Jefferson's House & The Jefferson Hotel By Warner Montgomery warner@thecolumbiastar.com

Tom Jefferson cleared and leveled a mountaintop in 1768 for his home, Monticello, which means small hill in Italian. It took him over 40 years to complete it.

My wife, Linda, and I have always been fans of Thomas Jefferson. We have admired his uncanny ability to succeed in a variety of fields, such as nation building, architecture, and horticulture. So, given the opportunity, we visited his home, Monticello, and a hotel in Richmond, Jefferson Hotel, named in his honor.

A day at Monticello is really not enough time to soak up the wonder of Jefferson, but we tried. Tom took over 40 years to design, construct, redesign, and reconstruct his home on 5,000 acres outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. He began with a classical style in 1768 when the area was still under British control. He completed it in 1809 after he had stepped down as the USA's third president. His daughter inherited the mansion but soon sold it to pay off debts she had also inherited from her father.

The Confederate government seized the house during the Civil War, but after the war it ended up in the Levy family whose members tried to restore it. Finally, in 1923, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation bought it and turned it into a museum and educational institution. It is now a World Heritage Site.

The lobby of The Jefferson Hotel is a mindblowing work of Italianate art.

We walked through the house and gardens listening to gracious tour guides and reading pertinent markers trying to get a feeling for the complicated man who created much of the political foundation of America. Several things stood out to me:

• The house contains 43 rooms, 11,000 square feet, 13 skylights, eight fireplaces, five outside privies, and three inside privies with skylights and air tunnels.

• Jefferson's second library became the nucleus of the Library of Congress.

• John Hemings, a slave, became Jefferson's carpenter for much of the early work on the house. Hemings' relative, Sally, may have been the mother of one or more of Jefferson's children. She lived in a room beneath the main house.

• Jefferson created a nail factory and a brickworks for construction of his home.

Monticello has five outdoor toilets and three indoor privies, such as this one, that Jefferson called "air closets" because they had air tunnels leading to the outside.

• The clock on the outside of the east portico has only an hour hand. Jefferson thought that was accurate enough for his outside workers.

• Jefferson's bed was in an alcove between his office and his dressing room. He wanted unrestricted access to his writings.

• Jefferson supported the licensing and collaring of pet dogs and the extermination of wild dogs.

• Jefferson planted lettuce from February to September and wanted it served at almost every meal. He preferred it boiled or in a mixed salad.

The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond was built in 1895 and is considered one of America's grandest hotels. It is in downtown Richmond near the State Capitol, historic canal (Shockoe Slip), and convention center. The building is imposing, an eclectic mix of Spanish Revival, Italianate, Palladian, and Classical Revival architecture.

A marble statue of Thomas Jefferson stands in the lobby of The Jefferson Hotel.

The doorman greeted us, "Welcome to The Jefferson." When our eyes adjusted to the golden haze streaming through the Tiffany stained- glass skylight, we saw The Man in all his renaissance-man glory, Thomas Jefferson life-sized in Carrara marble. Behind him was the grand staircase said to be the inspiration for the one in Gone With The Wind.

During a leisurely drink at the bar, we soaked in bits of the hotel's history:

• The first event in the hotel was the engagement party of Charles Dana Gibson and Irene Langhorne, the Gibson Girl, on Halloween 1895.

• Fish and alligators once swam in the ponds in the Palm Court between 1907 and 1948.

• Guests have included 11 U.S. presidents, Charles Lindberg, Henry Ford, Charlie Chaplain, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Anthony Hopkins, Whoopi Goldberg, Cindy Crawford, and Prince.

• We could have stayed in any of the 264 guest rooms and suites for $395 to $2,100, depending on the amenities.

The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond is one of America's grandest hotels. It was built in 1895.

Linda finished her cosmopolitan. With full appreciation of the moment, we thanked Tom for the Declaration of Independence and left Richmond's premier hotel hoping to return someday with a fatter wallet.