Grand Homes & Gardens: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden

Blending history, architecture, and horticulture, this year’s Grand Homes & Gardens speaker series, Freedom at Home: Telling the Full Story of America’s Founding Homes and Gardens, showcases the estates of signers of the Declaration of Independence, telling the stories of the people who lived and worked in these grand spaces. 

On March 26, Morven welcomes Peter Hatch (Gardener, Historian, and Emeritus Director of Gardens and Grounds for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation) for an illustrated presentation on Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden. The Monticello vegetable garden, a 1,000-foot-long terrace, grew new and unusual edible plants from around the world. Jefferson was a strong believer in a vegetable diet, and this revolutionary garden inspired a revolutionary cuisine in the kitchen at Monticello. Much of the work constructing, cultivating, and maintaining the gardens would have fallen to enslaved labor. Today, these gardens have been mostly restored to the early nineteenth century. 

Doors open at 6 pm for light refreshments. The final program in the series takes place on April 16. 

Student discounts are available. 

In-person tickets: $40 in-person/single program

Virtual tickets: $20 virtual/single program