Jefferson's Stone Stable & North Terrace Restorations Completed !

The restoration of the Stone Stable on Mulberry Row began early 2016. The stable is one of two Jefferson-era buildings on Mulberry Row restored as part of a larger effort to return the mountain-top to its appearance during Jefferson’s lifetime.

Jefferson’s documents identify two generations of stables on Mulberry Row. The first stable was built ca. 1793 and consisted of five log structures. In 1808 Jefferson hired William Maddox, a stone mason, to replace the wood buildings with stone buildings. A long, L-shaped addition was made to the stable soon after.  No archaeological or physical evidence has been found to reveal what the addition may have looked like. The structure has been in almost continuous use since its construction in 1809.  The two stone buildings, originally part of a larger structure, were likely used to store feed and tack during Jefferson’s lifetime. Enslaved grooms cared for Jefferson’s prized carriage and riding horses here.

The restoration of the Stone Stable is made possible by the generous support of the Sarah and Ross Perot Jr. Foundation. Restoration was completed in October 2016.

Visitors are now able to learn  more about Jupiter Evans and Wormley Hughes, the enslaved men responsible for the stables and horses at Monticello, and how their lives were interwoven with Jefferson's.

Jupiter Evans was born at Shadwell in 1743, the same year as the man who would later own him, Thomas Jefferson. After inheriting Evans from his father in 1757, Jefferson appointed this highly skilled slave to assume a variety of roles at Monticello, including valet, hostler, coachman and stonecutter. In 1774, after becoming head coachman, Evans oversaw the care of the riding and carriage horses in the Mulberry Row stable.  He and his wife, as well as their sons, may have lived near the stables, in the "Negro quarter" on Mulberry Row.

Another enslaved man, Wormley Hughes, worked at the Mulberry Row nailery and in the terraced vegetable garden before succeeding Jupiter Evans as chief hostler and coachman. Described by Jefferson as "one of the most trusty servants I have," Hughes cared for Jefferson's horses in the stable on Mulberry Row and the carriages in the North Terrace wing. Biographer Henry Randall remarked on Hughes' passion for horses in 1851: "He could distinctly remember, and describe the points, height, color, temper, etc. of every horse."

The stable area located under the north terrace consisted of many separate stalls. One stall for the: Chariot, Double Phaeton, Single Phaeton, Gigg & Sulky; two stalls for the Strangers Carriages, four horse stalls, and one Store Room.

In his lifetime, Jefferson owned dozens of riding and carriage horses, many of them prized for their English bloodlines.  Edmond Bacon, a Monticello overseer once noted that Jefferson was "passionately fond of all good horse." Describing the horse as the "most sovereign of all Doctors." Jefferson took daily rides across his 5,000 acre plantation for exercise and to oversee the work of around 130 enslaved men, women and children who lived and labored at Monticello.

Names of Thomas Jefferson's horses at Monticello: Cucullin, Allycroker, Caractacus, Odin, Brimmer, Castor, Peacemaker, Gustavus, Ethelinda, Polly Peachum, Remus & Romulus, Diomede, Eagle, Silvertail, Silveret, Matchless, Bremo, Alfred, The General, Orra Moor, Asaragoa, Fitzpartner, Wellington, Everallyn, Crab, Peggy Waffington, Raleigh, Wildair, Tecumseh, Zanga, Tarquin.

(Articles derived from Th:Jefferson Monticello, spring 2016, Volume 27, Number 1 and www.monticello.org)

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