Plantations and Presidents

What would it have been like to live on a southern plantation? I'm not sure but I do know that the locations of the James River Plantations would have made life there beautiful. We visited three different plantations today; Westover, Berkeley and Shirley. These are wonderful examples of Georgian architecture with formal gardens and lawns rolling right to the rivers edge. We toured the inside of the Berkeley and walked around the grounds of the other two. All three are still working farms and families live in two of them on the upper floors with tour groups going through the lower floors. Not sure that is a lifestyle I would enjoy but the houses were amazing. The Berkeley was the home of President William Henry Harrison who was grandfather of President Benjamin Harrison. The first ten presidents of the United States all visited and dined at this plantation.

Westover Plantation on the James River

We drove on to Western Virginia to Monticello the home of President Thomas Jefferson. We were especially interested in Jefferson after listening to Undaunted Courage about Lewis and Clark. Jefferson sent them on the journey to discover a northern passage to the Pacific. Many of the artifacts brought back by Lewis and Clark were given to Jefferson and there are some still in his home and replicas of those that have been lost over the years. It was so interesting. The grounds and home are incredible.

Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello

Sugar maple at Monticello

I'm having a little trouble trying to give justice to what we did and saw today since it's very late and I'm tired. Maybe later I'll come back and edit this entry. But if not, know that we had a very interesting day.