Day one of my 2015 March Madness Vacation begins with a visit to Montpelier, the home of our 4th President. Located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Rural Orange County, Montpelier has been carefully restored to looks as it did when James Madison crafted the Constitution of the United States in the second floor library.
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| Montpelier |
I last visited Montpelier in 1995, and looked very different than it does today. In fact back in 1995 President Madison would not have recognized his stately home. After the Presidents death, Dolly continued to live here with her son Payne Todd, who had a problem with strong drink and gambling and over the years he found himself deep in debt. Dolly, in her final years was living in poverty while Payne sold off most of the Madison personal possessions. Following, Dolly's death in 1849, Payne found himself deep in debt and having already sold off almost everything of value left Montpelier and died 3-years later in Washington, D. C. During the next 50-years or so Montpelier endured several different owners before being purchased by William and Ann duPont in 1901. Over the years the duPonts added to the original house including covering the brick with an ugly pink stucco.
When I visited Montpelier in 1995, I felt that I was visiting the duP aont home and not the historic home of our 4th President. So, today I was very pleasantly surprised to discover the duPont home was gone and thanks to a $24 million restoration project, Montpelier had been returned to its original state.
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| Graves of James & Dolly Madison |
In fact much of Montpelier interior has been furnished with several of the Madison's original artifacts and furniture. Over the years the curator's have managed to track down and secure several pieces of the Madison original furniture that was sold by Payne Todd.
During My visit I was truly amazed at how different the house appeared today as opposed to my last visit in 1995.
The restoration of the main house is not the only thing going on on the property. There is currently an archaeological dig adjacent to the main house and period out buildings are being recreated.
Located just a short half-mile walk from the main house is the Madison Family Cemetery where President Madison and Dolly are buried. One would think that Payne Todd would also be buried here but he died in Washington, D. C and is buried in Congressional Cemetery.
After completing my visit to Montpelier I made my way out Route 20 to the Wilderness/Chancellorsville Battlefields. It was during the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 that General Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson was mistakenly shot by his own men. After being shot, General Jackson was taken to the nearby Wilderness Tavern where his left arm was amputated.
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| Jackson's Arm at Ellwood Manor |
Later in the morning, General Jackson was visited by his chaplain, the Rev. Lacy Tucker. As Reverend Tucker was leaving the Tavern he saw the amputated left arm lying outside the door. Reverend Tucker picked up the bloody limb and carefully carried across the field to Ellwood Manor, which was the home of his brother Horace. A short time later, Reverend Tucker carried the left arm of General Jackson to the family cemetery and buried it.
In 1903, the Reverend James Smith, erected a small marker over the spot where the arm was buried. Reverend Smith has served on General Jackson Staff during the war and later married Agnes Lacy who was Horace Lacy's daughter.
After General Jackson arm was amputated he was transported by field ambulance to the Chandler Farm at Guinea Station, some 25-miles away. Jackson and his troops had camped at the Chandler Farm a year earlier and General Jackson recalled that the Chandler's has treated him and his staff well.
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| The building where Jackson Died |
General Jackson's ambulance arrived at the Chandler Farm on the afternoon of May 4, 1863, two days after being wounded. Opting for privacy, General Jackson and his staff turned down the Chandlers offer for them to use the main house. General Jackson was carried into the small farm office and place on a bed in the southwest corner of the building.
Six days after arriving at the Chandler Farm, General Stonewall Jackson died of pneumonia. Upon learning of Jackson's death, General Robert E. Lee said, "He may have lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm."
Many people think that when Jackson died, so did the Confederacy.
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