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| View from Skyline Drive |
Left Washington DC Sunday morning in bright sunshine headed for Virginia. We were not sure exactly where we were going but we wanted to travel along the Skyline Drive above the Shenandoah valley. Skyline Drive was built in the '30s to give people from the city a way to see and appreciate the scenic beauty of the mountains. We got on Route 66 and drove to the village of Front Royal where we started up Dickey Ridge on Skyline. We soon found out two things, Skyline Drive is narrow, steep, and full of tourists who want to travel the 105 miles of the road not behind a slow RV that at best can go 30mph up the steep hills, and that it is 105 miles long . We went about 30 miles and bailed out. The views were great, the trees in full color, but the traffic a little intense. We went west into the Shenandoah Valley and stayed outside of Luray, a town known for its caverns. Pastoral, and peaceful countryside. Reminded me of rural New Zealand everything neat, tidy and mowed.
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| Monticello |
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| Pats, Tom, and I |
We drive on south to Charlottesville and on to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s plantation home. It is on a beautiful hillside with commanding views of the piedmont below. The house was designed by Jefferson and took some 40 years to complete. It had a number of innovations that Jefferson is credited; three tiered sliding windows, that allowed windows to be turned into doorways, or adjusted to create maximum cross ventilation, dumbwaiters for wine and beer bottles to be hoisted up from cold cellars into the living quarters, storm windows built into the window openings, and the arrangement of all the utility buildings (dependencies), kitchen, stables, ice house, cellars and slave quarters built into pavilions that were below the level of the main house so that the view of the gardens and landscape would be unobstructed. One of the attractions was a wonderful vegetable garden with all kinds of fruits and veggies and herbs. They even had a huge artichoke field. They made their own beer and wine although Tom preferred French wine when he could get it.
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| Ash Lawn Highlands |
We also visited James Monroe’s home, Ash Lawn-Highland. Jefferson requested that like minded friends live close by to him and James Monroe bought an adjoining estate. It is quite small compared to Monticello, but Monroe was quite busy doing various government jobs so he didn’t need a big place. He had other estates closer to Washington. In those days it took three days to travel from Charlottesville to DC. Monroe’s place is comfortable and he had 30 slaves to look after it. After he left the presidency, he was forced to sell all of his properties to pay his debts and he moved in with his daughter who lived in New York.
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