Contemplative Site

Contemplative Site. . , Despite the horrors of slavery, African Americans forged enduring family and community connections, and cultural and spiritual practices. The Contemplative Site is a space to reflect upon their lives and legacies., Thomas Jefferson held at least 607 people in bondage. The site's 60-foot long steel wall lists their known names. Blank spaces ensure that new names can be added as we learn more., Please respect the solemnity of the Contemplative Site. , Names, Historians do not know the exact number of people who lived in slavery at Monticello. Jefferson rarely recorded last names, so the enslaved are often only known by their first names. He also may have owned more people than those listed on the wall., The names are organized by birth date to emphasize personhood and community connections., Location, The Contemplative Site is located in an area Jefferson designed as a wooded, ornamental landscape and called the "Grove." Enslaved people moved through space using the "1-in-10" road to access the North Spring, an important water source., Fulfilling The Declaration, Jefferson and the founders laid out a vision for a nation where "all men are created equal." But that vision excluded people of color., Through the ordeal of slavery, the hope of Reconstruction, and the despair of Jim Crow, Monticello's enslaved families and their descendants kept their eyes on the future sustained by their religious faith, their belief in the importance of education, their drive to succeed, and the powerful bonds of family. They worked to expand the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, participating in freedom struggles from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement and into the present day., Learn More, The Contemplative Site is an important contribution to Monticello's landscape. It was designed by HGA and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects in collaboration with descendants of the enslaved community, historians, advisors, and staff., Monticello's Getting Word African American Oral History Project is a decades-long initiative to collect and share the stories of Monticello's enslaved community and their descendants. The Project preserves the histories of Monticello's enslaved families and their descendants through over 100 interviews with participants and countless hours of research. , Use the QR code at the right to learn more., (Captions):, Jefferson's Farm Book is an important source for the names of the people he enslaved. On this page from 1774, he recorded the births and deaths among the people enslaved at his Monticello, Poplar Forest, and Elk Hill Plantations. Four of the deaths were infants including one who is listed only as "anonymous.", There are ten other entries in the Farm Book for children without an identified name. These individuals are represented on the wall as "Child." , Massachusetts Historical Society, Few depictions exist of the people enslaved by Jefferson. Historians have found photos of Isaac Granger Jefferson, Peter Fossett, Ann-Elizabeth Fossett Isaacs, and Robert Hughes. , UVA Special Collections; Wendell P. Dabney, Cincinnati's Colored Citizens (1926); Ebony magazine (1954); Union Run Baptist Church, Archaeological investigations indicate that traces of the "1-in-10" road in the immediate area were destroyed by plowing in the 19th and early 20th centuries. High-resolution Lidar images (left) reveal traces of late 19th-century orchard terracing that also removed evidence of the Jefferson-era road. , Monticello Department of Archaeology, The "1-in-10" road circled from the west end of Mulberry Row, around the west slope of the mountain, and down to the North Spring. , Massachusetts Historical Society