Merging archaeology, material culture, and social history, historian Susan Kern reveals the fascinating story of Shadwell, the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson and home to his parents, Jane and Peter Jefferson, their eight children, and over sixty slaves. Located in present-day Albemarle County, Virginia, Shadwell was at the time considered "the frontier." However, Kerndemonstrates thatShadwell was no crude log cabin; it was, in fact, a well-appointed gentry house full of fashionable goods, located at the center of a substantial plantation.Kern’s scholarship offers new views of the family’s role in settling Virginia as well as new perspectives on Thomas Jefferson himself. By examining a variety ofsources,including account books, diaries, and letters, Kern re-creates in rich detail the dailylives of the Jeffersons at Shadwell—from Jane Jefferson’s cultivation of a learned and cultured household to Peter Jefferson’s extensive business network and oversight of a thriving plantation.Shadwell was Thomas Jefferson’s patrimony, but Kern asserts that his real legacy there came from his parents, who cultivated the strong social connections that would later open doors for their children. At Shadwell, Jefferson learned the importance of fostering relationships with slaves, laborers, and powerful office holders, as well as the hierarchical structure of large plantations, which he later applied at Monticello. The story of Shadwell affects how we interpret much of what we know about Thomas Jefferson today, and Kern’s fascinating book is sure to become the standard work on Jefferson's early years.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral-College of William and Mary).

This dissertation examines the history and material culture of Shadwell in Albemarle County, Virginia, the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson. From the 1730s through the 1770s, Shadwell was home to Jane and Peter Jefferson, their eight children, over sixty slaves, and numerous hired workers. The archaeological and documentary evidence reveals that Shadwell was a well-appointed gentry house at the center of a highly structured plantation landscape during a period of Piedmont settlement that scholars have traditionally classified as frontier, and the Jeffersons in fact accommodated in their house, landscape, material goods, and behaviors what was the most up-to-date of Virginia's elite Tidewater culture. The author examines the questions surrounding the material remnants at Shadwell and how the Jeffersons maintained a style of living that reflected their high social status, offering views of the Jefferson family, their role in settling Virginia, and the lives of the slaves who worked for them.

"The Jefferson Brothers introduces Randolph Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson's only brother, and brings him out from the shadow of his famous sibling, focusing on the years during which their paths crossed. Over twelve years Randolph's senior, Thomas Jefferson stood in for the father his brother never knew, guiding his education and helping the younger man establish himself as a successful planter in central Virginia. Particularly after Thomas Jefferson's retirement from the political stage, the Jefferson brothers related as planters and slaveholders - Thomas at Monticello in Albemarle County and Randolph at Snowden in Buckingham County, Virginia. Life at Snowden, during and after the American Revolution, illuminates not only Randolph Jefferson's commonplace existence, but also the everyday world of planters in central Virginia. Additionally, The Jefferson Brothers introduces a new Thomas Jefferson, not the great statesman of monumental intellect, but the thoughtful brother and dedicated farmer." -- Back cover.

Includes a partial Heming's family tree.

Twilight at Monticello is something entirely new: an unprecedented and engrossing personal look at the intimate Jefferson in his final years that will change the way readers think about this true American icon. It was during these years–from his return to Monticello in 1809 after two terms as president until his death in 1826–that Jefferson’s idealism would be most severely, and heartbreakingly, tested. Based on new research and documents culled from the Library of Congress, the Virginia Historical Society, and other special collections, including hitherto unexamined letters from family, friends, and Monticello neighbors, Alan Pell Crawford paints an authoritative and deeply moving portrait of Thomas Jefferson as private citizen–the first original depiction of the man in more than a generation.

Thomas Jefferson once called his plantation Poplar Forest, "the most valuable of my possessions." For Jefferson, Poplar Forest was a private retreat for him to escape the hordes of visitors and everyday pressures of his iconic estate, Monticello. Jefferson's Poplar Forest uses the knowledge gained from long-term and interdisciplinary research to explore the experiences of a wide range of people who lived and worked there between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Multiple archaeological digs reveal details about the lives of Jefferson, subsequent owners and their families, and the slaves (and descendants) who labored and toiled at the site. From the plantation house to the weeds in the garden, Barbara Heath, Jack Gary, and numerous contributors examine the landscapes of the property, investigating the relationships between the people, objects, and places of Poplar Forest. As the first book-length study of the archaeology of a president's estate, Jefferson's Poplar Forest offers a compelling and uniquely specific look into the lives of those who called Poplar Forest home.