Until Mathew came into my life, I must admit that I did not spend much time thinking, much less exploring the life of Thomas Jefferson. However, over the last 8 years I have definitely made up for it. When Mathew was a toddler, we would frequent the “Little Ones Learning Center” in Accord, NY.  It a wonderful early literacy program, where you took your little one (0 – 6 years old) for story hour, socialization, play, song and craft activities. They have a wonderful lending library and a book giveaway table to boot. Mathew loved visiting. At the end of the session, he would walk away with a piece of art and a book or two. Every community should have one.

One of the books Mathew found on the giveaway table was “The Value of Foresight: The Story of Thomas Jefferson” by Ann Donegan Johnson. It was part of series called ValueTale, geared to children 5-8 years old. It became one of Mathew’s favorite books for me to read to him and later to himself. He loved the stories of young Thomas Jefferson, who consulted his pocket watch on which paths he should choose at each juncture in his life. And as any parent knows, a book read over and over again is soon memorized by their little one. At one point Mathew (and I, of course) knew every detail revealed about Mr. Jefferson’s life in that book.

4 year old Mathew with his Grandma visiting Monticello

Mathew’s grandparents live in Charlottesville, VA also home to Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello and the University of Virginia, which he also designed. When Mathew was 4 years old, we visited his grandparents and took the opportunity to visit Monticello and the University of Virginia, where his grandfather used to work.  This was a big deal for Mathew. By then, Mathew had a couple more Thomas Jefferson books along with an action figure ~ you could say he was a BIG FAN. When we went on the house tour, he was mesmerized and also informed the docents of details about Mr. Jefferson’s life that they claimed they hadn’t known.

10 year old Mathew visiting Monticello

We’ve been to Monticello several times since and recently went back for Mathew’s 10^th birthday. He decided that he wanted to spend it with his grandparents and visit Monticello. Although, we’ve been there multiple times, there are always new things to learn and new places to explore. They have a 2-story museum we just found out about but had hardly any time to really investigate because we were caught up in all the other wonderful exhibits along with a wonderful book store. Every visit leaves me in awe of our 3^rd president who out of all his numerous accomplishments wanted to be known for being “The Author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”

Here are some things that Thomas Jefferson invented or introduced to America from his travels:

• Wheel Cipher ~ used to write secret messages
• Portable Polygraph ~ used to copy his letters during his travels
• Dumbwaiter ~ for sending wine bottles up from the cellar to the dinning room
• Revolving bookstand
• Apple picker
• Introduced ~ ice cream, macaroni and cheese, fried potatoes (French fries) and Love apples (tomatoes)

He was indeed a very cool dude.

Thomas Jefferson’s grave stone