Monroe’s home passes time’s test

By Brian McNeill

Published: July 4, 2008

First in a three-part series.

At Thomas Jefferson’s mountaintop home Monticello, construction crews are overhauling the historic Albemarle County campus as part of its most ambitious undertaking in decades.

Not far away, at Montpelier in Orange County, a massive $24 million endeavor is ongoing to restore James and Dolley Madison’s residence back to its original condition.

At James Monroe’s 535-acre farm Ash Lawn-Highland, in contrast, there are no sprawling multi-million-dollar construction projects. There is no plan to revamp Monroe’s early-1800 era house. And there is no obvious desire to divert from the site’s sleepily charming course of the past three decades.

Ash Lawn-Highland officials tout a handful of restoration projects on the horizon, but the general idea seems to emphasize the preservation of the estate’s pastoral and historic status quo.

“People love it here. They love that we’re all so friendly and that we can spend time with visitors one-on-one,” said Carolyn Coggin Holmes, Ash Lawn’s executive director since it was bequeathed to the College of William & Mary in late 1974. “We make you feel at home. It’s not that we don’t want more visitors. We do, of course. But we bend over backwards to make sure anyone who visits has a grand experience.”

At some point down the road — Holmes declined to say when — Ash Lawn-Highland will reconstruct a 19th-century barn behind the southwest corner of the main house. The planned two-level structure is meant to represent Monroe’s threshing barn that once stood on the site.

“We’re in the design phase right now,” Holmes said. “I don’t want to say when we hope to have it finished. I don’t want anyone to be disappointed. And by anyone, I mean myself.”

Once built, the barn’s two 3,000-square-foot floors will serve as multi-purpose spaces for educational programs, civic events and wedding receptions. The upper floor,

meanwhile, will double as an exhibit area.

“We are very scrunched with inadequate exhibit space right now,” Holmes said. “This will change that.”

Other future projects include the restoration of Monroe’s original icehouse. No time frame has been set for that project either.

Ash Lawn-Highland staff recently knocked down a 20th-century shed that housed the farm’s chickens, sheep and peacocks. The shed was replaced with a more authentic 19th-century structure.

Though less flashy than its sister presidential sites in Central Virginia, Ash Lawn-Highland has its fans.

“I like that place,” said William G. Clotworthy, a Midlothian resident and author of “Presidential Sites: A Directory of Places Associated with Presidents of the United States. “Monroe lived there, as I understand it, at the behest of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was anxious to surround himself with his friends and intellectuals. He was very fond of Monroe and asked him to move up into the mountains with him. Ash Lawn was a huge working farm. It was a big darn place.”

Sleepy site

Located at the end of a windy road shaded by ash trees and flanked by emerald farmland, Ash Lawn-Highland is unquestionably the Charlottesville region’s under-the-radar presidential home.

The site drew 62,000 visitors in 2006 and 68,000 in 2007. Monticello, located a few minutes away, attracted 450,358 visitors in 2006 and 441,739 last year.

Ash Lawn’s $1 million budget, meanwhile, is dwarfed by both Monticello’s $19.4 million budget and Montpelier’s $5 million budget.

Ash Lawn employs an estimated 50 people, while Monticello has 341 full- and part-time workers.

“We’re more homey,” said David Peterson, an Ash Lawn-Highland tour guide who was dressed and equipped as a Revolutionary War soldier. “That’s what people like about us. I don’t think we’ll ever get huge. That’s not really our goal.”

Unlike Monticello and Montpelier, Ash Lawn-Highland is not structured like a traditional nonprofit organization. Holmes reports to William & Mary’s vice president for finance and to the college’s Board of Visitors. However, William & Mary has taken a mostly laissez-faire approach to Ash Lawn-Highland because the site is entirely financially self-sufficient.

“William & Mary has courteously and wisely allowed us to do our own thing while they do theirs,” Holmes said. “So long as we keep the place running and the numbers good, they’re fine with us.”

Ash Lawn-Highland’s revenue comes from several sources, such as wedding bookings, ticket sales, grants and rent from an on-site cottage. The organization does not have a board of trustees or any development officers devoted to raising money. Donors can contribute to the Highland Fund to finance conservation and restoration projects at the farm.

Making a career of it

Holmes is the only person to have led Ash Lawn-Highland for William & Mary.

During the Christmas holidays of 1974, Holmes and her husband, W&M religious studies professor David Holmes, were eating lunch at the Williamsburg Lodge when they ran into several top college officials. William & Mary had recently received Ash Lawn-Highland from the estate of philanthropist Jay Winston Johns. Holmes mentioned that she was interested in preserving such historic houses.

Within a few days, William & Mary hired Holmes to conduct an assessment of the house. Eventually, the college asked her to stay on as its executive director.

For years, the Holmes family lived on Ash Lawn-Highland’s upper floor. David Holmes would commute to teach in Williamsburg. Carolyn Holmes would invite visitors up for dinner nearly every night.

Though she has not announced a specific date, Holmes said she expects to retire in the not-too-distant future.

Her successor, she said, will probably be expected to ramp up fundraising efforts.

Monroe’s story

More tourists might be interested in visiting Ash Lawn-Highland, Holmes said, if they knew more about the nation’s fifth president.

Monroe was America’s first “homeland security president,” Holmes said. During his two terms, Monroe was very interested in western expansion and stabilizing the country’s borders. He negotiated a treaty to set America’s border with Canada. And he took three nationwide tours to inspect military fortifications, she said.

During Jefferson’s presidency, Monroe was minister to France. In that job, he and Robert R. Livingston negotiated the Louisiana Purchase. Under Madison’s administration, Monroe was secretary of state and secretary of war.

A visit to Ash Lawn-Highland tells Monroe’s story, Holmes said, but also shows what life was like on a working 19th-century farm.

Tourists Patrick Kenniff and Liette Lacroix from Montreal found out about Ash Lawn-Highland while visiting Charlottesville last week. The couple came to the area to see Monticello as part of a Mid-Atlantic tour of major American history sites.

Kenniff said they were pleasantly surprised to stumble upon Monroe’s home.

“We think it’s wonderful,” he said. “We’re from Canada. The trees, the vegetation, the history. It’s fascinating. We’re doing a history vacation. And we’re glad we found this place.”