Editing Monticello (section)

==Preservation==
[[File:Thomas Jefferson Monticello site logo.png|right|thumb|The logo at Monticello's official website, hosted by the [[Thomas Jefferson Foundation]]]]
[[File:The Bloom of Monticello frontispiece.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Monticello in 1926]]
After Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, his only official surviving daughter, [[Martha Jefferson Randolph]], inherited Monticello. The estate was encumbered with debt and Martha Randolph had financial problems in her own family because of her husband's [[mental illness]]. In 1831, she sold Monticello to [[James Turner Barclay]], a local [[apothecary]], for $7,500 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=7500|start_year=1831}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). Barclay sold it in 1834 to [[Uriah P. Levy]] for $2,500, (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US|value=2500|start_year=1834}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) the first Jewish [[commodore (United States)|commodore]] (equivalent to today's rear admiral) in the United States Navy. A fifth-generation American whose family first settled in [[Savannah, Georgia]], Levy greatly admired Jefferson and used private funds to repair, restore and preserve the house. The [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] government seized the house as enemy property at the outset of the [[American Civil War]] and sold it to Confederate officer [[Benjamin Franklin Ficklin]]. Levy's [[Estate (law)|estate]] recovered the property after the war.<ref>Leepson, Marc. ''Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House That Jefferson Built''. New York: Free Press; 2001, p. 94.</ref>

Levy's heirs argued over his estate, but their lawsuits were settled in 1879, when Uriah Levy's nephew, [[Jefferson Monroe Levy]], a prominent New York lawyer, [[real estate speculator]], and stock speculator (and later member of Congress), bought out the other heirs for $10,050, (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=10050|start_year=1879}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) and took control of Monticello. Like his uncle, Jefferson Levy commissioned repairs, restoration and preservation of the grounds and house, which had been deteriorating seriously while the lawsuits wound their way through the courts in New York and Virginia. Together, the Levys preserved Monticello for nearly 100 years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leepson |first=Marc |title=Saving Monticello |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0813922195 |date=2003}}</ref>
[[File:LITTLETON, MRS. MARTIN WILEY, LEFT, WITH MONTICELLO PETITIONS LCCN2016864123.jpg|thumb|Maud Littleton gatherings petitions to have Monticello expropriated from Jefferson Monroe Levy, 1912.]]
[[File:US-Series-1953-$2-Reverse.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Monticello depicted on the reverse of the 1953 [[U.S. two-dollar bill|$2 bill]]. Note the two "Levy lions" on either side of the entrance. The lions, placed there by Jefferson Levy, were removed in 1923 when the Thomas Jefferson Foundation purchased the house.]]
In 1909, Maud Littleton, the wife of [[Martin W. Littleton]], visited Monticello. Following her visit, Littleton launched a nationwide [[Antisemitism in Virginia|antisemitic]] campaign to have Monticello expropriated from Jefferson Levy. Littleton took her campaign to the press as well as to Congress, with two bills to expropriate Monticello from Levy failing to pass. Littleton used veiled antisemitic remarks to disparage Levy, such as calling him an "alien", "oriental", and a "rank outsider" who had allegedly altered the character of "the house that Jefferson built and made sacred." Littleton also made attempts to purchase Monticello. Angered by Littleton's antisemitism, Levy refused to sell his property. However, due to strained finances, Levy reluctantly sold Monticello to a foundation. Maud Littleton became the organization's first executive director. For the next 60 years, mention of the Levy family was erased by the foundation, despite the fact that Levy's mother Rachel is buried at Monticello. Neglected for decades, Rachel's grave was refurbished in 1985, under the foundation's new executive director Daniel Jordan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-lost-story-of-how-a-jewish-family-saved-thomas-jeffersons-famous-home-twice/ |title=The lost story of how a Jewish family saved Thomas Jefferson’s famous home – twice |publisher=[[The Times of Israel]] |accessdate=2025-03-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.monticello.org/exhibits-events/livestreams-videos-and-podcasts/crusade-for-monticello-ichepod/ |title=A Crusade for Monticello |publisher=[[Monticello.org]] |accessdate=2025-03-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.isjl.org/virginia-charlottesville-encyclopedia.html |title=Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities - Charlottesville, Virginia |publisher=Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities |accessdate=2025-03-29}}</ref>

In 1923, a private non-profit organization, the [[Thomas Jefferson Foundation]], purchased the house from Jefferson Levy for $500,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=500000|start_year=1923}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) with funds raised by Theodore Fred Kuper and others. They managed additional restoration under architects including [[Fiske Kimball]] and [[Milton L. Grigg]].<ref>Fleming, Thomas. "The Jew Who Helped Save Monticello", ''The Jewish Digest'', February 1974, pp. 43–49.</ref> Since that time, other restoration has been performed at Monticello.<ref>{{cite news |title=Monticello Restoration Project Puts An Increased Focus on Jefferson's Slaves |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/02/20/516292305/monticello-restoration-project-puts-an-increased-focus-on-jeffersons-slaves |website=NPR.org |publisher=National Public Radio |access-date=November 26, 2019 |archive-date=June 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602144607/https://www.npr.org/2017/02/20/516292305/monticello-restoration-project-puts-an-increased-focus-on-jeffersons-slaves |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Jefferson Foundation operates Monticello and its grounds as a [[house museum]] and educational institution. Visitors can wander the grounds, as well as tour rooms in the cellar and ground floor. More expensive tour pass options include sunset hours, as well as tours of the second floor and the third floor, including the iconic dome.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.monticello.org/site/visit/tickets-tours |title=Tickets and Tours |work=Monticello.org |access-date=July 28, 2015 |archive-date=May 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514074949/http://www2.monticello.org/site/visit/tickets-tours |url-status=live }}</ref>

Monticello is a [[National Historic Landmark]]. It is the only private home in the United States to be designated a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]]. Included in that designation are the original grounds and buildings of Jefferson's [[University of Virginia]]. From 1989 to 1992, a team of architects from the [[Historic American Buildings Survey]] (HABS) created a collection of measured drawings of Monticello. These drawings are held by the [[Library of Congress]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/95860361/ |title=Architectural drawing of a house ('Monticello'), Albemarle County, Virginia |via=Library of Congress |access-date=January 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901002556/https://www.loc.gov/item/95860361/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Among Jefferson's other designs are [[Poplar Forest]], his private retreat near [[Lynchburg, Virginia|Lynchburg]] (which he intended for his daughter Maria, who died at age 25), the "academic village" of the University of Virginia, and the [[Virginia State Capitol]] in Richmond.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/92uva/92uva.htm |title=Thomas Jefferson's Plan for the University of Virginia: Lessons from the Lawn |last1=Sara |first1=Wilson |last2=Mary |first2=Hughes |date=July 25, 2002 |website=NPS.gov |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=January 18, 2018 |archive-date=September 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903094333/https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/92uva/92uva.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/richmond/virginiastatecapitol.html |title=Richmond: A 'Discover Our Shared Heritage' Travel Itinerary |work=NPS.gov |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=January 18, 2018 |archive-date=July 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712093959/https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/richmond/VirginiaStateCapitol.html |url-status=live }}</ref>