is the mansion the duPonts owned, before the restoration. Notice the pink stucco and how the columns go all the way to the ground. Also notice that the "wings" have a second floor, so there is no terrace on either side. (I didn't take this picture. This is from the web).
This is the much smaller Montpelier after it had been restored to what it looked like when James Madison lived there. I did take this picture today. Notice the columns, terraces, and white fence posts.
One last story about the archaeology and restoration. Yesterday, when we took a tour of the house, we saw what appeared to be "ink splots" on the floor of Madison's second floor library. This was the room in 1786-1787 where he did all his famous research about ancient civilizations and planned out his ideas for the Virginia Plan. The tour guide wasn't sure how exactly his desk was placed in the room. To me the ink splots seemed to be too close to the wall for a desk. So I asked the Director of Restoration about the ink splots He smiled and said that when they decided to restore the floor in that room, they didn't want to sand it and remove the ink splots or the original markings of furniture being dragged across the floor. So they got a company to use a chemical to "clean" the surface of the floor. This cleaning process kept the original markings intact. They then did a "spectral analysis" of the ink splots to determine if they were ink -- this involves using light and color. The tests came back negative -- this wasn't ink! When they asked the people who had done the chemical cleaning, they said the cleaning process with the chemicals would indeed prevent the spectral analysis from detecting that this was ink. So what they needed to do was actually take a small sample to to the lab to determine the composition. Currently, they haven't done that yet, but they intend to! So the Director thinks that the splots are indeed ink, but he's waiting for confirmation on this. Very exciting!
Oh, I did take a picture of the orange soil for you:
Posted by JENNIFER MITNICK at 6/28/2010 10:55:00 PM
This entry is going to have to be short because it's already very late. (Editing this entry later, I see it's not so short!) But I will start with the end of my day first since that part was the most exciting. I got to watch the sunset from James Madison's front porch! See the pictures below.
In Madison's day, the grounds would have never been as quiet and peaceful as I found them today. Five generations of slaves lived in quarters behind the house, and Madison always had visitors at Montpelier. However, he would have viewed the sunset from the same place I was standing. The other teachers in the program and I sat on the steps until the sun went down and it began to drizzle. The view of the Blue Ridge Mountains slowly disappeared with the setting sun. You can see in the pictures the line of the Blue Ridge Mountains just above the distant tree line -- the mountains really do look blue!
Today at breakfast, Professor Ketcham sat at my table and I got to talk to him. I asked him so many questions he really didn't get to each much of his breakfast! I felt bad, but he told me a story about how FDR's father brought so many interesting guests to the dinner table, FDR often didn't remember what he had eaten. Professor Ketcham said, "I'd rather talk than eat!" I thought that was extremely nice!
His lecture today was on Madison's version of the first amendment. Madison's wording was much more specific than what ended up in the final Constitution. What is interesting about his wording is that he included words that not only protected people's rights, but that promoted good citizenship. For example, his version of "freedom of speech and freedom of the press" reads, "The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable." Madison not only wrote that people should have freedom of the press, he explained WHY they should have it -- it is "one of th