The Night I Drove Down To Old Dixie (Part One)

A week ago I started my Southern Tour of presidential homes with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. It was my most ambitious trip, consisting of the most average miles traveled per day. 

Fortunately, I had both my parents with me to help with the driving. Saints that they are, they came with me to each of the sites. This turned out to be a bigger commitment than originally intended; I only planned on visiting 11 presidential homes, but we ended up seeing 15. 

Amazingly, 7 of those visits were completed on the first day, thanks to a few last minute additions. The first of these impromptu stops was at Montpelier, the home of James Madison, which I noticed was only 40 miles out of our way. It was already closed, but we could walk the grounds. Our only company was a pair of deer, which added to the serene beauty of the place. It was certainly worth a detour.

We are spotted by the Montpelier deer

Montpelier, home of James Madison

On our way back to the main road, we came within a few miles of Ash Lawn-Highland, home of president Monroe, which I had no pictures of. We decided to make a stop there to get some exterior shots of the house since it was already late evening. However, when we got there, the parking lot was full. Turns out, a wedding reception was being held on the grounds. Not to be deterred, we snuck around, avoiding the wedding guests while we snapped a few pictures. Mission accomplished.

Shortly after this picture was taken, we were chased off
the property by enraged newlyweds

The next day, we visited Poplar Forest, the country retreat of Thomas Jefferson. While on the tour, we discovered that Jefferson had purchased a natural bridge for five dollars that still existed. We decided to stop by and check it out when we realized it was right on our route into Tennessee. As we got off the highway, we probably should have picked up on the warning signs that The Natural Bridge was not what we were expecting; namely, the billboards for a dinosaur theme park and Foamhenge, a replica of Stonehenge presumably made of foamboard.

When we finally arrived at the Natural Bridge, we had to walk into a large complex about the size of an elementary school that turned out to be a combination Visitors Center/Gift Shop (with emphasis on the Gift Shop). We briefly convened to discuss what would be an acceptable price to view the bridge. I maintained five dollars would be ideal, since that was how much Jefferson paid for the bridge, but we eventually settled on ten. Imagine our surprise when we learned that it cost $19 per person to see the natural rock formation. We were also informed that we could choose to either walk or take a shuttle to see it, despite the fact that it was less than a quarter mile away. In the end, we opted out of shelling out 60 bucks to see a rock and got some ice cream instead.

I only view rock formations for free

To be continued...

Presidential House Retrospective: The Visit of Good Feelings

In which the author reminisces on previous presidential house visits. This post chronicles my third presidential house visit in 2008.

James Monroe is a difficult man to dislike.

The last of the presidents who was also a Founding Father, his presidency coincided with a time of relative peace in the United States. After the breakdown of the Federalist Party, Monroe ran unopposed in 1816. The only reason his election was not unanimous was because one elector abstained in order to ensure that only George Washington had that honor. His time in office was dubbed “The Era of Good Feelings.” Even a financial crisis couldn’t put Monroe out of office. He is the only president to have been re-elected after presiding over a panic. The only memorable controversy of his tenure, The Monroe Doctrine, was actually written by his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams (who could have used some of his boss’s charm).

Monroe was perhaps too likable. His genial popularity now seems like plain old mediocrity. I prefer to think of it as competency, a trait that seems to have all but disappeared from modern government. Still, James Monroe is like the safe boyfriend the protagonist of a romantic comedy leaves at the last moment for the exciting, romantic male lead (for our purposes, Andrew Jackson).

For this reason, I am pre-disposed to like James Monroe even more. I am the kind of person who thinks Sleepless in Seattle would have been improved if Meg Ryan had forgotten about Tom Hanks and stuck with Bill Pullman (this may have something to do with my love of Bill Pullman, but I digress). Sure James Monroe’s presidency wasn’t that exciting, but excitement is often overrated. The man led a politically unified America the likes of which was never seen again. He was an amazing diplomat and an excellent administrator.

So I was a little disappointed by my visit to Ash Lawn-Highland, his country estate that is only a few miles outside of Charlottesville, VA. After the beautiful dysfunction of Monticello, Ash Lawn-Highland is a bit of a letdown. It looks like a country manor house from a mid-90s BBC period drama. Normally, this would thrill me, but I had hoped to learn more about what made Monroe tick. I wanted insight into the man beyond that he was likable.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to be had. The entire house oozed with an air of pleasant domesticity. It was easy to imagine a family living there comfortably. The house is full of elegant decorations and portraits of friends Monroe had made while in public service. They seem for the most part like polite, impersonal gifts from important people that were put on display so as not to offend the gift givers, and also to remind the viewer that Monroe knew some exceptional people.

However, one of these friendly reminders rises above the rest and makes for a great story, or at least a great Tour Guide Story. There is a bust of Napoleon in the drawing room that is little too large for the room. The face is modeled less on the general himself and more on classical Roman sculpture. It is also a physical representation of one of those surprising connections that crop up quite a bit when you study history.

James Monroe was serving as Minister to France in Paris when the French Revolution broke out. He and his wife were well-regarded in French society, even when the monarchy fell. After Napoleon’s rise to power, the Monroe’s sent their eldest daughter Eliza to a prestigious girl’s school in France that was founded by a down-on-her-luck aristocrat. Another one of her pupils was Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Empress Josephine and step-daughter to Napoleon himself. Eliza Monroe and Hortense became friends at school and maintained their friendship throughout their lives, even though their paths diverged quite dramatically.

While Eliza Monroe returned to America, got married, and started a family, Hortense was contracted in a political marriage to Napoleon’s brother/her step-uncle Louis who was the King of Holland. The marriage was apparently quite miserable; according to Wikipedia, “she was much liked by the public, which annoyed her husband.” Despite this documented dislike, the couple managed to have three sons, one of whom became Napoleon III.

Eliza Monroe had an inconsequential life in comparison to her friend, but given the choice, I would choose her life over Hortense’s. Excitement and misery often go hand in hand, and Hortense was often depressed. She may have been a queen, but she felt like a prisoner. Similarly, reading about Napoleon and his exploits is a lot more interesting than reading about James Monroe, but Monroe was the man you would want to have as your leader. Political upheaval and war make for riveting history books, but is less pleasant to actually live through.

So maybe I’m being too hard on James Monroe. Sometimes good is for the best.