I recently visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s homestead. It was incredible. I have rarely been to a place that has inspired me so much, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
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Growing up, my favorite founding father (everyone had a favorite founding father, right?) was always Ben Franklin. Let’s face it, he had the best marketing. But after watching HBO’s John Adams mini-series (I can not recommend this enough, it will make you want to be a better American), I really started groovin on Jefferson. I loved the shots of him at Monticello, writing to Adams about how much he loved his home. I needed to see this place.
I knew Jefferson was a lawyer, a politician, and a writer. But I never knew what a Renaissance man he was. He was an architect (designed Monticello and the University of Virginia), a meteorologist (possibly the first in America), a musician, a zoologist, a botanist, an inventor, and a gadget guy. Monticello is now a museum and all of these aspects of his life are on display there.
![TJ](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3523/3921822980_d3e70457cd.jpg)
Mastodon bones, given to him by Lewis and Clark, are on display (the man had dinosaur bones in his house). He has a giant 7 day clock, which he designed, that requires cannon balls as counter weights. He has a wine bottle dumb waiter hidden in the dining room fireplace. He used a polygraph to duplicate every letter he wrote. He invented automatic closing/opening doors. He invented double pane storm windows. He surrounded himself with books and art.
This place made me want to be better.