Stranica 401 [401]
MONTPELIER
awry] ON TPELIER, in Orange County, Virginia—such a
‘TERA, u| lovely spot! and one filled with memories of those
VAA picturesgue early days when James Madison, our
9 24 BA! fourth President, sought rest and relaxation from
DAW 4 4 his strenuous public life. There, with his charm¬
=<} ing and gifted wife, he dispensed such hospitality
as nowadays seems scarce believable.
Montpellier (for then it was always spelled with two l’s) is
charmingly situated, overlooking a broad sweep of lawn—with
fertile fields stretching away to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the
distance. Although most of the famous country seats in Virginia
were in Tidewater, some of the Colonists felt the call of the hills—
or was it the greater fertility of the soil that lured them on? Be
that as it may, John Madison, the first of the name in Virginia,
obtained land in 1653 in Gloucester County, near York River; but
his grandson, Ambrose Madison, in 1723, along with Ihomas
Chew, patented four thousand six hundred and seventy-five acres of
land in what was then Spotsylvania, but, in 1732, became Orange
County.
A large part of the Chew-Madison patent was inherited by
the son of Ambrose, James, who, by purchase at different times,
acquired the whole tract which has come down in history as Mont¬
pelier. Here, in 1756, on a commanding site, James Madison built
for his home a plain rectangular brick edifice of four rooms. [his
was enlarged at different times and the most important improve¬
ments were made by his son, President James Madison, in 1809.
In this he was aided by his friend, Doctor Thornton, the architect
for the Capitol in Washington. Latrobe also lent assistance in
adding the wings.
But when Montpelier, the home of the Madisons, is mentioned
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