Happy Thanksgiving from Virginia!  We’re traveling with friends to celebrate Thanksgiving near where early settlers landed in the Tidewater area of the state. 

In addition to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Williamsburg, we’ve also been able to visit the site of the Jamestown settlement that was begun in 1607. We also spent a day at Monticello, final home of Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, ambassador to France; he served one term as Vice-president and two terms as President of the United States.  To say that we’ve been immersed in history is an understatement!

As one born and currently living in an area that dates its beginnings from around 1830, it’s pretty humbling to realize that this settlement in Jamestown was established over two hundred years before the first settlers made it to the Ozarks. Looking at some of the tools that have been excavated from the site, it’s amazing to think that the settlement survived at all.

The trip to Monticello was interesting for different reasons.  First of all, anyone who believes in our system of government has to admire the man who, at the age of 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.  Just to have that level of influence with the other representatives at such a youthful age is admirable, but to have written those words in a document that stands as a model for developing countries around the globe is simply incredible.  If Jefferson had done nothing else, his place in our history would have been assured.

But no, he kept allowing himself to be pulled back into the political arena, even though he longed to return to Monticello, finish the structure, manage his property, and write.  Among other accomplishments while in public life, he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase from France—a transaction that doubled the size of this country.

The things he was concerned about as he designed, built and finished Monticello certainly echo down the years to our present time:  he developed some of the first stormwindows in America for energy conservation; he designed pocket doors, so that certain rooms could be closed off to prevent loss of energy; he designed green space around his home; he designed rooms in Monticello to maximize space utilization.  Oh, yeah—he believed strongly in education and actually founded the University of Virginia; and he donated his personal library to the Library of Congress after that collection had burned in a fire.  And he was a believer in limited federal government. 

Regardless of our own political leanings, we can all learn from the breadth of Jefferson’s interests and his writings on government.