The Virginia Presidents

I begin this post sitting at a table within the comfortable environment of a Panera Bread.  The location is Paducah Kentucky, my first trip within this city - it rests comfortably on the other side of the Ohio River from where I am staying, the Motel 6 in Metropolis Illinois.  I aimed for the Motel 6 in Metropolis yesterday because of the price ( I required nothing more than a comfortable room; extravagant amenities were unnecessary) and my prior experience staying there.  They met what I required.

But I digress from the intent of this particular post.

My intent for this insane trip across half of the country was two-fold: to retrace the steps of my ancestors in their venture westward, as well as to search for opportunities in work.  I came up short on both ends, which prompted my movements into other directions.

me on the lawn of Monticello

When I decided it was time to begin heading back west, since my proximity to the commonwealth of Virginia (I still fail to comprehend "commonwealth" from "state") was only slight, I thought a trip to Charlottesville, to visit Thomas Jefferson's home of Monticello for a second time, was in order.  This single visit gradually transformed into a visit to all four Virginia presidents' homes: Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, James Madison, and George Washington.

me with Thomas Jefferson

Jeffferson and Monroe live within a couple of miles of one another.  The guide on the tour of Ash Lawn- Highland said it was because Monroe wished to live close to Jefferson, hence the reasoning for his building his home a mere two miles up the road.  There was never any reference to frequent visitations between the two presidents, like there was between Jefferson and Madison, who lived at Montpelier, thirty miles east of Monticello.  They are said to visit one another quite frequently.

me with James Monroe

Oddly, none of the guides, for any of the tours of Jefferson's, Monroe's, or Madison's ever referenced visitations either to or fro of George Washington.  Many things could account for this.  Washington's Mount Vernon home was another hundred miles further north.  Even within our own day and age, such a trip would be less than desired for anything other than absolute necessity.  Imagine the difficulties during Washington's time.  Then, of course, there is the consideration Washington died in 1799.  Jefferson lived on to 1826, while both Madison and Monroe lived into the 1830s.

Ash Lawn- Highland

Visiting all four of these homes was not something I considered until I recognized the ease of this opportunity availed me.  I was already in Charlottesville; it was a simple natural progression to visit Ash Lawn- Highland, which made a visit to Montpelier just as realistic.  Not knowing the next opportunity to visit the area, it was clearly imperative to do so now.  The question to visit Mount Vernon was not as simple.  A hundred miles north was not just down the road; and being that I had already visiting the historic site once, was it all that imperative to do so a second time?

James and Dolley Madison

James Madison's Temple at Montpelier

In my view, as one who firmly believes the lessons of history are moments necessary for teaching those of us here in the present what works in advancing towards the truth, and what is a tumbling deception into bondage and decay, learning from these four men who built this country into what is enjoyed today, it was vitally important to comprehend as much as was possible to the character and intent of these men as was possible - George Washington most notably, as it was his character which held this diverse and embattled nation together, but James Madison is not one to be overlooked in such a consideration.  As I learned through my visit to Montpelier, Madison spent months devouring book after book on history's prior examples of democratic republics.  Absent his wisdom on the matter, would the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia created what we live under today?  Every epoch needs an individual who will do what is right, despite any person affronts to himself. 

General George Washington

My previous paragraph may not mean much, as it might fall into the foolishness of the ramble and the rant.  My intent was merely to convey the importance of learning from the example of people of character, those who did what was right in spite of the obstacles thrown in their path.  All four of these men died in debt.  They served their new country to their own ruination.  I know both Monroe and Madison, their homes were sold.  Monticello was eventually sold to pay Thomas Jefferson's debts; while Mount Vernon, retained within the Washington Family into the 1850s, it was eventually sold as well.  

Mount Vernon facing the Potomac River

None of these four became filthy rich, as we know such individuals of today who selfish hoard their own gain.  None of the four Virginia presidents were poor either.  They lived at a stature better than most of their day, but neither their homes, nor their characters, were those of an American aristocracy that directed attention their way as kings, or princes, or exalted god-like figures to be worshiped and adored.  No, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were Americans who understood something we seemed to either have lost, or it is hidden, from the eyes of most of their American progenitors today.  And those are the lessons all of us need to imbibe through visiting their homes, learning of their lives, and experiencing what they saw and knew.

These were not my final visits to any of these historic places.  They are too important to forget...

me visiting Mount Vernon