**[Prerequisites for U.S. World Heritage Nominations]{.underline}**

## [Prerequisite 1 -- Legal Requirements]{.underline}

A.  National Significance:

**Has the property been designated a National Historic Landmark?**

Yes. Poplar Forest was listed in 1969.

B.  **Owner Concurrence:**

Are all property owners aware of this proposal and do all property
owners agree that it should be considered?

Yes.

C.  **Willingness to Discuss Protective Measures:**

## Are the property owners willing to enter into such discussions?

Yes.

D.  **Scheduling:**

## Do you wish your property to be nominated in a particular year?

**Preferred Year:** 2009

**Reasons:** 2009 is the 200^th^ anniversary of Jefferson's first use of
the house.

Prerequisite 2 -- Specific Requirements for Nomination of Certain Types
of Properties:

E.  **Are you proposing this property as an extension of or a new
    component to an existing World Heritage Site?**

Yes.

**Name of Existing Site:** Monticello and the University of Virginia;
Jefferson Precinct Listing, 1987.

F.  **Support of Stakeholders**

**Supporters:**

The Honorable Tim Kaine, Governor of Virginia

Senator John Warner, U.S. Senator, Virginia

Senator James Webb, U.S. Senator, Virginia

Congressman Robert Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman, Virginia, Bedford County

Senator Steve Newman, Virginia State Senator, Bedford County

Delegate Kathy Byron, Virginia State Delegate, Bedford County

Ms. Kathleen Guzi, Bedford County Administrator

Mr. Kimball Payne, Lynchburg City Manager

Mr. David Laurrell, Cambell County Administrator

**[1. Identification of the Property]{.underline}**

**[1.a. Country]{.underline}**

United States.

**[1.b. State, Province or Region]{.underline}**

Virginia. Key features located in Bedford County; property also in
Campbell County and Lynchburg City. 1548 Bateman Bridge Road, Forest,
Virginia, 24551.

**[1.c. Name of the Property]{.underline}**

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest. Historic name: Poplar Forest.

**[1.d.-e. Location, boundaries, and key features of the nominated
property.]{.underline}**

Poplar Forest Property Boundary Map Showing Historic Core in Curtilage
Yard

Poplar Forest Jefferson Plantation Period Plan

Poplar Forest Jefferson Curtilage Period Plan: Post 1814

Poplar Forest Jefferson Curtilage Core Period Plan: Post 1814

Current Condition of Core

Sequence of Land Protection and Purchase, 1983-2007

**[1.f. Area of the nominated property]{.underline}**

Core: 2.02 hectares; entire property: 249 hectares (615 acres).

**[2. Description]{.underline}**

**[2.a. Description of Cultural Property]{.underline}**

In 1984 the Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest purchased 49.5
acres, which included the house in its five-acre core, and a portion of
the historic curtilage. Since that time additional parcels of land have
been purchased, bringing the total to more than 600 acres of land that
historically belonged to Jefferson. Most of this land is in fields and
forests. One developed section contains a 1920s YWCA summer camp lodge.
Two parcels contain a pool and tennis facility and a nine-hole golf
course. The camp is used as a maintenance facility and the two
recreational areas are leased for income until those portions of the
property become restored landscapes. Just outside the core area on the
east are two post-Jefferson brick houses used for museum administration,
a 1940s garage and a farm shed. Outside of the core on the west are two
1940s buildings (used for museum shop), a 1915 barn (used for
archaeology lab and library), a recent building constructed for
restoration shop and offices; and a mid-nineteenth century barn
(unused). To the south and east of the property is a 1970s subdivision
of houses. About one third of a residential block south of the house has
been acquired by the corporation. These houses are leased out until
which time the entire block is owned and can be restored as the southern
curtilage landscape.

The gravel entrance road approaches the core from the north on axis with
the house and after crossing a creek rises to the hill where it joins a
portion of the surviving circular road that defines the core area. To
the north of the house is a grove of five old poplar trees, the remains
of the Poplar Forest. The house is approached through the trees in a
carriage turnaround defined by old boxwood bushes. Symmetrically on the
east and west sides of the house are two earthen mounds created by
Jefferson as "pavilions" from digging out the hilltop and the sunken
lawn to the south of the house. The house and mounds bisect the core
east-west at its center, dividing the natural landscape on the north
from the manmade landscape on the south. The core landscape is designed
in square modules of 100 feet, being the diameter of each mound, with
the carriage turnaround as one module and the sunken lawn as a double
module. To the outer side of each mound are two octagonal and domed
brick privies with lunette windows. These privies are perfectly
constructed to Palladio's proportions and are highly original and well
preserved.

For his most personal house Jefferson used a perfect, equal-sided brick
octagon of twenty-two foot sides and fifty feet in diameter. The house
is Jeffersonian classicism, being a mixture of Roman Classical details
and proportions derived from Palladio combined with modern conveniences
and aspects of French late-eighteenth century architecture. The house
was built into the hilltop so that the front appears lower and more
horizontal. The exterior detail is in a Palladian Tuscan Order with
porticos on the north and south and projecting stair pavilions on the
east and west. Above the exterior Tuscan entablature, the walls are
topped with a classical Doric balustrade derived from James Gibbs's
book. Crowning the top flat center roof is a Chinese railing. The flat
roof deck is a Jeffersonian "terras" roof with hidden gutters underneath
and divided by a long fixed skylight. The roof covering is a small tined
metal shingle that Jefferson favored as a fireproof covering late in his
life. The exterior restoration was completed in 1998 and the interior
restoration is partially completed to the stage of plaster but not
finish trim.

Within the outer octagon is an interior arrangement of octagonal
perimeter rooms around a central twenty-foot cube. Four symmetrical
chimneys serve fifteen fireplaces on two levels, with each large
octagonal room having a fireplace at each end. The north portico entry
leads into a narrow passage whose adjacent rooms are semi-octagonal
chambers. From the front entry you can see right through the two rooms
on the central axis and out the south portico. The nucleus of the house
is a luminous and lofty central cubic dining room twenty feet square
with a sixteen-foot long skylight twenty feet above the floor. The
surrounding rooms have twelve-foot ceilings. All of the upper window
sash are hung, even the triple sash, and varnished walnut on the
interior. The floors in the house are European style of oiled and
polished oak, with the cube room floor in a herringbone pattern. On the
south is the bright octagonal parlor which opens through four
floor-to-ceiling triple sash windows and a central door onto the Tuscan
portico. On either side of the central cube are octagonal bedchambers
divided in their middle by French-inspired alcoves for beds. To the
outside of each alcove is a stair pavilion with winding stairs that
connect these rooms to the lower level or to the exterior. Under the
west stair off of Jefferson's bed chamber, is evidence of a retrofitted
toilet he squeezed under the staircase. The upper level of the east
stair pavilion has a doorway that allows access to the flat Jeffersonian
terras deck over the room service wing. The four room wing, which
connects the house to the eastern mound, is currently being restored.
The kitchen was the most modern type for its time in America, with stew
stove, set kettle, and bake oven in addition to the cooking hearth.
Jefferson never constructed a balancing west wing.

The restoration goals have been to make the house as authentic as
possible, to preserve all historic fabric, and to avoid any modern
intrusions. To this end the materials and craftsmanship reflect the
early-nineteenth century, there are no light fixtures in the house
(other than on exhibit panels in the lower level), there is no modern
equipment in the historic part of the house other than the hidden
radiant heat system under the floor. The interpretive goal is to make
the house feel real. People can walk on the polished floors, windows are
opened when needed, louvered blinds are used for sun control, and
certain pieces of furniture that Jefferson had made for the house have
been reproduced and can be touched, and chairs sat upon. In two rooms
(northeast and east,) the unfinished nature of the structure allows
visitors to see how the masonry house was constructed and how it was
framed. It is unlike a typical museum house experience. Poplar Forest is
known for interpreting both the historic and the modern process of
construction.

The lower level of the house is the same plan with octagonal rooms
around a central square, both floors comprising about 5,000 square feet
together. The lower level currently contains exhibits for visitors. The
restored brick floor and the countersealing boards of the ceiling
conceal a radiant heat system whose secondary equipment is located in a
hidden non-historic space under the north portico. The difference in
plan between the two floors is that the lower central room is a
twenty-foot square wine cellar that is deeper than the surrounding
rooms. The house is sunk into the hilltop so that it appears as a
one-story entrance façade with a two-story rear façade, whose lower
arcade provides access to the lower level from the sunken lawn to the
south.

### Features or aspects that qualify for the World Heritage List

The most significant part of the property that qualifies for listing is
the villa's ornamental core consisting of about five acres, and
containing three Jefferson structures (principal house and wing, and two
privies) and the associated landscape features of the natural forest and
the manmade mounds, lawn, and road. The outer layers of landscape
consisting of the ten-acre yard, the 61-acre curtilage, the agricultural
fields, and the natural landscape are contributing features of the site,
comprising at present a total of 615 acres.

### Present and proposed uses of the property

In 1984 Poplar Forest was rescued as a museum property and has been open
to the public for tours since 1986. All those who have guided the
project from the beginning have recognized that the special nature and
significance of Poplar Forest warranted more than a typical house museum
approach. The mission statement purpose of the Corporation for
Jefferson's Poplar Forest is to preserve and restore Thomas Jefferson's
retreat to the highest possible standards of quality and stewardship and
to be an innovative educational catalyst inspiring insight into the
past, the present, and the future. The continued restoration of the
house and grounds will provide the correct setting for fully
understanding Jefferson's design and intent.

There is no plan to fully furnish the house due to an incomplete
knowledge of furnishings and because the essence of interpretation
should be the ideas associated with Jefferson's creation and use of the
house. A strategic plan for Poplar Forest states: "In the design of his
retreat, Thomas Jefferson expressed his ideals for personal life within
the realities of his time. Among those ideals was renewal of the life of
the Renaissance mind. Reflecting Jefferson's conviction that the earth
belongs to the living, the Corporation's educational purpose is to
inspire the individual to live a life of curiosity and creativity as
Jefferson did. Through opportunities for reflection and learning, the
Corporation fosters insight into Jefferson as well as curiosity and
creativity both in shaping one's personal world and in engaging in
today's frontiers." In keeping with the historic uses of the site, the
museum proposes that Poplar Forest always be a tranquil place that will
provide insight into Thomas Jefferson's private life as enriched in
retreat and through that understanding inspire an informed citizenry to
shape its own world. In this way its mission looks both to the past and
to the future. His environment shaped Jefferson, and he shaped his own
environment in designing all of his works, especially his private place.
A proposed administrative and educational center, planned for a location
about one quarter of a mile from the house, will allow all intrusive
modern structures to be removed from the core, and for the future
restoration of the core, outer yard, curtilage, and plantation
landscapes.

**2 b. [History and Development of the Property]{.underline}**

## Thomas Jefferson

Pulitzer-prize winning biographer Dumas Malone spent a good part of his
life trying to understand, define and interpret Thomas Jefferson, saying
that all who attempt that task are left "vexed and fascinated." He has
been called mythical, iconic, sphinx-like, eternal, universal,
visionary, humanist, creative genius, and a timeless "every man"
American. The timeless intellectual and relevant significance of Thomas
Jefferson is borne out in the nine year span (1996-2005) of statistics
from the international OCLC database: 716 books with Thomas Jefferson as
one of the subject headings, 300 audio-visual works, 200 academic
dissertations or theses, and in the year 2005 alone, 1100 newspaper or
periodical articles. Most people know Jefferson from his public career:
governor of Virginia, minister to France, first secretary of state,
second vice-president, and third president of the United States. Others
know him for his authorship of the Virginia Statute for Religious
Freedom and for the Declaration of Independence, a document so enduring
that it continues to be invoked around the world by people striving for
liberty. He is known to some for being the most educated and thorough
classicist of his generation in America who had also compiled the
largest and greatest personal library. Still others see Jefferson as an
educator who founded the first secular public college or university in
America; as a pioneering landscape architect; as one of America's best
sons of the Enlightenment; as a New World Renaissance man; as the father
of American archaeology; or for any number of justified accomplishments.
In other encapsulations Jefferson is the defender of the rights of man,
the creator of an idealistic New World democratic model, and as a
dedicated believer that education can free the individual and empower
the mind. In all the many things that Jefferson is interpreted to be,
his most remarkable power is the ability to remain contemporary with
each generation. "Both in his public and his private life he addressed
himself continually to problems of permanent and universal interest.
What he wrote and what he did---about the nature of society and of
government, the relations of man to government, the meaning of
republicanism and democracy, the significance of education and of
toleration and of experimentation to democracy---are as relevant today
as during the eighteenth century." (Garrett 2002). Seen today, the
ironies, paradoxes and contradictions of Jefferson's life and thought
have been called "large in meaning and as portentous in significance as
America itself." (Garrett 2002). Fresh and critical examinations of
Thomas Jefferson's character (Ellis 1997) and his human rights and
equality legacy (Onuf 1993, Library of Congress 2000) in light of modern
issues suggest that his gift of expression remains his most transcendent
quality, and that his "ethos was liberty, and he remains its genius."
(Wills, 2000) Thomas Jefferson is inseparable from his architecture,
which is "a biography of an eye that still sets, by its example, a
course for the human spirit to follow." (Adams 1983)

## Thomas Jefferson's Architecture

Thomas Jefferson was a self-taught architect who fully absorbed the
knowledge and systems of classical design as taught through Renaissance
architects such as Andrea Palladio. Jefferson first produced a studied
and academic essay of the classical orders in his first domestic work,
his home Monticello, integrating theories of domestic planning and
landscape design into a remarkable creation for its time and place in
Virginia. Five years in Europe in the 1780s expanded Jefferson's
architectural education through exposure to modern neoclassical works,
primarily French, through theories of picturesque landscape design, and
by visiting ancient Roman buildings. Jefferson's design of the Virginia
State Capitol, the first modern government building designed in a
classical temple form, is indicative of Jefferson's goal to "improve the
taste of my countrymen, to increase their reputation, to reconcile to
them the respect of the world and procure them its praise." Jefferson's
role in shaping a new republic extended to producing a symbolic new
architecture of public buildings. His last symbolic public work was the
University of Virginia. Jefferson's body of design, reflected in over
700 surviving drawings, ranges from pieces of silver and garden
pavilions, to cities and the design of towns across the unexplored
American continent. Jefferson returned from France to rebuild Monticello
in a personal way that combined the most modern rational ideas of
interior planning, technology and convenience with the adapted forms of
classical Roman architecture, as learned from Renaissance architect
Andrea Palladio and the British Palladian architects of the eighteenth
century. The result was an American form of neoclassicism. While
Monticello was Jefferson's lifelong "essay in architecture," Poplar
Forest became his mature and final work of an idealistic and even more
personal blend of architectural concepts. Jefferson's domestic influence
is seen in the work of his builders he mentored and who became competent
designers.

The significance of Thomas Jefferson's architecture is so well
established it would be hard to find a history of early American
architecture that did not describe the importance, power, and symbolism
of his work. Jefferson's new type of American private house has been
described as a necessary comparative touchstone for anyone writing about
American domestic architecture (Upton 1998). Similarly, his new kind of
American public building (Virginia Capitol, University of Virginia, and
his influence on early federal buildings) bestows on him the title of
father of American symbolism in public architecture (Gelernter 1999).
Jefferson has long been considered the father of American Classicism
(Kimball, 1916). Histories of world architecture are just as likely to
mention Jefferson's work when describing neoclassicism or American
architecture (Jordan 1969, Fletcher 1975, Kostoff 1985). In histories of
fundamental building types, Jefferson's buildings also appear in
American or International books ((Maddex 1985, Pevsner 1976). A random
sampling of most architectural libraries would document the range of
Jefferson's talents in a number of areas: international histories of
architectural theory (Kruft 1994), dictionaries of architecture (Sturgis
1905, Pevsner 1966, Curl 1999), books on master builders (Roth 1983,
Maddex 1985), books on landscape architects (Nichols 1978, Tishler 1989,
Martin 1991), histories of city planning (White 1962, Craig 1978), works
on American building technology (Fitch 1966, Peterson 1976, Ierley
1999), and in decorative arts (Thornton 1984, Cooper 1993). A survey of
prominent books on neo-classicism demonstrates an even broader range of
discussion of Jefferson's work (Honour 1968, Rykwert 1980, Tavernor
1991, Irwin 1997). Jefferson's style of neoclassicism was so personal
that some architectural style books define it as "Jeffersonian
Classicism," one of the very few American styles to be named after its
architect (Whiffen 1969, Poppeliers 1976).

It is not surprising that the "most extensive eighteenth- and early
nineteenth-century architectural library" in America (Hefertepe, 2001)
belonged to Thomas Jefferson (Jefferson also owned the largest and
finest private general library in the United States). The extensive
description of Jefferson's architecture in the 1987 World Heritage
Listing adequately describes the "immortality" and worldwide honors for
Jefferson's architecture. Since that time the Oxford [Dictionary of
Architecture]{.underline} (Curl 1999) stated that "The University is
arguably the most beautiful architectural ensemble in the American
Continent," a belief consistently upheld by national professional polls
conducted by the American Institute of Architects. Distinguished
architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson remarked in 2006: "Jefferson
is without a doubt the most important American architect." Even without
expanding the list of Jefferson's interests, skills and accomplishments
to the many subject areas beyond architecture and its allied arts, we
begin to understand why he, and his surviving work, can be considered
heir to both Renaissance and Enlightenment thought in the New World.

## Poplar Forest

The plantation known as Poplar Forest came to Thomas Jefferson through
his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton, who inherited the property from her
father in 1773. The property consisted of two working plantations of
almost five thousand acres close to the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge
Mountains in Bedford County, Virginia. The area captured Jefferson's
imagination from his first visit in 1773, for in the next year he
purchased the nearby Natural Bridge (one of two great natural wonders in
eighteenth-century British America), calling it "the most sublime of
nature's wonders." Jefferson didn't visit Poplar Forest again until 1781
when fleeing the British army. During that stay in an overseer's cabin,
he wrote much of his book, [Notes on the State of Virginia]{.underline}
(considered the best book on natural history by an American before
1800), and sketched plans for a retreat house. The Peaks of Otter,
within sight of his property, were given the distinction in his book of
being among the highest peaks of North America, reflecting Jefferson's
love of natural features, as well as the site's frontier position and
the lack of knowledge of what lay beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. After
a lifetime of using various makeshift retreats, Jefferson finally put
his dreams of his own private retreat into action at Poplar Forest in
1805 during his second term as president. Historian Gary Wills: "...he
yearned for a place where he could, at his pleasure, be alone. Poplar
Forest is the place..."

For almost twenty years, beginning in 1806, Jefferson personally crafted
his private house and grounds into a villa retreat. While the house was
habitable by 1809 when Jefferson left the presidency, he slowly finished
its details for the following fourteen years of his occasional
habitation, perfecting the ideal conception through all manner of
classical and functional detail. Jefferson's enslaved craftsman, John
Hemings, executed the finished details of the house, corresponding with
his master in the language of neo-classical architecture. Hemings had
become a master of his craft who received an annual salary and was freed
upon Jefferson's death.

Jefferson used Poplar Forest from 1809 to 1823, visiting from two to
four times each year in all seasons. The typical journey from Monticello
to Poplar Forest took three days. Usually accompanied by one servant,
Jefferson's two teenage granddaughters became frequent companions after
1815. Jefferson managed the plantation and its enslaved workers, who
produced tobacco and wheat, supervised house and landscape construction,
planted various ornamental and vegetable gardens, and surveyed property
(including "making a geometrical measurement of the Peaks of Otter").
Jefferson's agricultural practices at Poplar Forest, which he pronounced
his most productive estate, link him to an international and
intellectual community advocating innovative scientific methods. But
principally, time at Poplar Forest allowed him to pursue his many
intellectual interests and to correspond with friends and family. In
1811 Jefferson wrote to his friend Dr. Benjamin Rush, "I have fixed
myself comfortably, keep some books here, bring others occasionally, am
in the solitude of a hermit, and quite at leisure to attend to my absent
friends." In nearly every letter he wrote at Poplar Forest, Jefferson
mentioned reading. At Poplar Forest he created a retirement library of
more than 700 books that favored classical authors in their original
languages. Books on history, literature, and philosophy were part of
Jefferson's education of his granddaughters at Poplar Forest. In the
relative peace and quiet of Poplar Forest, Jefferson was able to design
and to concentrate on the "progress and prospects" of the "hobby of my
old age," the University of Virginia.

In 1823, Jefferson established his newly married grandson Francis Eppes
at Poplar Forest but continued to direct the finishing touches or
changes to the house until his death in 1826. The first item in
Jefferson's will was the bequest of Poplar Forest to Eppes. In 1828,
before moving to Florida, Eppes sold the house and 1,074 acres to his
neighbor William Cobbs. The first great change to the house occurred in
1846 when the house was rebuilt in a Greek Revival style following a
fire. While not affecting the octagonal form of the house, Jefferson
spaces and details were lost or replaced. The Cobbs/Hutter family tenure
lasted until 1946 when James O. Watts acquired the property. The Watts
family modernized the house for twentieth-century living and reversed
some of the earlier changes and restored the parlor to a Jefferson look.
In 1969, during the Watts ownership, Poplar Forest was declared a
National Historic Landmark. The Watts family continued living in the
house and farming the property until 1979 when it was rescued from
commercial development by Dr. James Johnson. By then the property
consisted of only the house and 49.5 acres, with some of the surrounding
property already developed as a housing sub-division. In 1984, Dr.
Johnson sold the property to the newly formed Corporation for
Jefferson's Poplar Forest as its permanent steward. Since that time the
private, nonprofit corporation has purchased more than 600 acres of
surrounding open land as an historic resource and to buffer the property
from further encroachment. Archaeology and architectural restoration
work have been on going since 1988, providing the visiting public an
in-depth look at a museum-quality project that focuses on the correct
process and outcome rather than any expedient goal.

**2 c. [Boundary Selection]{.underline}**

The boundary that is proposed for this listing is the five-acre core of
Jefferson's villa retreat. This area includes the original Jefferson
buildings (house, wing, two privies), the natural Poplar forest, and the
man-made mounds and sunken lawn. This area is defined naturally by the
hilltop and spatially by the ring road, which is partially visible and
partially unexcavated. This ornamental core of house and garden within
an agricultural setting defines the ancient villa retreat as Jefferson
knew of them. The outer yard areas and larger landscape act as a buffer
and setting for this core.

Are all elements and features related to the site's significance
included inside the proposed boundaries?

Yes.

Are there any enclaves or inholdings within the property?

No.

**3. [Justification for Inscription in the World Heritage
List]{.underline}**

Thomas Jefferson\'s Poplar Forest is proposed for inscription on the
World Heritage list as an equal and contributing part of the Thomas
Jefferson Precinct listing under the same criteria as that given for
Monticello and the University of Virginia: (I) as a unique artistic
achievement, a masterpiece of creative genius; (IV) as an outstanding
example of a type of building and landscape illustrating significant
stages in human history; and (VI) being associated with ideas and
beliefs of outstanding universal significance.

**3.a. [Criteria]{.underline}**

**i. [A masterpiece of human creative genius]{.underline}**

The significance and universal values of Thomas Jefferson's architecture
are well documented in the 1987 Jefferson Precinct listing, as sampled
by these following statements. "Thomas Jefferson was one of the geniuses
of eighteenth century neoclassical architecture. His architectural works
were an integral part of the neoclassical movement, but their adaptation
to the convenience, ideals and requirements of the new nation made them
uniquely Jeffersonian.... Jefferson's architecture is an integral part
of his views of man, society, and the infinite possibilities offered by
the new nation.... Jefferson's taste in architecture far transcended
notions about beauty or style.... Jefferson's accomplishments...have
guaranteed him a starring role in world history...however his greatest
intellectual energies and original talents were devoted to
architecture...." That the "legacy of Thomas Jefferson's creative genius
survives in his buildings" (W.H. Adams) is also true of his most
personal and intimate house, Poplar Forest. William Pierson's statement
on Monticello as "one of the most civilized houses ever built" extends
to Poplar Forest as well because "it was built by and for one of the
most civilized, sensitive and complex intellects who as a self-made
architect became his own client."

The three most personal works of architecture by Thomas Jefferson are
Monticello, Poplar Forest, and the University of Virginia. These works
best reveal his mind and creative genius. Poplar Forest was not
understood or restored at the time of the earlier listing and is now
considered an essential part of understanding any of Jefferson's works.
This was recognized by historian David McCullough: "More and more it is
becoming clear how very important Poplar Forest is to our enlarged
understanding of Thomas Jefferson and the reach of his imagination. That
Jefferson was, along with so many other things, one of the premier
American architects, has been long appreciated, but the originality and
ingenuity of Poplar Forest---especially now that it is being so superbly
restored---raise his standing still higher. This is an American
masterpiece by a great American artist who happened to be The President
of The United States." Roger Kennedy characterized it this way: "Poplar
Forest is for Thomas Jefferson what 'Falstaff' was for Verdi: the
consummate final work of the mind of genius."

The architectural nature of Poplar Forest is familiar in its vocabulary
of parts, comprising one of the best definitions of a Jeffersonian
style, yet very different from Jefferson's other works. This difference
stems primarily from its private nature as a highly personal retreat. It
is also distinguished by being one of Jefferson's most mature works,
begun when he was 63, and an idealistically modern house for its time
and place. Jefferson's satisfaction with this unique house and landscape
led him to comment that it was "the most valuable of my possessions,"
and "when finished, it will be the best dwelling house in the state,
except that of Monticello; perhaps preferable to that, as more
proportioned to the faculties of a private citizen." This last statement
refers to Thomas Jefferson's need for privacy and the freedom that
privacy afforded the design of an occasional villa. James Ackerman's
definitive history, [The Villa]{.underline}, describes the attributes of
a true villa as not only an ornamental country retreat for the owner's
enjoyment and relaxation within an agricultural setting, but also a
modern product of an architect's imagination and creative aspirations.
Ackerman described Poplar Forest as an "excessively rational" building,
inconvenient in some ways. This inconvenience betrays its function and
use by one man, and echoes Ackerman's assertion that "the mythical
nature of villa ideology liberates the type from mundane restraints of
utility." It would be difficult to find a more apt description of Poplar
Forest. Jefferson's use of the octagonal shape, the first octagon house
in America, made this his ultimate use of that shape seen in many of his
drawings going back to the 1770s. While Jefferson stated that Palladio
was his "bible" when learning to design, his early assimilation of the
octagon came from the British Palladian books by James Gibbs, Williams
Kent, and Robert Morris. An adherence to the octagon's ideal symmetrical
shape makes it difficult to accommodate conventional domestic plans but
it fit the need for one man perfectly. The plan's symmetry and shape
give it an unmistakable purity consistent with Jefferson's wish to
please himself with something as perfect as he could make it, perhaps
his most perfect executed work. Fiske Kimball remarked of Poplar Forest:
"In the matter of pure form the house is especially satisfactory." Gary
Wills: "The house is elegant, like all of Jefferson's buildings, but
minimalist at the same time. A gem in the wilds."

Into this geometric shell Jefferson put some of his most personal
thoughts and desires for architecture. The twenty foot cube at the
center of the house represented Jefferson's third and only successful
attempt (after the Governor's House and the President's House) to build
a rotunda house after Palladio's Villa Rotonda. This special center room
was brightly illuminated by one of the largest skylights in America. The
cube shape took expression on the roof above by a Jeffersonian flat
"terras" deck that accentuated the Chinese rail like a crown. To
personalize the center of his private world, Jefferson detailed a Roman
Doric entablature with additional frieze ornaments. When English
sculptor William Coffee, the ornaments' maker, questioned this unusual
mix, Jefferson explained that in this private house his inventive design
was "a fancy which I can indulge in my own case, altho in a public work
I feel bound to follow authority strictly." Jefferson's statement and
intention were borne out by the fact that outside of family, he invited
very few friends to share his most private place.

The modernity of Poplar Forest results from its inner and outer shape,
its low horizontal Parisian house look, the rotunda volume, its
European-style polished oak floors, the alcove beds, the skylight, the
manner of decoration, the flat "terras" roof, the use of metal shingles,
Rumford fireplaces, the service wing, the use of landscape, the amount
of glass and the quality of light, and the way the house connects to the
surrounding landscape. Few American houses could boast of more than a
couple of these features. It was the Glass House of its time, especially
in the transparent affect and luminosity of the large openings. The
triple sash windows of the parlor and its glass door served to make the
solid wall disappear. Through the windows of this indoor-outdoor room
you stepped onto the elevated portico which was an outdoor room. Poplar
Forest was, as Vincent Scully described, "as wholly open to nature as
creature comfort will permit..." Further, the 100-foot walking deck over
the wing created a more expansive connection to the landscape. This
innovative feature of Jefferson's, to place a walking deck over a flat
hidden roof of the Palladian-inspired service wings, was one of his most
inventive features that he used at Monticello, the University, the
President's House, and at Poplar Forest. This concept of wings that
extended the floor of the house out into the garden is "perhaps the most
universally satisfying aspect of the design at Monticello" and of
Jefferson's modern concept merging architecture and landscape.
(Beiswanger 2002). At Poplar Forest this synthesis with nature and
landscape was even more unique.

Thomas Jefferson chose to integrate his villa house and garden with a
distinct regional natural feature, known as early as the 1740s as the
Poplar Forest. Rather than rising above nature on a mountain as at
Monticello, this low hilltop site was dwarfed by the majestic old growth
forest. A ring road, bordered on each side by paper mulberry trees,
inscribed a 540-yard circle, within which Jefferson defined an
idealistic and geometric five-acre ornamental core. Jefferson's
landscape design clearly expressed his fundamental idea that house and
grounds should be joined into a seamless whole. Using the 100-foot
diameter of the mounds as a module, he interpreted a five-part Palladian
plan: central house flanked by wings that terminated in a pavilion.
However, Jefferson substituted landscape elements for bricks and mortar:
double rows of paper mulberry trees formed the "wings" or "hyphens," and
earthen mounds replaced the pavilions. Mounds were a feature of
landscape design in Europe at the time but Jefferson used them in an
unusual way. Three rows of trees at the base, middle and top of the
mounds gave them a more vertical architectural form. Beyond each mound
was an octagonal domed privy, or outdoor toilet, of Palladian detail and
proportion.

The Palladian ensemble formed an east-west axis, separating the
ornamental core into distinct areas which Jefferson designed to reflect
two opposing sensibilities: on the north, or front of the house, he
created a landscape that appeared natural, even wild, making use of the
existing forest of Tulip Poplar trees. Passing through the grove and
rounding the carriage turnaround in front of the house, visitors would
have seen tree clumps and shrub beds at each corner of the house
containing Athenian and Balsam poplars, common and Kentucky locusts,
redbuds, dogwoods, calycanthus and liriodendron. Though carefully chosen
to look attractive together, the trees and shrubs were densely planted,
appearing to be a wild thicket. This landscape style, mimicking the
natural world, was then the most modern trend. It harmonized with the
north façade of the house, which was also modern in form. Jefferson had
seen such gardens in England and wrote that their beauty "surpasses all
the earth." Behind the house to the south Jefferson created a more
ordered, rational and geometric landscape. A carefully delineated sunken
lawn of a double-square size 100 x 200 feet long stretched from the
south portico of the house. On each bank of the lawn were lilacs,
Althaeas, Gelder roses, Roses and calycanthus. Along the upper terraces
on each side was an allee of Kentucky Coffee trees. Here landscape and
architecture expressed a classical sensibility: the south façade of the
house with its Roman-style arcade topped by a classical portico and
pediment reflected Jefferson's look back to ancient times. While some
landscape features have not survived, archaeological excavations have
confirmed all the features of this unique landscape documented by
Jefferson where he blended natural and man-made features into an
integrated setting.

**iv: [An outstanding example of a type of building and architectural
ensemble which illustrates a significant stage in human
history.]{.underline}**

Thomas Jefferson's architecture was a personal, and American,
interpretation of the international neoclassical movement, referred to
by some as Jeffersonian Classicism. Poplar Forest displays a synthesis
of international forms and ideas that is Jeffersonian in its blending of
ancient traditions with modern buildings, and constructed as a regional
work on the frontier of Virginia. In a sense Jefferson created a
"melting pot" of architectural traditions from around the world and
turned them into an American creation. Jefferson's familiarity with
Roman literature, and books like Robert Castell's [Villas of the
Ancients]{.underline} (1728), provided conceptional models of an ancient
villa retreat. Poplar Forest perfectly fits the classic definition that
is one of the most unchanged architectural building types since
antiquity: a dialog between city and country moral values; and as an
intimate engagement with nature. Monticello has been described as
Jefferson's villa, yet it was from Monticello that Jefferson felt the
need to retreat. In this case, Monticello occupied the role of a
counterbalancing "city" from which one retreated to find refreshing
ideological and spiritual values.

Poplar Forest also reflects the inspiration of Renaissance sources,
particularly Andrea Palladio's interpretations of Roman buildings with
codified classical proportions, bi-lateral symmetry, and connected
service wings. Jefferson's unique neo-Palladian use of landscape
features has already been described. Jefferson also took inspiration
from the English Palladians of the eighteenth-century, borrowing ideas
such as overall octagonal shape and the south portico ensemble of
arches, columns and pediment. In his history [Classical Architecture in
Britain]{.underline}, Giles Worsley stated that "Jefferson was the
culmination, the very worthy culmination, of English neo-Palladianism."
Architectural historian Joseph Kruft labeled Jefferson "the most
significant spokesman" for American Palladianism.

From his five years in France, Jefferson learned many new stylistic and
convenient features to inject into his New World classicism, including
his alcove beds (of which the two-sided opening was Jefferson's
innovation), floor-to-ceiling windows, polished floors, the compressed
horizontal look of the façade, indoor toilets, and the use of skylights
(it is believed that Poplar Forest had the largest skylight in America
for its time). One of the few non-family visitors to the house,
Englishman George Flowers, remarked after visiting Poplar Forest in
1816, "His house was built after the fashion of a French chateau,
Octagon rooms, floors of polished oak, lofty ceilings, large mirrors
betokened his French taste...." The French architectural quality of
light and air had become a part of Jefferson's taste, especially within
an octagonal design optimizing these qualities. And certainly its place
made Poplar Forest an indigenous Virginia house in materials and
feeling. While Jefferson's own style of Roman neoclassicism was not
nationally adopted due to the new Greek neoclassical movement,
Jefferson\'s builders perpetuated his style throughout Virginia in their
construction of numerous public and private buildings. Fiske Kimball
wrote that "American classicism traces its ancestry to Jefferson" and
Michael Dennis concluded that Jefferson "played the role of Serlio to
the New World."

Perhaps the most American aspect of Jefferson's neoclassicism at Poplar
Forest was its relationship to nature. Gary Wills believes Poplar Forest
is "Jefferson's last dramatic marriage of classical art with the
American wilderness." By siting the house against the ancient forest,
Jefferson made use of contemporary landscape theories, such as
Jean-Marie Morel's, which stated that the first layer in a landscape
should be a dense forest to arouse feelings of the sublime. His
attention to the nearby Peaks of Otter, the remoteness of his
plantation, and his purchase of Natural Bridge all confirm that nature
as an "intimate engagement" was essential to his idea and creation of
the villa. Jefferson had exhibited some of the first English "natural"
style landscape theories in the first designs of Monticello in the
1770s, based on English poets such as Alexander Pope and William
Shenstone, and others such as Lord Kames and Thomas Whately. But later
Jefferson's study of European landscape gardens convinced him that in
America "the noblest gardens may be made without expense" by using
nature as part of the design. This romantic notion of nature uniquely
merged at Poplar Forest with the rational, mathematical and classical
ordering of the landscape. From its cubistic center, Jefferson's
geometry expanded outward from the octagon into the nearby landscape
into circle, square and rectangle. The circular five-acre ornamental
core was enclosed by a square ten-acre outer yard and further still by a
sixty-one acre rectangular curtilage yard. Beyond these boundaries lay
the agricultural plantation fields and the natural Virginia piedmont
from which they were carved. In the distance lay the Blue Ridge
Mountains, that Jefferson recorded "in the order in which they are seen
from Poplar Forest," providing a visual reference to a larger natural
world to the west, beyond the sanctuary of the villa. If neoclassicism
is a fusion of pure geometry and classical allusion, and Jefferson in
his retirement delighted in "classical reading and mathematical truths,"
Poplar Forest equaled a harmonious creation of those elements in an
ideal and personal form.

**vi. [Associated with events, traditions, ideas, beliefs and artistic
works of outstanding universal significance.]{.underline}**

As stated in the Jefferson Precinct Listing, Thomas Jefferson was a full
and equal participant in international trends to study the classical
world through languages, literature, history and philosophy. Jefferson's
taste in architecture transcended beauty or style, representing
universal values that he linked to an expression of a new national
architecture for the United States: "...that it would be noble and free
from traditions of the Old World; that it would offer infinite
possibilities to the common man; and, that it would serve as a beacon
for freedom and self-determination for the world." Jefferson's
architecture was as symbolic as his famous literary works, speaking to
the hopes for himself, his countrymen, and for the world's humanity.
William Adams's statement about Monticello is as true of Poplar Forest:
"No man ever lived in more civilized elegance than Jefferson. Taking his
cues and inspirations from wherever he could find them in history or in
contemporary experience, he strove to build a house harmonious with
human dignity, the same ideal he followed in formulating the philosophy
of the government."

Poplar Forest is invested with universal ideology but not as a public
symbol. It is a place symbolic of the inner Jefferson, where he as an
individual reaffirmed the power of the mind and of ideas to affect
civilization. The Jeffersonian classicism of Poplar Forest reflects in
an autobiographical way the physical expression of America inheriting
from the ancient and modern world the best hope for humanity's life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Jefferson, Fiske Kimball wrote,
was "the father of our national architecture." Joseph Kruft observed
that "it was largely because Jefferson, as a Humanist, found his answer
to the quest for a symbolic American Style in Roman and Palladian models
that the country developed a particularly rigorous form of Classicism."
The democratic values still associated with Jefferson's belief in human
freedom and self-determination brought former Polish president Lech
Walesa to Poplar Forest to pay homage and to say that the site is "holy
to your nation. It's not only your property, it's the property of all
civilization." In a similar tribute, former Soviet president Mikhail
Gorbachev visited Poplar Forest during Jefferson's 250^th^ anniversary
in 1993 and spoke of the site as a place for people to have a memory and
therefore a history. He described the anniversary event not as a
national event but an international celebration. Jefferson, he said, "is
still a magnet capable of attracting the hearts and minds of new
generations." In this associated way, Poplar Forest is a powerful and
spiritual place where people personally connect with intangible and
abstract ideals.

Jefferson's design of Poplar Forest as a villa grew out of his personal
program of ideological goals. In giving shape to his architectural and
ideological ideals, Jefferson gave shape to universal human concerns as
well. Ackerman notes that "the social underpinning of the villa culture
\[was\] more consistent than that of any other social manifestation in
Western society over the same period." From the bright, perfectly
proportioned middle room of Poplar Forest, described as "the ideal of
human reason rendered in space," and outward into the landscape, the
site reflects the Age of Reason's debate concerning man's role in nature
and, conversely, nature's impact on man. Jefferson's unique ensemble of
architecture and landscape reflected his own answer: a harmonious
balance with nature. Wills recognized this union when he observed that
"Poplar Forest was Jefferson's last dramatic marriage of classical art
with the American wilderness." Jefferson's idealistic design concept, to
some, is comparable to a universal ideal cosmology. This was best
summarized by Vincent Scully in associating the Vitruvian "Man of
Perfect Proportions" with Poplar Forest: "This figure dominated European
aesthetics from Antiquity through the Renaissance with its vision of an
heroic mankind proportionally in accord with the ideal shapes of circle
and square. The image shaped the great French gardens of the seventeenth
century, which Jefferson loved so well. It was their *pourtraiture*,
their revelation of humanity's position in the center of the universe,
which seems to emerge as Jefferson's final intention at Poplar Forest."

These ideal shapes and associated features constituted a private,
simplified, retreat for a remarkable man of the Enlightenment- a
physical place for his intellectual universe. After contributing so much
in public life, Thomas Jefferson resumed his private existence as an
individual at Poplar Forest, away from the distractions at Monticello.
Poplar Forest represented his own pursuit of happiness late in life. At
Poplar Forest, Jefferson turned back to studying the classics to
recapture inspiration from early heroes who had sustained and shaped his
intellect. He characterized his personal study during retirement with a
renewed joy: "I have given up newspapers in exchange for Tacitus and
Thucydides, for Newton and Euclid; and I find myself much the happier. I
read nothing, therefore, but of the heroes of Troy, of the wars of
Lacedaemon and Athens, of Pompey and Caesar, and of Augustus too...I
slumber without fear, and review in my dreams the visions of antiquity."
The ages-old stimulus of a retreat refreshed Jefferson's own mind to
prepare for one last idealistic and symbolic public work, the University
of Virginia, where he hoped the development of the human mind would
provide the freedom to shape a better world, just as his own had done.

**3.b. [Statement of outstanding universal value]{.underline}**

# **Cultural Property**

Thomas Jefferson's ideas and accomplishments are deemed of outstanding
universal value. His inseparable creative masterpieces are regarded as
symbolic of his ideas and an eternal inspiration to humanity.
Jefferson's retirement retreat Poplar Forest is equally part of his
creative genius and is one of the best American examples of an
international neoclassicism movement. Poplar Forest is an essential
contributing piece necessary to fully understand the universal values of
Monticello and the University of Virginia. While the University is
symbolic of American public values, and Monticello represents
Jefferson's "essay in architecture" for a new American style of domestic
architecture, Poplar Forest is symbolic of Jefferson's most intimate and
personal idealism. Jefferson created Poplar Forest as a pure and
idealistic inspiration for his own continued creativity. It represents
Jefferson's contemplation of Nature, the nature of man, and an
optimistic belief in the power of the mind and of an individual to
affect a country and the world.

**3.c. [Comparison to similar or related properties]{.underline}**

The justification of Monticello and the University of Virginia for
meeting the above three criteria was based on the statement that these
buildings "best represent the fullness of his \[Jefferson's\]
architectural genius," as "creative masterpieces in the eyes of scholars
and observers, as unique and outstanding examples of an international
artistic movement, and as symbolic of the universal values of the new
republic." At the time of this 1987 inscription Poplar Forest was
relatively unknown, having barely come into the public domain. Today,
scholars and historians recognize that Poplar Forest is equal to these
other works and essential for a full understanding of Jefferson's
architecture and universal values. Today, architectural historians
typically include Poplar Forest when mentioning the other sites, for
example: "Monticello, Poplar Forest, the University of Virginia all show
the marks of an architectural scholar." (Hafertepe and O'Gorman 2001).
Gary Wills remarked that Poplar Forest "will present people with a
clearer interplay of art and nature... it will someday take its place
with Monticello and the University of Virginia as a masterpiece of
Jefferson's art and a revelation of his mind." David McCollough,Vincent
Scully and others echoed this recognition as quoted in earlier sections.
Any field school or academic seminar on Jefferson's architecture in
Virginia now includes Poplar Forest (annual Stratford/Monticello
Seminar; 2006 Boston University/NEH Jefferson Seminar). The nationally
televised History Channel Program in 2006, "Jefferson's Other
Revolution," featured three sites: Poplar Forest, the University of
Virginia and the Virginia State Capitol.

As an example of neoclassicism and a blending of ideal form, Poplar
Forest is jointly worthy in all respects and even more so in the purity
of its execution. Monticello was Jefferson's 40 year "essay in
architecture," an evolution of early and later ideas merged in the
rebuilding of an earlier house. Poplar Forest was a mature work, begun
when Jefferson was 63, and now known for representing Jefferson's purity
of design and genius of geometric form. Jefferson architecture authority
William Beiswanger remarked that Poplar Forest had a "purity and
geometric simplicity" that is lacking at Monticello. Marcus Whiffen
remarked about Poplar Forest that "Jefferson's addiction to the octagon
was never more ingeniously indulged." Palladian historian Robert
Tavernor recognized of Poplar Forest: "Jefferson's control of the
symmetry is superior" and that it was "as inspired and precise as any of
the centralized Palladian villa forms." Because of its nature,
conception and use, Jefferson scholar Frederick Nichols concluded
"Poplar Forest remains Jefferson's most brilliant domestic design. While
Monticello is entirely personal and reflects his interests and character
admirably, it looks like what it is: a house which grew and changed in
the course of more than 40 years." A.L. Rowse of Oxford College said of
Poplar Forest: "...from a strictly architectural point of view \[it is\]
even more perfect \[than Monticello\]"

As an early nineteenth-century example of the ancient villa, there is
not a better American example than Poplar Forest. Even though Monticello
can be described as Jefferson's villa, it was to the Poplar Forest villa
that Jefferson retreated from Monticello. Regarding the "full force" of
Jefferson's "principles and tastes" in overseeing every aspect of design
and construction at Monticello and the University, the 1987 Thematic
Jefferson Listing states: "This level of involvement was not equaled in
his other major public buildings projects or major residences in
Virginia, with the exception of his small retreat, Poplar Forest."

Of Thomas Jefferson's four major architectural works that survive today,
one represents symbolic public values (the Virginia State Capitol), one
symbolic educational values (the University of Virginia), and two the
symbolic values of Jefferson himself in domestic works (Monticello and
Poplar Forest). Monticello is repeatedly called one of the world's best
architectural autobiographies. Poplar Forest is the secret architectural
diary equivalent, revealing the most personal statements in its design
and use. As a private retreat, Poplar Forest differs in conception,
design, use and symbolism. As Jefferson himself remarked about its
different nature, "it is a fancy which I can indulge in my own case." In
this way it was not redundant but preferable to Monticello, "as more
proportioned to the faculties of a private citizen."

**3.d. [Integrity and Authenticity]{.underline}**

# **Authenticity: Cultural Property** 

**Does the property retain its original design, materials, workmanship
and setting? Yes.**

The cultural heritage values regarding authenticity of information
sources described in the Nara Document are exceptionally high for Poplar
Forest. Poplar Forest constitutes one of largest new sources of
information in the twentieth century about Jefferson's life and work.
While mention of Poplar Forest was scattered throughout many of
Jefferson's letters and records, never before had this disparate
material been systematically researched and compiled to reveal the full
extent and significance of this site. S. Allen Chambers researched all
known Jefferson sources for several years before writing the award
winning definitive history [Poplar Forest and Thomas
Jefferson.]{.underline} While not many of Jefferson's more than 700
architectural drawings are of Poplar Forest, they still provide useful
information about common details used by him at Poplar Forest. More
important is the extensive and explicit correspondence between President
Jefferson at the White House in Washington and the free and enslaved
workers building Poplar Forest. This two-way dialogue between
architect/owner and workers regarding design, materials, and choices
makes this the most uniquely documented private construction project of
the eighteenth- or early- nineteenth century in America, Monticello
being the only exception. Jefferson's famous habit of documentation in
many forms was extended through the use of his polygraph machine,
creating two letters at one time and allowing him to keep one copy.
Research found more than 1,200 documents related to Poplar Forest, which
were transcribed and studied prior to any restoration work.

Regarding the authenticity of material, the original Jefferson core
structures of 1806-1816 survive: original brick octagonal house, two
privies and two rooms of the eastern service wing. The octagonal house
survived remarkably intact in form without additions to its exterior
form. Original trim features were replaced in the 1840s after a fire,
and the house received modern conveniences in the 1940s, but the
durability of the original brick construction retained evidence of the
Jefferson design and finishes. The two octagonal domed privies are
highly original. The wing of four service rooms lost two of the rooms in
the 1840s with the other two altered. In this case archaeology
discovered all the information about the floor plan and kitchen features
and a detailed letter described the Jeffersonian terras roof system,
leaving very little conjecture. The missing parts of the wing are being
restored with the same original materials and in many cases, using
similar tools. In the restoration of missing features of the main house,
if the physical evidence did not survive, and the written record was not
specific for a common feature, Jefferson's documentation identifies
which of his same workers did similar work prior to Poplar Forest at
Monticello, and afterwards at the University. The nuances of specific
carpenters, such as John Perry, have been reproduced in the roof framing
even though that element was missing. Close examination of these men's
work at all three sites provides a comparative tradition of construction
techniques reflecting not only Jefferson's designs, innovations, and
changes, but the idiosyncratic practices of individual workers.

# **Integrity** 

Do the authentic material and spatial evidence convey the full
significance of the site? Yes

The more than 600 acres of property acquired by the corporation was the
heart of the historic property and is still primarily in the same
character of woods and fields. The integrity of the significant
landscape consists of the surviving outer yard curtilage, inner ten-acre
yard, and five-acre core with old Poplar trees, mounds, sunken lawn,
carriage turnaround, and a portion of the ring road. The remaining part
of the 600 acres through which visitors arrive at the property still
conveys the feeling of the agricultural landscape. The core features
allowed landscape architect C. Allan Brown to interpret Jefferson's
mathematical composition of European-inspired garden features in
combination with the natural world: "the integrity of concept at Poplar
Forest remains clear and in contrast to the idiosyncratic character of
Monticello...." Peter Hatch, Director of Grounds at Monticello described
the landscape at Poplar Forest as "one of the best documented gardens in
early America." Landscape archaeology is used with documentary research
to establish and confirm ornamental plantings, trees, fields, roads,
fences, outbuildings, slave quarters and even to identify the species of
ornamental trees and shrubs. Most of these features have already been
physically confirmed but have not been restored.

# **Integrity and Authenticity Comparison**

National and international preservation professionals who have visited
Poplar Forest praise the project for its integrity of philosophy,
process, authenticity, and stewardship calling it a bench mark of
quality. The integrity of the idealistic professional process at Poplar
Forest might be matched at some projects on an international scope, but
not surpassed.

In the 1990s the Getty Institute supported a multi-year project to
conserve original fabric at Poplar Forest that totaled nearly one
million dollars. In announcing the award, Chief Program Officer John
Sanday stated that "The advisory committee was very enthusiastic in its
support of the project for Poplar Forest." The conservation and
restoration work has been honored with the highest awards by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Virginia American
Institute of Architects.

The authenticity of Poplar Forest can be compared to other Jefferson
buildings. As a museum property, Monticello has been continually
restored since the 1920s, most heavily in the 1950s. Most of the
landscape restoration at Monticello has taken place in the 1980s-90s
using documents and archaeology as a source. Independence Hall (World
Heritage site) was altered over time and received major restoration work
in the 1960s. The State Capitol of Virginia received many changes and
modern wings in the twentieth century and is currently undergoing a
major renovation. The University of Virginia has continued to operate as
a state institution and only recently have professional conservation
measures to its original fabric been routine. Every pavilion at the
University has had repeated alterations and modernization and most
received major additions. The Rotunda was altered with an addition,
burned in 1895, was rebuilt, and then received a major restoration back
to Jefferson's design in the 1970s. What matters in these cases is that
the building and site retain integrity enough to sustain credible
cultural values. In the case of the Jefferson Precinct Listing, the
altered buildings still retain their universal value and greatly affect
people around the world. Poplar Forest retains a spirit and feeling that
characterizes its sense of place as a special Jefferson site, both
architecturally and in its landscape setting. Visitors frequently remark
how much more they "sense" Jefferson at Poplar Forest more than anywhere
else, owing to its intimate nature. The host of the History Channel's
Jefferson program offered that "you feel Jefferson more at Poplar Forest
than at Monticello or UVA." Eminent architectural historian Vincent
Scully commented on how authentic restoration can affect the values of
feeling: "As Poplar Forest is reshaped before our eyes, back to the way
Jefferson wanted it to be, it calls up his great ghost in ever more
palpable form, and other American shades loom around him, making the
restoration the most moving event for me, in recent architectural
history."

# **Integrity and Authenticity of Repairs** 

Beginning the museum process at Poplar Forest so late in the twentieth
century enabled the board of directors and staff to begin with ideal
intentions and techniques. This has meant putting the conservation of
the historic resources first, an attitude of doing it right with as much
research, integrity and innovation as possible, and by sharing the
entire project with the visiting public. A six-person advisory panel of
restoration experts interacts with staff and consultants to achieve the
best results and products. This team approach has become a model for
other sites. The principal restoration guideline is that "the
preservation and integrity of the Jeffersonian artifact (Jefferson era
buildings) is of highest priority in decisions about how the building
should be treated and used." An example of this philosophy is in the
installation of an innovative heating and cooling system that was
designed for the conservation of the house and not for its contents or
people. Ducts, grilles and equipment have been kept out of the historic
fabric of the house; equipment is 350 feet away from the house hidden in
an underground vault. Regarding this system conservation consultant
William Rose commented: "The most striking aspect of the building is the
authenticity of the restoration, such that a casual investigation of the
building (exterior, interior, basement and attic) discloses only
elements that would have been in place in the early 1800s. In my
opinion, the dedication to this aim and its achievement ensures that
Poplar Forest will remain a landmark building of the highest national
stature."

From heavy timber frame construction, to hemp sash cord custom-made in
Holland, and iron hardware wrought at Colonial Williamsburg, the details
and materials have been carefully and faithfully reproduced as the
building is restored in a Jeffersonian era way. Details and materials,
such as lumber, glass, lead, hardware, bricks, mortar, paint and
finishes are carefully researched for site specific correctness and
executed with accurate historical precision, even to the point of
reviving a few "lost art" techniques such as column rendering and
burning limestone for the production of traditional lime mortar and
plaster. A conscious decision to have the restoration follow Jefferson's
historical sequence of finishing the house makes the interpretive
process unique among museums.

**4. [State of Preservation and Factors Affecting the
Property]{.underline}**

**a. [Present State of Preservation]{.underline}**

The octagonal house at Poplar Forest is in excellent condition, having
been conserved and restored from 1993 to the present. Poplar Forest has
used seven professional architectural conservators and two professional
paint/finishes analysts over the years in addition to other professional
consultants. Problems of wall settling and water infiltration were
corrected through a Getty conservation grant in 1993-97. A conservator
remarked of that project: "Poplar Forest is an exceptional building in
this regard---the measures to ensure a dry basement are of the highest
caliber and have been proven over several years to be effective." A
restored Jeffersonian tin shingle roof has ensured protection on the top
of the building (stainless steel dipped in tin to imitate Jefferson's
iron dipped in tin). Masonry conservation work was carried-out on a
brick-by-brick basis, earning the masonry contractor a state award.
Poplar Forest was one of the first sites in the United States to return
to using a pure lime mortar in its restoration work. The two octagonal
privies have been conserved and restored through a Getty grant and are
in very good condition. An innovative heating and cooling system was
designed for the greatest conservation of building fabric rather than
for typical comfort and was installed without damage to original fabric.
A computer-controlled system operates the system in conjunction with the
exterior temperature and humidity. For a good part of the year the house
is cooled traditionally through open windows with the use of restored
louvered blinds. The 100-foot wing of service rooms is currently being
restored on the East Side of the house and will be completed by the end
of 2008. This work entails a partial reconstruction of brick and stone
walls and an authentic reconstruction of Jefferson's flat terras roof
deck system. Five rooms of the upper floor have received a traditional
lime plaster and two rooms have been left in an unfinished state for
interpretive reasons. The lower level is currently used for self-guided
exhibits with the exception of the central wine cellar original floor
that was conserved and is inaccessible to visitors. The main house is
remotely monitored through a security company for intrusion and fire.
Two post-Jefferson brick buildings just outside the core area have been
stabilized after wind-storm damage for use as offices and are not
included in the restoration plan. Other twentieth century buildings near
the core are in good condition and used to support the museum functions.

## Are there any recent or forthcoming planned major repair projects?

The current Jeffersonian service wing project will be completed by 2009.
The rooms in the main house that have plaster will receive hand-molded
neo-classical moldings starting in 2009. The lower level walls have been
stabilized and conserved and there are no plans to restore any finishes
on this level at this time. Long range plans call for the eventual
restoration of the core, curtilage, plantation, and natural landscape to
fully understand, interpret and feel the value of Jefferson's retreat.
These plans are detailed in the Historic Landscape Master Plan and will
be governed by the Landscape Advisory Panel of peer professionals
similar to the manner in which the Architectural Advisory Panel has
guided the architectural restoration. Landscape restoration is dependent
upon archaeological confirmation of the documentary record and its
schedule and outcome is determined by sufficient evidence.

b.  **[Factors Affecting the Property]{.underline}**

**[i. Development Pressures]{.underline}**

When the property was rescued in 1984 it contained the house and 49.5
acres. Modern domestic development had started on the south and east of
the property. Since that time the corporation has purchased all the
adjacent open land to the west and north, for a total of more than 600
acres. The parcels with a golf course and pool/tennis club were
purchased for control and the development will eventually be removed.
The land to the south of the five acre core was the southern boundary of
Jefferson's 61 acre curtilage and was built-upon in the 1970s with
houses. The corporation has a long-term plan to acquire this one block
of houses in order to regain the lower curtilage property. Over the past
seven years 12 houses (more than 50% of the total) have been purchased
with the eventual goal of removing them. Selected residential areas to
the east have also been targeted with some purchase options already
exercised. It is reasonable to assume that in twenty years all the
desired properties will be owned by the Corporation. One distant
viewshed that contains development will be screened with a 200 foot wide
planting of trees. In 2005 the corporation outbid an
industrial/commercial developer for 78 acres of land at a cost of 3
million dollars in order to provide a buffer to a contiguous site that
contained part of Jefferson's tobacco production barn. This land will
also provide a future road entrance/exit that will allow visitors to
avoid the current exit through modern development. Since 1983 the board
of directors has been aggressive in securing land as historical resource
and as a buffer.

**[ii. Environmental Pressures]{.underline}**

There are no environmental pressures.

**[iii. Natural Disasters and Plans]{.underline}**

Following a windstorm that damaged trees and non-Jefferson buildings in
1993, the corporation prepared a disaster emergency plan and has used it
for the infrequent threat of hurricanes (Poplar Forest is 5 hours from
the coast). Staff has created a property map of priority buildings for
the local fire departments and has brought the crews to the property for
awareness training. In 1989 the corporation installed a county water
fire hydrant within the five-acre core.

**[iv. Visitor/Tourism Pressures]{.underline}**

The annual visitation for Poplar Forest is still a modest 20-25,000
people per year. The Strategic Plan states that the maximum amount of
visitors would be about 100,000 per year and that cap would be
maintained in order to keep the feeling and character of a quiet villa
retreat (Monticello has 400-500,000 visitors per year). Future plans for
a visitor/staff center would remove staff functions, modern buildings,
buses, visitor parking and other museum needs to an area one-quarter
mile away from the historic core, further reducing the number of people
who would impact the critical area at any one time.

**[v. Other Threats]{.underline}**

There are no other threats to the property's universal values.

5.  **[Protection and Management]{.underline}**

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a.  **[Ownership]{.underline}**

**Names and Address for all owners.**

The Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest is the sole owner of the
property.

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 419, Forest, Virginia, 24551. Street Address:
1548 Bateman Bridge Road, Forest, Virginia, 24551.

Other owners, authorities, or restrictions.

The Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest is a private, non-profit
educational organization with an independent, non-governmental governing
board that is legally responsible for operating the property. There are
no other public or private owners or other authorities with legal
responsibilities for managing the property. There is no restriction to
public access to the property other than normal museum property hours of
operation.

**b. [Protective Designations]{.underline}**

## What are the principal existing legal measures of protection?

The current legal measure of protection is that of personal property
ownership. The protection of the property is in perpetuity as a function
of the corporation's mission of stewardship. The use of the land is
controlled by typical county and city land use zoning restrictions. All
but one small remote adjacent parcel of land is zoned residential. That
one exception is where 78 acres were recently purchased as a buffer to
commercial development. The core property containing the historic
buildings and landscape is in Bedford County with some other parts of
the property in Campbell County and Lynchburg City.

## Are there traditional ways in which custom safeguards the property? 

It is a long tradition in Virginia that the most significant museum
sites are privately owned rather than state or federal ownership
(Monticello, Mount Vernon, Ashlawn, Gunston Hall, Kenmore, Stratford
Hall, and Colonial Williamsburg to name but a few). In most cases these
private sites have been models and leaders of preservation treatment,
surpassing state and federal examples. See the Management section for
statements of stewardship.

**c. [Means of Implementing Protective Measures]{.underline}**

Will the owner be responsible for ensuring that the nominated property
will be protected in perpetuity? Yes.

The non-profit corporation that owns and operates Poplar Forest will
ensure that it is protected in perpetuity.

## What is the adequacy of resources for this purpose?

Funding is primarily by private individuals, foundations and
corporations, and occasionally from the State of Virginia. Poplar Forest
employs four fulltime staff in the office of development to ensure funds
are raised to protect the property and to keep it open to the public.
Since 1983 more than 26 million dollars has been raised, 85 percent from
private funding. Future fund-raising campaigns will allocate a
percentage of funds to increase the endowment with the goal of
eventually being self-sufficient. The list of contributors and
supporters has grown each year.

**d. [Existing Plans in Region]{.underline}**

e.  **[Property Management Plan]{.underline}**

**Is there a formal management plan for the property? Yes.**

In 1992 the corporation's board of directors, staff and advisors created
a "Guiding Principles" document as a fundamental philosophy of use,
treatment and vision. The basic tenets of this document are: a.)
Preserve Poplar Forest for the public's educational and cultural
benefit. Add value to people through inspiration and learning; b.)
Require all decisions be compatible with the Corporation's most
fundamental responsibility of stewardship and preservation of the
historic resource; c.) Look back to Jefferson in his time and forward to
his impact on the future; d.) Implement to an exceptional level of
quality, using the best possible expertise; e.) Be innovative; and f.)
Anticipate societal and technological change; adapt as necessary. The
criteria for delineating the vision further stated: "Demonstrate
commitment to stewardship and preservation; Use of the historic resource
must be consistent with preserving original fabric and integrity." In
the past 20 years the Director of Restoration (since 1989) and the
Architectural Advisory Panel (since 1988) know of no instance where any
secondary concerns have violated this fundamental regard for the best
possible preservation of the historic resources.

Building on the Guiding Principles document, the Corporation undertook
an intensive yearlong strategic planning process in 1999, inviting a
stellar group of people from many different professional disciplines to
a forum to study and discuss the essence of Poplar Forest and Thomas
Jefferson. From this process a Strategic Plan resulted, outlining an
initial ten-year vision for the years 2000-2010. An overview of this
plan included: initiate future-focused programming; build
learning-program competencies; introduce exciting interpretive tools;
focus restoration of the process as a learning opportunity, moderating
the pace and increasing onsite craftsmanship; diversity restoration to
include landscape and plantation features; and attract people into the
landscapes.

In 2000 consultant Patricia O'Donnell completed a "Historic Landscape
Schematic Master Plan" for Poplar Forest. Covering the period of
pre-history to 1980, this process documented landscape history and
character, existing conditions, integrity and change, preservation
philosophy, and master plan recommendations for land use. Preceding the
study was a two-year comprehensive archaeological survey on 600 acres,
an historic map and documents analysis and conversion into GIS; and the
establishment of new GPS points on the property and new topographic
maps.

**Is the management plan being effectively implemented? Yes.**

Goals for restoration, interpretive tools and programming have been
accomplished in the first five years. The goals for a future track and
for a visitor center complex have not been accomplished due to the
economic downturn in charitable giving after 2001 and more recently
because of securing 100 additional acres of land. Some of the projected
goals in the plan were postponed to coincide with the current planning
for the 200^th^ anniversary of Jefferson's use of the retreat in 2009.

This process of understanding the overall landscape resources through
historical study and archaeology led to the timely rescue of 100 acres
of property. In recognition of the model process of resource management,
Poplar Forest was chosen as one of a few case studies in the United
States and Canada for a Management of Cultural Landscapes workshop
sponsored by the Association for Preservation Technology, International
in 2006.

7.  **[Documentation]{.underline}**

**7.a. [Visual Materials]{.underline}**

Images Being Supplied:

**Drawings:**

First Floor Plan (TJPF)

North and South Elevation; North/South Section; Terras Roof (MCWB)

Upper Floor Plan, Lower Floor Plan, Wing Plan (TJPF)

Idealistic Design for Core; Modular Design of Core; Palladian
Composition (TJPF)

Photographs:

Core and View to NW; Entrance Road Approaching Core (LS)

Core, View to NE; North, Front of House (LS)

General Views of House (TM)

General Views of Exterior (TM)

South Portico (TM)

Central Dining Room; Model of Entablature (DR, TM)

Parlor (TM)

West Bed Chamber; NW Chamber (TM)

Didactic Wall in NE Room; East Bed Chamber (TM)

East Wing of Service Rooms (TM)

West Privy; East Privy (TM)

Addendum:

Memoramdum: Associate Director, Cultural Resource Stewardship and
Partnership, NPS to Chief, Office of International Affairs, August 28,
2000, RE: Proposal for Nomination of Poplar Forest to the World Heritage
List.

Credits:

TJPF: Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

MCWB: Mesick Cohen Wilson Baker Architects

LS: Les Schofer

TM: Travis McDonald

DR: David Rolfe

8.  **[Contact Information]{.underline}**

[8.a. Preparer/Responsible Party for Contact]{.underline}

Name: Travis McDonald

Title: Director of Architectural Restoration

Address: Jefferson's Poplar Forest, P.O. Box 419

City, State, Zip Code: Forest, Virginia, 24551

Telephone: 434-534-8123

Preferred Days/Hours for Contact: Monday-Friday, 9:00am -- 5:00pm

Fax: (434) 525-1806

Email: <travis@poplarforest.org>

[8.b. Responsible Official]{.underline}

Name: Lynn A. Beebe

Title: President, Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

Address: P.O. Box 419

City, State, Zip Code: Forest, Virginia, 24551

Telephone: (434) 525-1806

Fax: (434) 525-7252

E-mail <lynn@poplarforest.org>

9.  [Signature of Property Owner]{.underline}

Signature

George P. Ramsey, Jr.

Typed Name

Chairman of the Board, Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest

Title

Date