Monticello

As a VENUE: Host your event…

Whether hosting a rare event or a corporate retreat, there is no place more inspiring than the various venues of Monticello. Unsurpassed in elegance and style, our various venues and dedicated event planners will fulfill your vision for your dream wedding. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation hosts a variety of educational tours and events, including receptions, conferences, and private after-hours tours of Monticello. Eighteen distinctive rental spaces are offered:

• Montalto: Montalto provides a spectacular location for the Foundation’s world-class education center. The “high mountain,” as Jefferson also called it, rises 410 feet above Monticello. Jefferson started negotiations for the land in 1771 to preserve the view from Monticello, and it was one of his first land acquisitions. The Robert H. Smith Center at Montalto provides a sublime setting to engage a global audience in a dialogue with Jefferson’s ideas and to illuminate Jefferson’s continued relevance in the modern age.
• Repose: Repose, the 11,000-square-foot house atop Montalto, is a place for inspired conversations and memorable celebrations. Restored by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in 2011, Repose is a gracious 1908 American Country house imbued with a sense of retreat and possibility. From a small meeting in the board room to a large lecture in the conservatory, or a seated dinner utilizing the entire first floor, Repose is the premier, distinctive, and memorable destination for your important gathering.
  • Conservatory: The largest room in Repose, the Conservatory, overlooks the Blue Ridge Mountains and Charlottesville. The Conservatory is beautiful in both form and function, and is ideally suited for elegant dinners, cocktail parties, and talks. With two retractable screens and the most advanced audio and visual equipment, this room can be transformed to accommodate your every need.
  • Parlor: Consistent with the original design intent of Repose, the Parlor offers a place for comfortable respite. The Parlor features original design elements including heart pine floors, a distinctive mantelpiece, and millwork. Furnishings can be removed for lecture, reception, or dinner uses.
  • Dining Room: The dining room is ideal for working lunches and functions beautifully in tandem with the parlor and conservatory for reception and dinner events. With period reproduction furnishings and welcoming hearth, the room is warm and inviting.
  • Lockhart Board Room: Designed with your meeting needs in mind, the 22-seat board room will impress the most discerning of clients with its state-of-the-art technology and well-appointed design.
  • Lawns: Montalto, rising 410 feet above Monticello, offers unparalleled views in every direction: Jefferson’s “sea view” to the east, the Blue Ridge Mountains and Charlottesville city views to the west, and of course, the incomparable view to Monticello.
  • Terrace: The multi-level Terrace offers 2,000 square feet of space to entertain guests for cocktail hour, dinner, or ceremonies. The Terrace offers unparalleled sunsets for your memorable event.
• Jefferson Library: The Jefferson Library, the first free-standing library dedicated to the study of a founding father, combines the power of place with the power of ideas. Built to complement the historic Kenwood house, the 15,500-square-foot library features a contemporary reading room with a two-story semicircular bay window.
  • Robert H. and Clarice Smith Reading Room: The Reading Room can be used for dinners, scholarly talks, and receptions. Here guests have the opportunity to dine amidst more than 40,000 volumes detailing Jefferson’s life and early American history.
  • Berkeley Room: The Berkeley Room is a large, state-of-the-art board room equipped with complete audio-visual equipment, a retractable screen, and teleconferencing capabilities. Maximum capacity: 22 seated around a conference table.
  • Trustees Room: The Trustees Room is a smaller conference room equipped with audio-visual equipment and a retractable screen. Maximum capacity: 10 seated around a conference table.
  • Nichols Room: Adjacent to the Trustees Room, the Nichols Room is a comfortable and intimate space, ideal for small lunches or as a breakout space for meetings. Maximum capacity: 20 seated at two round tables, 16 seated at one large rectangular table.
• Visitors Center: The David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center and Carl and Hunter Smith Education Center at Monticello stands as a beautiful gateway to the mountaintop. Located on the lower slope of Monticello mountain, the center is comprised of five pavilions situated around a central courtyard. The three-level, LEED Gold-certified, 42,000-square-foot center offers guests fresh perspectives on Monticello and the enduring significance of Jefferson’s life and ideas.
  • Courtyard: Located in the heart of the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center, the courtyard is a graceful complement to the Monticello house and grounds. Modern, natural design elements define the courtyard, which is available for evening events. The Courtyard can be tented and heated and is an ideal gathering space for larger groups.
  • Robert H. and Clarice Smith Gallery: Available for after-hours private viewings, the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Gallery houses four innovative exhibitions offering Monticello visitors fresh perspectives on Thomas Jefferson’s ideas and on Monticello. Using the latest in modern interactive technologies, the exhibits present the famous words of Jefferson, the art and architecture of Monticello, and Jeffersonian ideals.
  • Howard and Abby Milstein Theater: The Milstein Theater, located directly off the courtyard, features state-of-the-art audio and video equipment, and is ideally suited for talks, receptions, and dinners. The theater is often used in conjunction with the courtyard for evening events to accommodate larger groups. The theater is also available for after-hours private viewings of the introductory film Thomas Jefferson’s World, which describes Monticello’s central importance to Jefferson’s life and work, emphasizes Jefferson’s consequential accomplishments and his core ideas about human liberty.
  • Classrooms: Perfect for lectures and meetings, the Carl and Hunter Smith Education Center contains three multi-purpose classrooms. Fully equipped with state-of-the-art audio and video equipment, the classrooms are ideal for hosting workshops, lectures, board and business meetings, and luncheons.
• Kenwood: Faithfully restored to accommodate the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, Kenwood is ideal for small gatherings and meetings. Situated on 78.5 acres of land once owned by Jefferson, the main Kenwood house was built between 1939 and 1941 for Major General Edwin M. Watson, a senior military aid to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt adopted Kenwood as his Camp David during his presidency and retreated here on several occasions.
  • Kenwood Parlor: Kenwood features an elegant parlor complete with original artwork and furnishings. The home is well appointed with a full kitchen and butler’s pantry to accommodate catering and service needs. Your guests will also enjoy access to the stone terrace, located just off the dining room, which overlooks the rolling hills of Virginia’s Piedmont.
  • Kenwood Dining Room: The Kenwood Dining Room, adjacent to the Kenwood Parlor, is the an ideal choice for an intimate dinner or cocktail hour before dinner in the Kenwood Parlor.
  • Kenwood Garden: The Kenwood Garden is ideal for intimate outdoor garden parties for up to 60 people. The gazebo and adjacent courtyard and lawn are perfect for a sunset reception or cocktail hour before dinner inside the Kenwood Parlor.

Support Monticello …by simply booking your next special occasion here:
https://www.monticello.org/visit/private-events/

As a SHOP: Discover unique gifts…

The expansive Shops at Monticello presents an extraordinary collection of items available for purchase. Located in the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center, the Shop is open daily. The book section offers more than 250 titles – including one of the most comprehensive selections of Jefferson-related books available anywhere – and comfortable reading chairs. Other departments of the store contain exclusive Monticello * reproductions * educational games & toys * home décor pieces *  Virginia wines * gourmet food products * posters and prints * collectibles, and * souvenirs. The Shop also features an indoor/outdoor garden space, open year-round, where you can buy Monticello‘s popular historic plants and seeds, harvested from plants grown at Monticello, as well as a wide range of gardening accessories. A separate Farm Shop – on the mountaintop under the North Terrace of Monticello – provides a convenient selection of * gift items *  beverages, and * snacks. Merchandise in the online shop is catalogued within these collections: * Décor * Entertaining * Garden * Fashion * Gifts * Exclusives, and * Books.

Support Monticello …by simply purchasing your speciality merchandise here:
https://www.monticello.org/visit/food-shopping/the-shops-at-monticello/

As an EATERY: Food for thought…

Monticello Farm Table: We aim to connect history with food, to serve as a source of inspiration and point of reference, where visitors can learn to eat more responsibly and joyfully, sharing in the pleasures of sustainable, organic and locally sourced ingredients. Visitors to Farm Table will learn about Thomas Jefferson’s enthusiasm for local agriculture and his love of seasonal produce, along with the culinary legacy of generations of Monticello enslaved gardeners and cooks who raised the vegetables and prepared the food for Jefferson’s table. Our menus are seasonal, using local, organic and sustainable ingredients. Offerings include: * homemade soups * salads and sandwiches made with Monticello-grown vegetables and locally sourced * meats * cheeses, and * bread. * Coffee * tea * Monticello Root Beer * Virginia wine & beer, and * other * locally or regionally produced beverages are available, as well as fresh-baked * cookies * brownies, and * muffins.

Support Monticello …by simply dining here:
https://www.monticello.org/farmtable/

Be a DONOR: Show that you care…

Donations:

With support from caring individuals like you, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation was created in 1923 to restore Monticello and share Jefferson’s world-changing ideas with a national and global audience. Since its founding, the Foundation has welcomed nearly 27 million visitors to Jefferson’s iconic home, now designated a United States National Historical Landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Monticello is a touchstone for all who seek to explore the enduring meaning of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Your support helps us to safeguard this national treasure for years to come. Together, we can hold these truths for future generations.

• Give to the Annual Fund: Your gift to the Monticello Annual Fund will significantly aid in the enhancement and stewardship of Jefferson’s Monticello – the only home in America recognized by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site – one of the world’s greatest cultural treasures. By giving to the Monticello Annual Fund, you will help us share Jefferson’s ideas and ideals with people around the world and support the continued preservation of one of the world’s most recognizable and admired buildings. Your gift will help us achieve our goals for this year and beyond, including the restoration and interpretation of the work and living spaces beneath and around the main house, the acquisition of new Jeffersonian objects, and the enhancement of educational outreach programs for schoolchildren and the general public.
• Monthly Giving: Our monthly giving program allows you to support Monticello by giving as much as you’d like monthly. You can donate with a credit card, or now directly from any bank account, and set the date you want it to renew automatically each month. Becoming an ongoing donor is easy.
• Support the Monticello Trail: The Saunders-Monticello Trail is one of the most popular trails in Charlottesville and is open to the public free of charge. We rely on private donations to maintain the trail for nearly 140,000 annual walkers, runners, cyclists and birdwatchers. By making a gift today, you can help sustain this local treasure! Friends of the Trail receive periodic updates and e-newsletters of events and special stories about the Trail.
• Monticello Cabinet: In 1990, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation chartered the Monticello Cabinet to recognize those individuals whose enlightened philanthropy ensures and enhances our dual mission of preservation and education with annual gifts of $6,500 or more. Thomas Jefferson’s private study inspired the name. The Cabinet, the heart of Jefferson’s sanctum sanctorum, evokes his role as visionary statesmen, scientist, philosopher, and architect. Today, the Monticello Cabinet is the heart of philanthropic support for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Participants in the Cabinet find their greatest reward in the knowledge that they are assuring Jefferson’s legacy, advancing important educational initiatives, and ensuring the preservation of Monticello, one of the world’s greatest treasures. Special opportunities for engagement, fellowship, and learning are year-round, through seminars on Jefferson and Monticello, special tours and events both on and off the mountaintop. The Trustees and Staff of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation invite individuals, corporations, and foundations to participate in the Monticello Cabinet with an annual gift of $6,500 or more. The Monticello Cabinet recognizes gifts of cash or property for all Foundation priorities.
• Planned Giving: Planned gifts provide for the future of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and Monticello. These commitments allow us to further our stewardship of Jefferson’s ideas, and to advance our dual mission of education and preservation.
  • The Portico Society: In 2008, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation established the Portico Society to recognize, honor, and thank individuals who have remembered Monticello in their estate planning, either by a provision in their wills or another form of deferred gift. If you have already made a planned gift to Monticello, we hope that you will share your intentions with us so that we can welcome you to the Portico Society. As a Portico Society participant, you will receive invitations to select events and programs, and with your permission, will be recognized in Monticello publications.
  • Bequests: An outright bequest of cash, securities, real estate, or tangible personal property is one way to provide for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in your will. You may indicate a specific amount, a percentage of your estate, or a particular piece of real estate or other property. A residual bequest provides that the Foundation receives the “residue,” or the balance remaining, of your estate after specific bequests are satisfied. Wills or living trusts can also establish testamentary trusts, which can provide income to another person or persons for life before the principal assets pass to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
  • Charitable Trusts: There are several ways to make a gift today that will benefit Monticello sometime in the future. A Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) removes an asset from the donor’s estate and designates the Foundation as the trustee or the irrevocable beneficiary. CRUTs provide donors with a current tax deduction and allow them to retain the income generated by the asset during their own, and sometimes an additional beneficiary’s, lifetime(s). The remainder value of the trust, when it is dissolved on the death of the last beneficiary, supports Monticello. A Charitable Lead Trust is a different type of deferred gift in which a donor puts an asset in trust for a period of time so that the income generated by the asset benefits the Foundation. At the end of the designated period, the asset is passed on to a named recipient. This is an especially tax advantageous gift vehicle for passing an asset from one generation to another while also helping Monticello.
  • Retirement Accounts: One of the easiest ways to make a planned gift to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation is by making it the beneficiary of a retirement account such as an IRA, SEP, 401(k), 403(b), or other retirement plan. This beneficiary designation can usually be accomplished by completing a beneficiary designation form either by mail or online. Naming the Thomas Jefferson Foundation as a partial or full beneficiary of your retirement plan may result in significant income or estate tax savings.
  • Life Insurance: A low-cost way to make a significant gift to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation is to make the Thomas Jefferson Foundation the beneficiary or owner of a new or existing life insurance policy. If you continue to pay the premiums after the gift of the policy, you can receive an income tax charitable deduction when each premium is paid.
• Matching Gifts: Did you know that many employers will help increase the impact of your gift to Monticello by matching your donation? Some will even match gifts for spouses and retirees! It’s easy to check if your company matches gifts – just search for your company in the box below or check with your Human Resources department. Our search box or your company can tell you how to submit your request. Most require a simple form to be submitted online or by mail, and we’re always available to help with any questions.
• Appreciated Securities: Gifts of securities such as stocks, mutual fund shares, or other appreciated assets can be a tax-efficient method for making a gift to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. In most instances, you can take a tax deduction for the full market value of a gift of securities and avoid any capital gains tax.
• Wire Transfer: Gifts can be wire transferred directly to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. It is important to include both your name and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in your transfer instructions so that we may credit you promptly and properly. Please also indicate the purpose of the contribution – for example, an annual fund gift, pledge payment, or funds for a specific program. We will make arrangements with our broker to receive the gift.
• Attend an Event: Select tickets contain a tax-deductible gift to support Monticello. Attend one of our Heritage Harvest Festival events, or join us for a TOM Talk, featuring distinguished speakers and insider opportunities related to Monticello and Thomas Jefferson.

Volunteer: The Thomas Jefferson Foundation is always looking to grow our dedicated team of volunteers. We welcome volunteers in several areas – including our Visitor Center, the Jefferson Library, the Center for Historic Plants, and at special events around the mountaintop.

Support Monticello …by simply joining, giving, and volunteering here:
https://www.monticello.org/get-involved/?ref=pnav