Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
Moments in a longer story.
Selected milestones in the history of Monticello and the people who lived there.
On this page
Plantation, house and museum
These dates describe the place you can learn about here. They are not a company timeline for Apollonaut.
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1768
Building begins
Thomas Jefferson begins building on the summit.
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1774
The Hemings family
The Jeffersons inherit 135 enslaved people, among them the Hemings family, from John Wayles’s estate.
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1787–1789
Paris
Sally Hemings, about 14, travels to Paris and returns to Virginia with Jefferson in 1789.
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1794
Rebuilding
Jefferson begins rebuilding the house along neoclassical lines.
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4 July 1826
Jefferson dies
Jefferson dies at Monticello and is buried on the grounds. The estate is heavily in debt.
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1831
The estate is sold
Monticello is sold out of the family.
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1923
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation
The Foundation buys Monticello and opens it as a house museum.
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1960
National Historic Landmark
Monticello is designated a National Historic Landmark on 19 December.
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1987
World Heritage
Monticello and the University of Virginia are inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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1998–2000
DNA and a report
A DNA study and a Thomas Jefferson Foundation report conclude that Jefferson fathered Sally Hemings’s children.
Follow the stories behind the dates
A timeline is a beginning. The longer history introduces the people and places; the sources below provide further context.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
