Saving Monticello: The Newsletter
The latest about the book, author
events, and more
Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson
Volume XVI, Number 10 October
1, 2019
“The study of the past is a constantly evolving,
never-ending journey of discovery.” – Eric Foner
SUCCESSIVE PARTIES OF
VISITORS: Jefferson Levy, who owned
Monticello from 1879 until he sold it to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Foundation in 1923, lived in New York City and was active in the state
Democratic Party. He would go on to serve three terms as a U.S. Congressman
from lower Manhattan from 1899-1910 and 1911-1915.
When Levy gained control of
Monticello, the house and grounds were in terrible condition—as evidenced by
the Saving Monticello cover image, the
oldest-known photo of the Jefferson’s house, from around 1870. In 1879, Levy
hired an on-site superintendant, a man named Thomas Rhodes, and began extensive
restorations. By the summer of 1880, they had made enough progress
repairing and restoring the place that Jefferson Levy felt comfortable inviting
friends and relatives to visit Jefferson’s mansion.
As I noted in Saving
Monticello, a Washington Post
columnist in June 1880 wrote that Levy was “restoring the interior of the
irregular old Monticello mansion and will make it both in finish and furniture
as nearly what it was in Mr. Jefferson’s time as possible.” Levy “will begin
this week a series of entertainments to his friends, as he intends having
successive parties of visitors throughout the summer.”
Those entertainments continued for the next forty-three
years. In the book I chronicle some of the many visits of dignitaries,
politicians and others to Monticello during that time. I just learned—while
delving into the New York Public Library’s digital archives—that in 1882, Levy
invited the former Democratic governor of New York Samuel J. Tilden, to be his
guest at Thomas Jefferson’s “Essay in Architecture.”
Six years earlier Tilden had been on the losing end of the
bitterly contested and hotly controversial presidential election of 1876. He
won the popular vote, but came up one electoral vote short of winning the race
because of disputed votes in four states. A special, fifteen-member
congressional commission of eight Republicans and seven Democrats was set up to
decide the issue. The commission voted along party lines, with Tilden thereby
losing the election to Rutherford B. Hayes as a result of an eight-to-seven
vote.
In a letter Levy wrote to Tilden on July 12, 1982 (below), he invited his fellow Democrat,
in the name of party unity (and the spirt of Thomas Jefferson), to come South
for some R&R.
In the letter, Jefferson Levy alludes to the disputed election,
telling Tilden that he was “the choice in 1876 of the people and Democracy….” Then Levy puts in a plug for Jeffersonian
Democracy, telling Tilden that his “whole desire is to extend to you the
pleasure of visiting the Home of the Author of the political doctrines you
profess.” He proposed a visit “any time in the fall.”
Tilden (below) politely declined on December 19. In much clearer handwriting, by the way, he wrote:
“It would afford me great delight to see the
home of Jefferson, but I have not been able to find an opportunity, and have,
reluctantly, given over the hope of doing so during the present season.”
THE CHAPEL IN THE WOODS: I have done more than two
hundred talks on Saving Monticello
since it came out early in November of 2001. The one I did on Saturday, September
21, at Kol Ami Congregation in White Plains, New York, turned out to be one of
the most memorable.
I was very grateful to Rabbi Shira Milgrom for inviting me
to come up to do the talk for that day’s Shabbat Morning Lift, an informal
gathering that starts with coffee and bagels and often includes a guest speaker.
After the talk the Rabbi leads an “informal and participatory” Shabbat service.
What made this even more special was that Harley Lewis and
her late husband Dick thought up the Second Lift concept years ago. As most SM
newsletter readers know, Harley Lewis, a great grandniece of Jefferson Levy,
kindly provided me with a ton of primary-source material and invaluable advice
when I was doing the research for the book in 1999 and 2000. And she has been
an enthusiastic supporter of the book and my work ever since.
My wife Janna and I had dinner Friday evening as the guests
of one of Harley’s sons, Tom Lewis, and his wife Debbie (in the photo above with Harley and me). They couldn’t have been
more welcoming and hospitable. I spoke to Harley on the phone that evening and
we made plans to meet after the talk on Saturday.
I was bowled over when Harley arrived during the coffee hour
and stayed to take in the talk. I hadn’t seen her since the dedication of the
Uriah Levy statue at Congregation Mikve Israel in Philadelphia in 2011, when we
both took part in the festivities.
Another special thing about the talk was the venue, the serene
and beautiful Chapel in the Woods on the Kol Ami campus. And what made the
weekend even more special was that we learned on Saturday that one of Harley’s
grandchildren and his wife had her first great-grandchild the day before. The
child, descended directly from Uriah Levy’s great grandfather Dr. Samuel Nunez,
is a tenth-generation American.
EVENTS: I have four in October, three of them
on Saving Monticello:
F Friday, October 4. I will kick off the 22nd Annual Conference on the Art
and Command of the Civil War sponsored by the Mosby Heritage Area Association,
a local historic preservation group in Middleburg, Virginia, where I live. My
talk will be on my only Civl War book, Desperate
Engagement, which is about the July 1864 Battle of Monocacy and Confederate
Gen. Jubal Early’s subsequent attack on Washington, D.C., the subject of the
three-day conference. Some tickets remain. For all the details, go to http://bit.ly/MHAATalk
Friday,
October 11. A talk on Saving
Monticello at the U.S. Naval Academy’s Commodore Levy Chapel following the
7:00 p.m. Oneg services. The event is free and open to the public, but because
of security at the Academy, visitors must register in advance. For info on
that, contact the Friends of the Jewish Chapel at the USNA in Annapolis at
410-268-0169, email info@fojcusna.org
Saturday, October 12. A talk on Saving
Monticello and book signing at the monthly luncheon meeting of the SAR
George Washington Chapter in Alexandria, Virginia.
·
Friday,
October 25. My third talk of the month on Saving Monticello, as the Keynote Speaker at the annual Southern
Jewish Historical Society conference in Charlottesville, Virginia. For info
conference, including how to register, go to http://bit.ly/SJHSConf
There’s
always the chance that I may have a last-minute talk or signing. For the latest
on that, or to check out my scheduled 2019 events, go to the Events page on my
website at http://bit.ly/Eventsandtalks
If
you’d like to arrange an event for Saving
Monticello, or for any of my other books, feel free to email me. For info
on my latest book, Ballad of the Green
Beret, go to http://bit.ly/GreenBeretBook
GIFT IDEAS: Want a
personally autographed, brand-new paperback copy of Saving Monticello? Please e-mail me at marcleepson@gmail.com I also have a few as-new, unopened hardcover
copies, along with a good selection of brand-new copies of my other books.
Photo
credit: Monticello image: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints
and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. “Residence of
Thomas Jefferson.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1820. http://bit.ly/Montpic
