Monticello

THE ANNUAL meeting of the Monticello Association is this weekend in Charlottesville, Va. Thanks to a distant cousin, Lucian K. Truscott IV, a best-selling author and an association member, my family was formally invited by the association -- for the first time -- to attend the annual reunion of descendants of the nation's third president, Thomas Jefferson. As guests, not as members.I am an eighth-generation descendant of Jefferson, a fact I have known since I was 12 years old.The clarity and certainty with which I know my progenitor is easy to understand.

'Behind the Scenes' tour of Jefferson's Monticello What: A new "Behind the Scenes" tour of Monticello, the estate owned by Thomas Jefferson, takes visitors to rarely seen rooms on the second and third floors, including the historic dome room. The tour also includes a visit to the cellar, where a new "Crossroads" exhibition focuses on the house's dependencies, showcasing the many individuals who lived and worked on the plantation. (The tour involves climbing very steep and narrow stairs and is not recommended for those with difficulty walking.

How can contemporary architects improve on one of the most revered works of American architecture? That's the challenge facing a Baltimore firm hired to design additions to Monticello, the neoclassical plantation home Thomas Jefferson designed for himself in Charlottesville, Va. Ayers Saint Gross of Baltimore was selected over more than 20 national firms that vied to design the Monticello Visitors Center and Administrative Offices for the property's owner,...

Burwell Colbert was the only person who could understand Thomas Jefferson when the former president was on his deathbed. James Hemings and his sister, Sally, could have sued for their freedom in France when they accompanied Jefferson to Paris in the 1780s, but instead returned with the statesman. And Peter Fossett later said he didn't realize he was a slave until the day, at age 12, when he was put on the auction block. Theirs are just some of the voices of enslaved men, women and children that become audible in "Answering the Bell: Working in the House at Monticello," a tour that runs each February at the Charlottesville, Va., home of the third president.

When President-elect Bill Clinton stopped off at Thomas Jefferson's beloved Monticello estate during his inaugural bus trip to Washington in January, a youngster who had won a "Dear Mr. President" essay contest asked him what governmental job he would give to the great American statesman and patriot today."

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - If any piece of furniture at Monticello symbolizes the dexterity of Thomas Jefferson - who inspired his country as gracefully as he grafted peach trees and played the violin - it is the revolving walnut bookstand on the desk in his study.A lazy susan-style ingenuity made about 1810, it was equipped with five surfaces, which allowed its bookworm owner to keep an equal number of volumes open for instant access.While Jefferson is famous for his designs, he had a secret collaborator in the creation of the bookstand as well as dozens of other furnishings that grace the quirky villa in central Virginia, three miles southeast of Charlottesville.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. Like many Americans, Karen Hughes White knew little more about Thomas Jefferson than schoolbook phrases - he was the third president and the author of the Declaration of Independence.But her interest was piqued last summer when researchers discovered that Thomas Jefferson had owned her great-great-great-grandfather, a plantation gardener named Wormley Hughes.White, 43, an amateur genealogist, had traced her family several generations back, and her quest had revealed ancestors in the Charlottesville area.

IMAGINE HAVING LIVED SUCH an accomplished life that on your tombstone you neglected to mention that you had been ambassador to France, secretary of state, vice president and president of the United States. But then, how many of us are Thomas Jefferson? And how many cities can claim not only a Jefferson, but a Madison and Monroe as well? I suspect that people would love Charlottesville, Va., even without the multi-presidential connection, particularly in the fall, when morning mists cling to the hills and enshroud the two-lane roads that wind past vineyards and horse farms.

When Thomas Jefferson left the U.S. presidency 200 years ago this spring, no one needed to build a library or memorial to commemorate him. Jefferson already had a memorial in the form of Monticello, the mountaintop estate he created near Charlottesville, Va., long before he became the nation's third president in 1801. Jefferson felt so completely at home at Monticello that he almost never left the grounds from the spring of 1809 to the day he died in 1826. "I am as happy nowhere else and in no other society," he wrote in 1787, "and all my wishes end where I hope my days will end, at Monticello."

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Say you work for the president. You admire the guy, spend a lot of time in his house and like to think you know him as well as anybody. Sure, you've heard the rumors about his sex life, but there's no definitive evidence, and so that's what you tell people. Some take your word; some accuse you of hiding something, but you're telling the truth as far as you know it -- what else can you do?And then -- just your luck, it's a weekend -- the news breaks. DNA evidence indicates a sexual relationship.

Henry Howell Lewis, a building contractor whose firm restored the Baltimore Basilica and repaired the dome of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, died of cancer April 16 at his Reisterstown home. He was 78. Born and raised in Reisterstown, he was a 1938 Franklin High School graduate and earned a degree at Maryland Institute College of Art, where he took honors in the school's architectural construction program. He served in the National Guard's 110th Field Artillery from 1948 to 1954. Mr. Lewis began work with Colwill Construction Co. and was later an estimator and project manager for W.H. Ward Co. He supervised construction projects at Franklin middle and high schools and Hannah More Academy.

When Thomas Jefferson left the U.S. presidency 200 years ago this spring, no one needed to build a library or memorial to commemorate him. Jefferson already had a memorial in the form of Monticello, the mountaintop estate he created near Charlottesville, Va., long before he became the nation's third president in 1801. Jefferson felt so completely at home at Monticello that he almost never left the grounds from the spring of 1809 to the day he died in 1826. "I am as happy nowhere else and in no other society," he wrote in 1787, "and all my wishes end where I hope my days will end, at Monticello."

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO THE CHEAP BASTARD'S GUIDE TO CHICAGO: SECRETS OF LIVING THE GOOD LIFE -- FOR FREE Insiders' Guide / Globe Pequot Press / $14.95 Most people try to avoid the perception that they're cheap. Not author Nadia Oehlsen, though. Oehlsen wears her cheapness with pride and, what's more, she knows a bargain when she sees one. No matter what your interest, this cheap guide mentions the best deals on everything from theater and poetry to music and film. Here you will find information on theaters that seek ushers, no-cover nightclubs, free street festivals and even free food sampling.

Trips to Vermont, Monticello planned The Annapolis Senior Center has announced several trips: Aug. 14-18, Vermont with lunch at Trappe Family Lodge, a cruise on Lake Champlain and a tour of Shelburne. Participants will be staying at Cortina Lodge. Sept. 17-21, the Biltmore Estate and Monticello. Oct. 19, Toby's Dinner Theatre in Baltimore to see Ragtime. Nov. 28-30, Colonial Williamsburg, Norfolk, Va., and Williamsburg Pottery. To register and learn more about the trips, visit the center at 1027 Bay Ridge Ave., Annapolis, or call 410-222-1818.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. -- A mountain that rises more than 400 feet above the rooftops of Thomas Jefferson's estate is open for tours, offering visitors a new way to experience the legacy of the former president. Montalto, also called Brown's Mountain, offers sweeping views of Jefferson's Monticello and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was once open to the public and served as home to many University of Virginia graduate students and others who lived along the mountain in quaint stone houses.

Scores of well-wishers, curiosity seekers, relatives and friends constantly tramped through Thomas Jefferson's house and over the grounds at Monticello. One lady even poked out a window with her parasol for a closer look inside the mansion. Jefferson longed for "the solitude of a hermit," and a retreat free of distractions. He fulfilled his wish at Poplar Forest, his estate 90 miles southwest of Monticello near Lynchburg, Va. When his wife, Martha, died in 1782, Jefferson inherited the 4,812-acre plantation in Bedford County, Va., from his father-in-law.

Just east of Charlottesville, Va., in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Keswick Hall at Monticello stands as a testament to the power of fantasy.From the outside, it's a villa in Tuscany. Indoors, it is something else again -- a 48-room luxury hotel decked out in Laura Ashley fabrics and an eclectic collection of antiques, offering a lifestyle experience most often associated with the rich and famous.For $330 -- the price for a room with unlimited one-day golfing for one -- we get breakfast free, so Keswick could be defined as a B&B. But this is no just-folks kind of place.