James Madison's Montpelier, located in Orange County, Virginia, was the plantation house of the Madison family, including Founding Father and fourth president of the United States James Madison and his wife, Dolley. The 2,650-acre property is open seven days a week with the mission of engaging the public with the enduring legacy of Madison's most powerful idea: government by the people. Montpelier was declared a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
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Gardens, Gift Shop, Surviving Structures, Reconstructions, Programs, Tours, Exhibits
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In 1723, James Madison's grandfather, Ambrose Madison, and his brother-in-law, Thomas Chew, received a patent for 4,675 acres (1,892 ha) of land in the Piedmont of Virginia. Ambrose, his wife Frances Madison, and their three children moved to the plantation in 1732, naming it Mount Pleasant. James Madison Sr.'s first-born son, also named James, was born on March 16, 1751, at Belle Grove, his mother's family estate in Port Conway, where she had returned for his birth. James Madison spent his early years at Mount Pleasant.
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EST. 1762
In the early 1760s, Madison Sr. built a new house half a mile away, which structure forms the heart of the main house at Montpelier today. Built around 1764, it has two stories of brick laid in a Flemish bond pattern, and a low, hipped roof with chimney stacks at both ends.
In the early 1760s, Madison Sr. built a new house half a mile away, which structure forms the heart of the main house at Montpelier today. Built around 1764, it has two stories of brick laid in a Flemish bond pattern, and a low, hipped roof with chimney stacks at both ends. Phase 2 (1797–1800) of construction began in 1797, after son James returned to Montpelier with his new wife Dolley Madison. He was then 39 and she was a young widow with a child. At this time Madison added a thirty-foot extension and a Tuscan portico to the house. Madison's widowed mother, Nelly, still resided in the house following the death of her husband, James Sr., in 1801.
In the last period of construction, Phase 3 (1809–1812), Madison had a large drawing room added, as well as one-story wings at each end of the house; these provided space for the separate household of the newlyweds James and Dolley Madison. After his second term as president, in 1817 Madison retired there full-time with his wife Dolley. James Madison died in 1836 and is buried in the family cemetery at Montpelier. His widow Dolley Madison moved back to Washington, D.C., in 1837 after his death. In 1844 she sold the plantation to Henry W. Moncure. After Dolley Madison died in 1849, she was buried in Washington, D.C., and later re-interred at Montpelier near her husband James.
HISTORIC PEOPLE
George Washington
Commander-in-Chief
Thomas Jefferson
Governor VA
James Madison
Delegate
James Monroe
Lt Colonel