Crafting a Masterpiece, Longing for Home

Crafting a Masterpiece, Longing for Home. . Except for Jefferson himself, no one deserves more credit for the ornate character of the retreat house than his enslaved craftsman John Hemings. He apprenticed as a joiner under James Dinsmore, an Irish immigrant. "There is nothing superior in the US," Jefferson wrote of the skills of the two men., Hemings' first trip to Poplar Forest to work on Jefferson's retreat house was in 1816, his last in 1825. In 1819 he worked here for several months, leaving his beloved wife, Priscilla, at Monticello. He kept busy reconstructing the skylight, which was destroyed in a hailstorm, constructing shutters and hanging doors., Because Hemings was literate, Jefferson could convey instructions directly to him and get updates. On November 27, 1819, Jefferson wrote: “Write to me every Wednesday, and put your letter the same day into the post office of New London or Lynchburg and it will be sure to be in Charlottesville on Saturday evening.”, As the end of the year approached, Hemings wrote about installing doors inside the house: “l have got new jambs of 2 inches thickness and flush them out to repare both door and sash I have put up the jambs and the architraves.” But he missed his wife and was eager to return home, writing to Jefferson “l still keep the Day in vue of seting out from Poplar forest for Monticello.”, The first known correspondence between Jefferson and Hemings began in 1819. That same year the Virginia General Assembly passed a law discouraging slave literacy by prohibiting "any school or schools for teaching [enslaved people] reading or writing, either in the day or night. " We don't know who taught Hemings to read and write., (caption) , 1) Thomas Jefferson Drawing, Poplar Forest, specifications for the roof in Jefferson 's handwriting, ca. 1819, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library , 2) From Thomas Jefferson to John Hemings, 27 November 1819. Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society. , 3) From John Hemings to Thomas Jefferson, 8 December 1819. Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.