James monroe's home, ash-lawn woodland

Friday, Dec. 27 our second stop.
Thomas Jefferson found the property and even designed the gardens to persuade his friend, James Monroe, to live nearby.  The home's exterior and the estate show Monroe was not born to wealth.  But the home's surprisingly spacious interior reflects his rich life of service to our country starting at age 17 when he enlisted in the army to fight the Revolutionary War.   We arrived to the calls of the estate's cattle returning to the barn for their dinner.

We left after dark, driving along narrow, unlit rural roads until we found our Charlottesville lodging for the night.