SC0103_2018-046_Lesnett_1947-09-20

September 20, 1947

Dear Mother and Daddy,

I realize I have gotten just a little behind again but we just got back last night from a three day trip into Virginia. We left early Wednesday morning and stayed Wednesday night in Charlottesville. We got there about noon time and had lunch at the Monticello Hotel there. Just as we were leaving, a Janet Ossman, whom Ruth and I had known very well at Stanford came running out after us. We were so surprised to see her that we nearly dropped our teeth. She lives in Salt Lake City and was taking a tour of Colonial Virginia just like we were. It certainly was nice to see a familiar face.

Wednesday afternoon we toured Charlottesville. The first thing we saw was the University of Virginia which was very beautiful. It was all done in red brick colonial style, but many of the dormetories were built along an outside

walk with the individual doors to the rooms leading outside. Then we went to Monticello, which was of course very fascinating. I guess you really can't appreciate what an ingenious man Jefferson was until you have seen his house. We had a clock in the front hall that also told the days of the week; he had all the window's fixed so that the panes were in three parts and you could slide them up and use them for doors. We had all the outhouses (the kitchen ice house, smoke rooms, stables, and servants quarters which at Mount Vernon and at the Lee Mansion standing in a semi-circle at the back of the house) tucked under a garden promemade, it really was most attractive. We also had his bed arranged so that it could be lifted up into the ceiling and there would be left a passage way from his bedroom to his study. When you opened a door, the other side would also automatically

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open. Of course we also got to see the revolving chair and several revolving tables; also the first dumb waiter, which he invented and which were fixed into the two sides of the fireplace in the dining room. The only thing that seemed a little queer to me was that upstairs in the octagon shaped dome there was a huge ballroom, but there were no stairs in the front hall - only two very narrow lights on each side at the ends of the house. They were just like back stairs. Of course the landscaping was very lovely, the trees were planted very symetrically, and there was a long curved path with all kinds of flowers bordering it; patches of all different colors and amny odd varieties. The flowers were supposed to be planted just as he planted them.

After that we went over to Ash Lawn which was the home of James Monroe. It was just two miles away from Monticello

and as you stood in the front door you could see Monticello perfectly. Evidentally Jefferson and Monroe were great friends, and when Jefferson designed Monroe's home he did it so that the doorway would frame Monticello. It was called Ash Lawn because of some beautiful Ash trees there. The house was very modest when compared with the other homes I had seen, but it was very charming. Just like at Monticello all the out buildings were tucked away underneath the house. This was where the first formal dinner was served in the United States; it was just after Monroe had come back from being Minister to France, where they had started serving dinner in courses. There was some very interesting furniture there that Napoleon had given Monroe. It had his (Napoleon's) personal emblems, worked in the carving of the chair legs and the upholstery. The most famous thing about this house are the box hedges

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which lined the front walk. They were much higher than your head, and are supposed to be the most beautiful hedges anywhere.

I forgot to mention that in Jefferson's house there were no canopy beds, they were all set in alcoves which just fit the size of the beds.

After seeing Ash Lawn we drove by Mitchel Tavern which was where Patrick Henry lived. We didn't have time, however, to go in. We ate dinner in Charlottesville and then went to see "The Egg and I", which none of us thought was much good.

The next day we got up and drove to Richmond. It took us until about noon. There we saw the State Capital buildings, which Jefferson designed and were very beautiful. There was a main building like the Greek Parthenon in the center and then two smaller wings, just like the larger ones on each side which contained the