Monticello’s Famous Garden Landscape

Thomas Jefferson (1743 –1826)  Yes, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States was also a landscape designer. Not only did he lay out the grounds of his own property at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia as an ornamental farm, but he also created the influential masterplan for the campus of the University of Virginia. However, his greatest impact upon the American landscape, for better or worse, was his advocacy of the grid for the subdivision of territory and for rational town planning. 

For a week in June, the gardens and grounds of Monticello and the University of Virginia serve as the setting for a unique educational experience in the theory and practice of historic landscape preservation.

The Historic Landscape Institute offers students an introduction to the fields of landscape history, garden restoration, and historical horticulture by using the landscapes designed by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello and the University of Virginia as case studies and outdoor classrooms. Participants will engage in a forty-hour week of instruction, with the bulk of that time spent on site. Occasional, moderately strenuous activity will be required in the gardens. 

Student evaluations of past Landscape Institutes were universally enthusiastic. One participant said, “This is the best conference I have ever attended: a thorough look at all of the issues with insights from real experts!” Another wrote, “The Institute was the academic highlight of my association with the University of Virginia.” Still another student remarked, “It was a lifetime experience to work and learn on the mountain.”

Monticello is the only American home, and the University of Virginia the only educational institution, on the elite World Heritage List of the United Nations. Owned and operated by the nonprofit Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Monticello's twin mission of preservation and education has been expressed in the garden world of Thomas Jefferson. Today the University of Virginia landscape represents many layers of history, retaining much of the integrity of the Founder's design while adapting to the changing demands of each new generation of scholars.  

The program for the Institute involves a combination of lectures, walking tours, workshops, field trips, and "hands on" experience in the gardens. Instruction will be provided by the staff of Monticello and its Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, including Co-directors Peggy Cornett and Gabriele Rausse. 

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