The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-03-24
MONTICELLO.

AND THE INTENTIONS OF THE PRESENT
OWNER.
Monticello. the former home and the burial spot
of Thomas Jefferson. sold at public auction
the 20th of March. by order of a Virginia court.
and purchased by Jefferson NJ. Levy. of this
city. for sl0,500 The sale the result
of friendly suit instituted for the purpose
of making a distribution among the heirs OF Captain
Uriah p. Levy. and beyond a few members of that
family there strangers at the sale
The attendance not small. however,
for great number of Virginia gentlemen
and residents of the neighboring counties
were present. drawn thther. it would appear. more
from curiosity than from desire to bid for the hon
ored homestead of the dead statesman. The sale
made the premises by local auctioneer. and the
first bid was that of $1,000 made by s. NJ. Keller
of Charlottesville. Va. Mr. Asahel s. Levy
cousin of the purchaser made number of bids. but
finally retiring the property was knocked down to
Mr.. Jefferson Levy for the price named above.
The purchaser is a son of the late Mr.. Jonas p.
Levy, and was already the owner of large portion
of the old estate. by the sale of the mansion he be-
comes the owner of nearly all of the original prop
erty. "shadwel the birthplace of Jefferson. also
recently sold at auction 1.-THE public interest
not toward it it does to Monticello. jefferson
removed to the latter place i'll l764, and commenced
a number of improvements both in the buildings and
time in personally experimenting the improvements.
and very frequently assisted the workmen in erecting
u wall or excavating.
THE srATEsMANs HOME.
Monticello is $50 feet high and slopes eastward one
and half miles by gentle declivty to the Rivanna
River. The mansion externally is of the Doric order
Crecian architecture The front hall of entrance
recedes six feet within the front wall OF the building
covered by portco the width of the recess pro-
iectirg twenty-five feet and rising the full height
of the house. The hall also extends to the roof of
Midway in this hall passages lead off to either
tremty of the building The rooms at the extremi-
ties OF these passages terminate in octagona projec
tons. Pazzas covering this recess project six feet
beyond at the level of the roof and resting
on brick arches. The northern one con-
the southern one is closed in for greenhouse. To
the east of these passages on each side of the hall
stories in height. The rooms the west
front occupy the whole height. making
e one scb is eSesps tine bT
octagonal story, with dome spher cal roof This
was originally designed for billiard room. but be-
fore its completion a law prohibiting public or pri-
| vate billiard tables in the State OF Virginia
| passed and the intention abandoned. 1t was to
have been approached by stairways connected with
gallery at the inner extremity Of the hall. which
itself forms the connection with the lodging rooms
but these stairways never erected. leaving in
this respect a great deficiency in the house.
| The parlor projects twenty feet beyond the
| body of the house covered by portico
which will probably be put to the use for which it
originally intended by it's present owner. The
| the cellar built up to the floor above the
| room projected beyond the square by
three sides of octagon. leaving space beyond
the cellar wall not excavated. and it was in this
place that OF Jefersons faithful servants
visited by British troops. The floors of the house
are mostly in bard wood: generally wild cherry
squares of about ten inches wide. The borders are
or beech squares. about four inches wide. Both of
these woods very hard. and to-day present the
appearance Of handsome tess sea, hHOr
space 600 by 200 feet. circular at each
end. The hill slopes gently ON every side from the
edge. stands the mansion. It's projecting
porticoes, east and west, with the width
Of the house, occupy 100 feet each way.
lime and here Jefferson and his friends were accus
toned to sit on summer evenings. Here, perhaps.
dom and learning than any other private spot in
America, and within a short distance now lie the
of the statesman whose purity and nobility of
life halows the ground he once trod.
LATER HISTORY.
embracing $50 acres. was sold by Mrs. Martha RAN
dolph aud Colonel Thomas j. Randolph. the execu-
tors of jefferson to DR.. James I. Barclay for the
sum OF $1,000 After holding the property for
some years, during which he disposed of
1884 acres. DR.. Barclay sold what remained
including the mansion. to Captain Uriah p Levy. Of
this city, for $4,000. Captain Levy. "Commo-
dore." he termed by the people living
! Monticello. lived the property for a number Of
the property, and it was sold at public
ton to the late Ben Fickln for sso.5oo.
into the Levy family. Commodore Levy died in this
city in 1862 and it found by the
terms of his will that he had left
Monticello to the people of the United States
or such persons as Congress may appoint
in trust for the sole and only purpose
of establishing and maintaining agricultural
school for the purpose OF educating practical
farmers the children of warrant officers of the
United States navy whose fathers dead. &C."
In the event of Congress not accepting the gift it
be given to the State OF Virginia for the
purpose and should the Legislature Of that
take steps accept the gift then the estate to go
to certain Hebrew societies of New York and
Philadelphia for the purpose Of educating poor
children between the ages of twelve and sixteen
years Upon application of the heirs this clause of
the COMMODORE will was declared void by the Court
of Appeals of this State. and since the decree
pronounced in 1865 the property has been in the
possession of the heirs.
Mr. Levy the present owner. is now on the estate
and has been busy since the day Of purchase in
ranging the incidental legal business. He will
arrive home some time during the coming week. 1t
is his intention to make a summer residence of
Monticello restoring far possible the grounds and
surroundings to their appearance when the great
owner alive. The mansion will not be disturbed
least not for the pr sent-and everything will he
done keep green the associations and memories of
the past.