 Restoring a part of our history
I have always loved Monticello and have been endlessly fascinated with Thomas Jefferson and his complexity. The Monticello we all know once stood a very great chance of being lost forever. The people whom purchased the home and restored it are equally fascinating. This book is very detailed and has been meticulously researched. If you love Monticello and the evolution of the preservation of this inspiring home, you will find this a great read.
 How Monticello was saved after Jefferson's death...
Most Americans are not aware of the extensive history of Monticello from the time that Thomas Jefferson died in 1826 to what we see today when we visit his historic home in Charlottesville, Virginia. Marc Leepson sets the record straight in his fascinating book, Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House That Jefferson Built.
Thomas Jefferson liked to live lavishly, but in his retirement years, he did not have the income to support his expensive tastes. When he died, he left a debt of over $100,000 for his heirs to settle. He also left a Monticello that could best be described as shabby. He did not have the money for painting, repairs and basic maintenance. His daughter, Martha Randolph, was forced to sell her father's home as she needed the income to settle debts and she could not afford to live there on her own (she made Monticello her home from 1809 onward). Monticello was first purchased by James Turner Barclay, who unsuccessfully tried to operate a silkworm business. Three years later (1834), he sold it to Uriah P. Levy.
Captain Levy was a larger-than-life man who was the first Jewish career officer in the U.S. Navy. During his 50 years of service, he was subjected to 6 courts martial, most of them due to anti-Semitism. He did much to help repair Monticello. But unfortunately, Jefferson's home was confiscated by the Confederate government during the Civil War. Meanwhile, Levy died in 1862 and it took over 17 years of court battles to determine the fate of Monticello. Finally, it was purchased by his nephew, Jefferson Madison Levy, who bought out the other heirs.
Jefferson Levy inherited a Monticello that was almost beyond repair. But this wealthy lawyer immediately started dumping money into the estate. Soon, Monticello under Levy was probably in better shape than when Jefferson owned the house. The rest of the story involves how Monticello was eventually sold to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation in 1923. This is definitely an ugly period in Monticello history, when mean-spirited individuals created fabrications about Levy, the condition of Monticello, and about how Uriah Levy "stole" Monticello from Martha Randolph. Jefferson Levy was also targeted because of his religion. It took until the late 1900s for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to finally acknowledge the Levy family for their 89 years of stewardship (longer even than Jefferson's ownership of Monticello).
There were two things that I think could have improved Saving Monticello. First, part of this book reads like a society page with the many dinners, luncheons, trips and events attended by Jefferson Levy. There is also quite a bit of name-dropping. It gets extremely tedious. "In February, Jefferson Levy and Carl Mayhoff spent a few days at the Willard Hotel in Washington. Then they took off for Palm Beach, Florida. Levy was back in New York on March 28th where he gave a dinner party at the Waldorf Astoria for the theatrical producer Sir Charles Wyndham and the actress Mary Moore." There are pages and pages like this. Also, I would have appreciated some interior photographs of Monticello during Jefferson Levy's tenure. I have seen them in other books, so they are available. But still, Saving Monticello is a great story and a must for any Jefferson-fan.
A missing piece of Monticello is back in place!
I purchased this book because I enjoy reading everything I can get my hands regarding Monticello. This book brings Monticello's "quiet" years to the fore. Uriah and Jefferson Levy rescued Thomas Jefferson's home from certain destruction, despite adversity. From whom or what? Read the book! I gave the book a four instead of a five star rating because, Theodore Roosevelt could not have been a member of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation in 1923. He died in 1919. Perhaps I was reading this portion wrong. But the book was a delightful read nonetheless. Thanks!
Definitive, ground-breaking work
Saving Monticello by Marc Leepson is a definitive history of the fate of Thomas Jefferson's home from the time of Jefferson's death in 1826 at the age of 83, to 1923, when the home was purchased and turned into a memorial and destination for visitors.
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is perhaps the most elegant and unique home in America. What happened to the marvelous home is a fascinating story that Leepson tells in ground-breaking depth. In his old age, Jefferson found himself about $100,000 in debt (some $1.6 million in today's dollars), mostly due to overspending over a period of many years. Tragically, Jefferson lived long enough to realize that his business mistakes were going to result in the loss of his beloved mansion, and that his daughter and grandchildren would be left destitute. Even while Jefferson still lived, Monticello began to fall into disrepair.
After the old man died, the house sat neglected for a number of years until it purchased by a most unusual man: Commodore Uriah Levy of the United States Navy. A New Yorker and proud descendant of Spanish Jews, Levy lived in the house only part-time, but did much to preserve the home from ruin. He lost possession of the home when Monticello was confiscated by the Confederate government due to Levy's active-duty service in the U.S. Navy.
It was during this time that Monticello entered its darkest period. Levy died during the war, leaving a complicated will. That and the Confederate seizure led to a clouded title and a lawsuit. For some seventeen years, the property was not only neglected, but openly abused. A trustee in Charlottesville, hostile to the Levys because they were Jewish and Yankees, hired a slovenly caretaker who stored grain in the parlor and allowed students from the University of Virginia to wreck the place in drunken parties. By the time Jefferson Levy, a nephew of Uriah, took possession of the house in 1879, Monticello looked like a haunted house.
Leepson's account of Jefferson Levy's restoration of the mansion gets a little tedious at times, but that's a forgivable sin in a book that aims to be the last word on a topic that's received very little attention. The struggle between Levy and those who wished to make Monticello a shrine lasted for decades and involved unsavory levels of anti-Semitism and gender politics. Eventually, Levy fell on hard times and sold the place to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation which continues to own and operate Monticello today.
It's interesting to realize what a close thing it really was to losing Monticello altogether. Although the Levys weren't cuddly or lovable characters, it was they who stood between Monticello and ruin for years in which other Americans could not have cared less what happened to the place. Thanks to Saving Monticello, the saga of the Levy years at Monticello can now be known and fully understood. This book will be of great interest to anyone interested in Monticello or in historic preservation in America.
A Great Book; Should Be Made Into A Movie
This is a great book. A saga that is more than the story of how Monitcello was passed on through the years, but rather, a reflection of broader political and social history from the 1830s to the 1920s. Very detailed; interesting facts; some surprises; and as one editorial review has noted "rich with memorable, larger-than-life characters." If any serious Hollywood producer happens to be reading, the book offers a terrific story that could be made into a movie. I can't wait to read Marc Leepson's next book.
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