of 1816. Monticello teaches that we need the history of the past if we are to achieve the dreams of the future.

Monticello is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and UNESCO World Heritage site, owned and operated by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Monticello offers a range of educational programs, exhibits, and tours for visitors of all ages, from all nations, on site and online. Monticello’s educational offerings extend to teachers as well, with tailored resources and professional development workshops that help educators incorporate Monticello into their classrooms.