While driving the beautiful forested road to Monticello, we’ve been intrigued by a gorgeous establishment upon a hill that we pass near the turn off as we ascend Jefferson’s beloved little mountain.
Thusly beckoned, we visit often for a variety of assortments of this lovely spot with a fascinating history.
Perhaps my favorite story is one with Colonial Williamsburg’s famed Thomas Jefferson interpreter, Bill Barker, who amazingly looks like our third president!
One day when a guest asked about Michie Tavern, at the foot of his mountainside home, Barker, in true Jeffersonian fashion, replied in shock: How could that be when Michie Tavern lies many miles distant from Monticello, seventeen miles to be precise, on Buck Mountain?
To our delight, we enjoyed the 18th century of this home from the historic interpreter, through the voice of Thomas Jefferson.
And…he was absolutely as correct as our guest! 😉 Now for the bridge to what Jefferson knew compared to what we know now.
SUCCESSFUL TAVERN
A Scottsman and veteran of the American Revolution, William Michie, inherited his father’s home in Albemarle County (near today’s Free Union) with a natural spring.
Since the land abounded with deer, the nearby road was named Buck Mountain Road.
Due to the large volume of traffic created by busy events at the Charlottesville courthouse, twelve miles away, and others moving west towards the Shenandoah, William Michie established a tavern next to his house in 1784.
One wonders if he actively engaged in political discussions with his guests, since William Michie joined Thomas Jefferson in signing the Albemarle Declaration of Independence on April 21, 1779, a time marked by discouragement due to the lengthy American Revolution.
In 1791, Michie served as Albemarle County magistrate, then in 1803 he served as sheriff for the area.
Reputed with better accomodations than fancier establishments in Charlottesville, Michie’s country mountain tavern featured two stories of space, allowing for a dedicated Assembly Room for social events including dancing and traveling entertainments.
Also the Assembly Room was used for a range of community activities like church services, schooling, and as a post office, traveling doctors and dentists also examined patients here, paying for the rent of the space.
Since stage coach traffic diminished by the mid-1800s, the tavern no longer operated.
COLONIAL REVIVAL PRESERVATION
Through the 1920s, Mrs. Mark Henderson of the Charlottesville area noted the rise of tourism in the area, due to increased automobile usage, higher wages, and extra free time.
Meanwhile she followed the Colonial Revival movement that hit the country, such as the work of Goodwin and Rockefeller in restoring Colonial Williamsburg.
In 1923, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation began paying off the mortgage of Monticello, planning a restoration, and acquiring artifacts for display in the house.
Soon after the foundation purchased the house, they opened the property to visitors, who watched the work in progress, like I got to do at Poplar Forest, another Thomas Jefferson property.
As Mrs. Henderson noted the attraction of thousands of visitors to the heavily decayed Monticello, in 1927 she purchased the decaying Michie Tavern to ultimately open a museum for her antique collection, but in a new location.
After she hired an archival construction team, they carefully marked and removed each piece of the old tavern so it could be transported to the foot of Carter’s Mountain, which neighbors Monticello.
At this link are fascinating period sketches of the event in pogress, when the dismantled tavern was hauled seventeen miles, by trucks and horse and wagon to the Monticello entrance on Route 53, the Thomas Jefferson Parkway.
In 1932, Mrs. Henderson sold the property to Milton Grigg, a noted restoration architect, who used it as his office.
While reading Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (TJF), I learned that Milton L. Grigg partnered with Fiske Kimball (a Jefferson scholar and trustee of the TJF) to restore Monticello.
CURRENT OFFERINGS
In 1968, a local family purchased the tavern, turning it into a true tourist destination.
While still owned by the same family, Michie Tavern now includes Southern buffet lucheons, museum tours, and several shops that sell various assortments including local wine. (The previous link has a wonderful video tour at the bottom of the page.)
To our delight, Michie Tavern’s General Store now sells Blue Bell ice cream from Texas!
If he had ever had a chance to taste it, Thomas Jefferson surely would have sighed: This must be made where the cows think it’s heaven!
