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I don’t know if you folks have heard the news, but apparently Monticello has seen the lowest attendance in 30 years. Wow. That’s pretty bad considering the travel industry went bonkers immediately after 9/11 and has been recovering since. What’s going on there? Have we all seen it as kids and think there is nothing else to see? Are video games to blame?
The reasons mentioned by Monticello staff are goofy:
Officials say higher gas prices and the dull fall foliage help to explain part of the dip in attendance. But they says it’s part of the nationwide trend at similar places.
Monticello’s numbers have mostly declined since 2002, the first year visitation dipped below 500,000 since 1981.
Fall foliage was beautiful, I’m not sure what they were talking about. Do you?
Popularity: 4% [?]
Tagged as: Albemarle County, Central Virginia, Charlottesville, Gripes, History, Virginia
how long before the laser light show?
Well, with Bush having raped the Constitution for the past seven years, people just figure its author is irrelevant.
exactly.
I was actually just talking about why I don’t enjoy visiting Monticello. I seem to recall that there’s not an option to do a self-guided tour, and a large tour group size lends itself well to spending hours listening to two people’s questions-for-the-sake-of-asking-questions, the answers to which they’ll forget in a day and never tell anyone, all while standing in narrow hallways. It’s expensive. We agreed that self-guided audio tours ROCK. If Alcatraz and Graceland can do it, I’m pretty sure Monticello can, too. (There should be an option to have an all-you-can-ask smorgasbord with a historian, too, though.)
Mrs. Stormy and I went to Montpelier this past summer (mentioned in the article as increasing attendance) and really enjoyed it. I wish we had gone a little bit sooner to see more of the restoration. By the time we got there, most of it was done and while the tour and new visitor center were nice, I think seeing more of the restoration work would have been fun. We’ve been here five years and she hasn’t been up to Monticello yet.
Oh, and TW: Madison = Constitution, Jefferson = Declaration.
In 2006, my parents were in town. We decided to check out Monticello the day before Christmas. It was really cold, but I did learn a few things for the prospective tourist.
1. If you want to save time and money, just check out the museum at the Welcome Center, down the road from PVCC. No tour required. Tons of really good information and fun items you won’t see at the house. See at your own pace. Next best thing to being there.
2. Local residents able to show a valid local driver’s license, accompanied by a paid visitor, get into Monticello free. So, out of town visitors aren’t only fun, they’re your free ticket into Monticello.
3. Yes, you’re required to lump into some rag-tag group of visitors for a guided tour of the house itself. No way around that, other than to try and get your own group together and control it that way. BUT, once the house tour is over, you’re released to roam the grounds at will. There’s some cool stuff going on with new excavations, new exhibits, etc.
I enjoyed my time there, but then we had a good tour group. But I completely agree. Get the wrong folks in your group and it could truly suck.
MC - Weren’t you going to Monticello on Monday with your out of town friend. How was it?
This is what you hear on the average Monticello tour:
slavery slavery slavery slavery slavery enslaved african americans slavery enslaved african americans slavery slavery enslaved african americans enslaved african americans sally hemmings sally hemmings enslaved african american sally hemmings thomas jefferson owned enslaved african americans
Once you go black…
Monticello would never allow self-guided tours. They don’t even allow flash photography.
I have no idea why ‘Cello’s numbers are dropping, but I wouldn’t doubt that gas prices and lousy fall foliage did play some small roll in the most recent year. I mean, while fall is always beautiful, the crazy terrible drought did put a damper on things, and all the leaf people probably kept hearing from the teevee that it would be a bummer of a year.
I think Monticello’s awesome. Of course, I live here, so I get up there perhaps once every decade.
Who’s Thomas Jefferson?
Oh yes, I did go to Monticello on Monday. We had a small tour group of polite out of towners.
Our elderly tour guide had the exact same hair cut as TJ himself, which lent an air of authenticity to the whole thing. But the tour felt short and geared toward the younger kids in the group, even though adults greatly outnumbered them. The tour info seemed exactly the same as when I was a kid, even though the house seemed much smaller then.
Ethan: there was minimal talk of slavery or sally hemmings. My tour was more like: TJ is awesome. TJ is smart. TJ is clever. His friends were also smart and clever. He is very handsome. (I’m not using the present tense accidently, by the way. Much was discussed as if it were still happening. “Jefferson likes to wake up when it’s bright enough to see the clock at the foot of his bed.”)
Touring the grounds was nice, the weather was outstanding. As it’s winter, the gardens were bare, though, and not so interesting. There is an option of an audio tour of the grounds, which I did not do and cannot vouch for.
Overall it seemed pricey and brief, but perhaps in the spring is better? I’d be interested in the architectural tour, but not interested in coughing up $25 for it. To clarify, they don’t allow ANY photography inside the house, not just flash photography. It was killing me.
this sounds like I didn’t have a nice time… I did have a nice time, but not one I intend to repeat soon, or at least until my mom and siblings visit and we get dragged up the mountain for a family outing.
I had a tour once and you didn’t learn anything about Jefferson’s neoclassical influences or his architecture or how he was a pioneer in scientific archaeological method. Just that he owned slaves and slept with one, who happened to be a teenager.
my biggest gripe about Monticello are the out-of-towners who apparently have never driven on ANY curvy road whatsoever because 53 baffles them so they decide to drive 15 mph. GAH!
@ethan.. what do you thinks more interesting gossip? monolithic columns or jeff’s column?
too bad the trees TJ planted are being removed…. anyone notice a missing linden tree out front, wouldnt be surprised if the others start to get removed as well. too much compact, no surprise there.
I just wish you could get a grounds only pass - I have no interest in seeing the house again but the bulbs are amazing in the spring and the gardeners are super cool (they run classes on the weekends where you can learn things like apple grafting or harvesting and drying seeds).
Hey, Lys: here’s a devious way to get on grounds for free. Go to the ticket counter and wait for some out-of-towners. Politely ask if you can join their group. Use their out-of-town status to gain free admission by flashing your local driver’s license. When you’re dropped in front of the main building, just let your tour guide know that you’ll be wandering around back to see the grounds. Thanks for the tour option, but no thanks. Free admission to the grounds is all yours, complete with transportation from the ticket booth!
Varies a lot by guide I think. The last one I had mentioned Sally Hemmings but was defensive about DNA. Probably wanted to blame the nephew but he didn’t get into it. TJ was our first metrosexual, Tour could get all edgy on that. James Monroe “down the lane.”
I don’t really care how many people visit Monticello as long as the foundation has enough $ to maintain the place. Endless growth is not my ideology.
The story of Commodore Levy is really interesting. His family owned the place for 150 years until the garden club types bought it in the 1920’s and rehabbed it for the public. Their campaign to buy Monticello was anti-semitic. Commodore Levy was the first high-ranking Jewish U.S. naval officer. He was court-martialled three times but survived to rise to the rank of basically an admiral. I think the house was falling apart already by the time Levy bought it. You can’t say Jeff’s family carried on his legacy too brightly, at least his legit family. And he himself used some novel building techniques that did not always work out so well. See: UVa graduation grandmother smooshed by 8 ton porch, not impeding graduation itself of course!
Anyway, so the ladies (& gents) of the garden club in the 1920’s blamed the Levy family, who had actually done a fairly good job maintaining the place. The garden club wanted to get a sweet deal by expropriating the Jews and saving the Jeff legacy for Byrd-era Virginia. (The state was still emerging from post-Civil War depression and really pushing tourism and good roads, etc., see also: Shenandoah National Park expulsions, Colonial Wmsburg.) They did not get the free deal they wanted, but the family was nice and was perfectly willing to unload the place on the nasty ladies, for the greater good of Virginia history.
The book is “Saving Monticello: The Levy Family’s Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built” by Marc Leepson, 2001. I’m sure I severely messed up the facts, but read it yourself.
Then ask a tour guide about it!
I think we can attribute the decrease in monticello attendance to two factors
(1) people are less interested in such things, viz attendance is off at most historical places
(2) People used to come to this town for two reasons (i) visit monticello and (ii) visit uva. The folks who cam to uva (parents w/ prospective students, families on parents weekend, etc) came to a town with next to nothing to offer other than a trip to monticello. Now the mall is kickin’, there are ten million places to eat, tons of shopping, music halls, wineries, live arts, paramount, and at least three underground sex clubs that I know of.
I work at Monticello and here are a few answers to your questions. I am not a disciple, here for an interim, so my position won’t be fanatical. Knowing what was said to that reporter, he chose to highlight the goofy answers so here goes:
1. Historic home visitation is down nation wide. As is National Park visitation. A study published by Colonial Williamsburg this year showed a really interesting 3 year market trend which Mount Vernon, Monticello, and CW fall prey to …. nearly every three years. Additionally, a historic home tour is kind of a one note in some aspects. Once you’ve gone, if you are local, we don’t see you coming back for about 1.5 years unless you have friends in town.
2. Gas prices affect family trips. We cater mostly to families and school groups - school district budgest are hugely affected by gas prices - so when we lose ground with them, we lose major ground.
3. If you are local, you fall under the “Good neighbor policy” in which you can get a $12 ticket unless you bring an out of town guest, and then you get free entrance.
3. All interpreters (tourguides) are encouraged to highlight their interests in their tours while sticking to core facts. That way, every time you go there’s a different emphasis. Their job is one of the hardest, dealing with the masses, so cut them some slack.
4.. We are working on grounds only entry, which a lot of our visitors are interested in. For now, you can use the Parkway, which does allow you to walk up to the hill to the house if you are adventurous.
6. The new Visitor Center - a 40,000 square foot education driven complex - will open Spring 2009, to include four exhibits that will rotate along with a film, classrooms, and a great indoor/outdoor cafe by Brix. The design is amazing, and will really bolster attendance.
Okay, dismount soap box. Cheerio.
one more thing: there is a self guided outdoor tour. a self-guided indoor tour will never happen because you cannot trust joe schmo in a presidential home. period. too close of quarters and too much chance.
crud..one more one more thing: no flash photography is not our fault. Monticello does not own all the contents of the house. All of those owners would have to agree to let their objects be photographed and thus far that hasn’t happened.
Thanks for the info, truestory. I will look forward to the grounds pass (as I’m been yelled at before for walking up the trail and just happening up on the gardens).
I totally pity the tour guides - a college roommate of mine interned there for a summer and she actually had one woman kneel down in the middle of the tour so that her four year old could unbutton her blouse and breast feed (FOUR YR OLD!). That and everyone always asked her about the shutters, which were basically the only completely ordinary thing in the house - it drove her nuts so she quit.
do tell
silmo has a point. Jefferson used to run this town, now we’ve learned to walk on our own. charlottesville is no longer a historical town with a couple cool other attractions, we’re a cool town with a couple historical attractions.
ok, it costs extra, but for a special occasion (like your parents are coming and they’ll shell out) i encourage folks to try the wonderful mt. alto tour - this takes you up to the mtn top above TJ’s house. the docent i had did an amazing job - the views are phenom - and the way they use the views to tell historical tales is very cool. maybe someday the ‘cello folks will find a way to bring back kite day, but until then, this is a nice way to visit what we used to call brown’s mtn.
truestory, I’m pretty sure that folks on the trail are NOT supposed to continue up to the house. There are several signs…
Also, I think the article missed the point re. Mt. Vernon seeing an increase - it’s bc the DC/North Va schools are choosing closer destinations. They benefit, Monticello loses.
thanks hoodatbe! I’ve heard that was an interesting tour…
holey moley. it’s kind of harsh to crack on the home of TJ, don’t ya think? would we even be living here if Mr. Jefferson hadn’t convinced the assembly to build UVa here? here are my 2 cents… or 5 cents (he is on the nickel after all)…
(1) audio tours are offered. the headset, etc is available in the Museum Shop, to the right of the house if you are looking at it from the East entrance.
(2) expensive? if you don’t have a local ID, find the $12 a bit pricey, and still wish to discover TJ’s legacy, there are so many other venues… The Thomas Jefferson Foundation - which owns the home and some property around it - offers SO much for so little, or no, cost to interested peeps. “hoodatbe” mentioned the MountAlto tours, but browse the website and you’ll find even more… Just up the road on the right is a whole library of information at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies (FREE admission) (and the cottage nearby is the guesthouse / Roosevelt’s Camp David, during his presidency). Further down the road, at Tufton Farm, is the Center for Historic Plants, which got a record number of visitors this year.
I guess the rest of mine got cut off because I used the arrow symbol?
(3) was about the Architecture tour, ck the website.
(4) was about … the importance of the whole slavery issue, important to know our history.
(5) foliage wasn’t the same as usual. the pumpkins in the garden just weren’t the same. Which was sadly, when BBC came to film it. Oh and I think that guy from Extreme Home Makeover was at Monticello doing a bit because they reconstructed a home around here…
(2 cont.) oh yeah, and the garden tours and plantation community tours are FREE. Also ck out all the (amazing) Archeaology Dept is doing online: http://www.monticello.org/archaeology/research/index.html
“maybe someday the ‘cello folks will find a way to bring back kite day,”
Kite day? I love flying kites (admittedly mostly 4 line power kites), but haven’t found good places around here yet.
The problem I have with tours, especially group ones, is that I depend too much on lipreading to get a lot out of them. It is cool that they let the guides tell their own tastes though.