A Visit to Thomas Jefferson's Vacation Home

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Poplar Forest is where Thomas Jefferson escaped when the pressure of being the former president and living at Monticello which many friends and visitors treated like a bed and breakfast became too much. It is a little dollhouse of a building which looks a bit like a mini Monticello. We have visited here twice, the first time in 2005 and the second time in 2016. When we visited in 2005, it was very much a work in progress, they had it quite empty and were bringing it back to where it once was. In 2016 it is still being worked on but you get a much more complete picture of the home that President Jefferson created here. It is an octagonal house with a square central room and four elongated octagonal rooms along the sides. It has a very light an airy freedom. This house was the design of his old age when his style had matured. Archeological digs are still ongoing on the site and there is much to see in the rooms in the office wing which have been reconstructed. We wandered around the grounds and enjoyed the site very much. Located in Virginia not too far from Lynchburg, Poplar Forest is well worth a visit if you are in the area.