Saving Monticello: The Newsletter
The latest about the book, author
events, and more
Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson
Volume XVI, Number 9 September
1, 2019
“The study of the past is a constantly evolving,
never-ending journey of discovery.” – Eric Foner
ELEGANT & DIGNIFIED COUNTRY HOME: A couple of weeks ago, as I was working on my
next book—a house history of Huntland, a historic country estate in Middleburg,
Virginia—I came across the fact that when the place sold in 1927, a Realtor
name H.W. Hilleary helped arrange the settlement. That name might ring a bell
if you’ve read Saving Monticello.
That’s because in 1919, Jefferson Levy chose Hilleary as his real estate broker
when he decided to sell Monticello.
Hilleary started marketing Monticello in April 1919 (asking
price: $500,000) with newspaper and magazine advertisements and with an elaborate
sales brochure. One of the many joys of doing the research for the book came
when I sat down at the Monticello research department about twenty years ago with
a copy of that brochure.
It’s an old-fashioned, elaborate piece that includes the
text of Thomas Jefferson’s first Inaugural Address and an essay on his
monumental political career. On the last page Hilleary makes a discreet sales
pitch, quoting an “eminent Frenchman”—undoubtedly the Marquis de Lafayette, who
paid a visit to Monticello during his 1824-25 Farewell tour.
Monticello, Lafayette said, “is infinitely superior to any
of the houses in America from point of taste and convenience and deserves to be
ranked with the most pleasant memories of France and England.”
In 1919 Hilleary also sent a prospecting letter to upper-crust
individuals around the country. It read, in part: “You are familiar, I am sure,
with ‘Monticello,’ in the beautiful County of Albemarle, near the University of
Virginia…. This historic home, this architectural gem, this most picturesque
estate, I have the privilege of offering.
“The present owner, for sentimental and other reasons, has
never consented to part with it. I am allowed now to bring it to the attention
of those who can appreciate and are able to own a property of such distinction
and merit. If interested, I shall be glad to give you detailed information and
to quote the authorized price.”
Hilleary sent one of the letters to William Summer Appleton,
the founder of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in
Boston, and one to Sidney Fiske Kimball at the Archaeological Institute of America.
Kimball, who had taught architecture at the University of Virginia, was
nationally recognized as the foremost expert on Thomas Jefferson’s
architecture. Kimball and Appleton declined Hilleary’s offer.
Two years later, Hilleary came up with a second, longer
marketing letter, which he mailed along with the brochure to potential buyers.
He wrote, in part: “I am only presenting [Monticello] to a limited and special
list of some of those who are deemed both able and worthy to become the owners
of such a shrine.
I respectfully submit that this is a unique proposition from
every standpoint, possessing as it does, such historic distinction; such
positive value in buildings and land; such a splendid location, overlooking the
great University of Virginia, which Mr. Jefferson founded, and in a region of
so many other historic homes where the best social and climatic conditions
exist and so easily accessible to all the principal cities.
I trust ‘Monticello’ will appeal to you for your individual
use as an elegant and dignified country home of which any man might well be
proud. The ownership of such a property by one able and so inclined will make
its consecration as a memorial to the great American, Thomas Jefferson, and his
works an ever present possibility and inspiration. I would indeed be gratified
to have the privilege of showing you this property at your convenience.”
In my Huntland research I found a copy of that letter that
Hilleary sent on July 21, 1921, to William du Pont, Sr. (1855-1928), a grandson
of E.I. du Pont de Nemours, the founder of the world’s largest chemical company.
No doubt du Pont was on Hilleary’s list because in 1900 he had purchased Montpelier,
the Central Virginia home of another Founding Father, James Madison. William du
Pont also owned large estates in Wilmington, Delaware, and near Brunswick,
Georgia. A few years ago, I learned that a copy of that letter also went to
Thomas S. Walker, a big Minnesota timber baron and one of the wealthiest men in
the country.
Here’s a screenshot of a digital copy of the letter that I
found in the William de Pont papers, which are housed in the Manuscripts and
Archives Department of the Hagley Museum and Library. The Hagley is located in
Wilmington, Delaware, along the Brandywine River on a 235-acre site where E.I.
du Pont built a gunpowder factory in 1802.
Oddly, the letter is addressed to “Mr. Wm. Buront.” There is
no record that Mr. Buront—or Mr. du Pont—replied. Two-and-a-half years later,
Hilleary sold Monticello to the newly formed Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Foundation, which continues to own and operate Monticello today.
NUMBER 9, NUMBER 9: As I posted on my Facebook
page last week, I was very happy (and a bit humbled) to learn that Saving Monticello has just gone into its
9th printing in paperback at the University of Virginia Press. The hardcover
(from Free Press at Simon & Schuster) came out in 2001, but went out of
print after three printings a few years later. U-Va. Press came out with the
paperback in 2003. My thanks to everyone who has supported the book over the
years.
EVENTS: I’m still in all-but full-time
writing mode for the Huntland book, and have just one event in September.
On Saturday,
September 21, I will be doing a “Shabbat Lift” talk on Saving Monticello at follow morning services at Congregation Kol
Ami in White Plains, New York. The event is free and open to the public.
I’m particularly excited about this talk because Harley
Lewis—Jefferson Levy’s great grandniece who helped me more than anyone as I
researched and wrote the book—will be in the audience in this, her synagogue.
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.
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