Monticello is the plantation of Thomas Jefferson. It is a working plantation, also a home to both the Jefferson family and an extended community of workers, black and white, enslaved and free.
Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of independence, the third president of the United States, and the founder of University of Virginia. He was not only an politician, a philosopher, but also a good architect. Monticello was his design. He the estate from his father, and began building when he was 26 years old. It was as many as 130 enslaved African Americans raised crops and tended livestock, made nails and barrels, cloth and carriages in Monticello. They helped to build the house, crafted many of its furnishings, and cultivated the gardens.
I was very impressed by the dedicated features designed by Jefferson, for example the clock in the entrance hall. The clock has both an interior and exterior face inside the building and out. On the outside wall, the clock has only an hour hand, which Jefferson believed was accurate enough for outdoor laborers. The inside face of the clock reveals much greater precision by offering not only hour and minute hands, but also a smaller dial for a second hand. The seven-day clock is driven by two sets of cannonball-like weights, which hang on both sides of the front doors. On Sundays the clock is wound with the help of a folding ladder, and the weights are raised to the ceiling. Throughout the week, the top ball on the right-hand set of weights reveals the day with Sunday at the top and Saturday at the bottom. I think it must be a very advanced facility to keep track of the days at that time. Besides the clock, there are lots of features in the house that shows the dedicated and ingenious design. It is impossible to list all of them here, but I really saw a lot and learned a lot by visiting Monticello. It was a worthwhile trip ^^