About

One of only two homes Thomas Jefferson designed for his personal use, the villa retreat at Poplar Forest was the place where Jefferson "came to indulge in the life of the mind and renew his personal creativity." Jefferson and his wife, Martha, inherited the Bedford County plantation from her father in 1773. Prior to and throughout Jefferson's ownership, the property served as a tobacco plantation housing approximately 94 enslaved men, women, and children at the height of production. When his presidency ended in 1809, Jefferson visited the retreat three or four times a year, often staying for several weeks at a time during planting seasons.

Designated a National Historic Landmark and nearly lost to development, Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest was rescued in 1984 by a group of local citizens who sought to preserve it for the cultural and educational benefit of the public. Poplar Forest opened to the public for the first time in 1986, in its "before restoration" state. Today, the neoclassical architecture of the octagonal house and the surrounding ornamental landscape is being returned to Mr. Jefferson's design.