Montpelier (Orange, Virginia)
N 38° 13.136 W 078° 10.113
17S E 747876 N 4233897
Montpelier was the home of James and Dolly Madison. The mansion has recently undergone a multi-year, multi-million dollar restoration that removed extensive DuPont renovations to the home, and returned it to the 19th century Madison mansion.
Waymark Code: WM6GH0
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 05/31/2009
Views: 11
In 1723 James Madison's grandfather Ambrose and his brother in law Thomas Chew were deeded 4,675 acres in this Piedmont area of Virginia. Ambrose's son James married Nelly Conway and in 1751 she gave birth to their first of 12 children, James, at her mother's home in Port Conway, Virginia. James, Nelly and infant James moved to the Piedmont plantation named Mount Pleasant where James Jr. spent his first nine years. By 1760, the larger mansion had been built and James, Jr. recalled in his memoirs helping to move the lighter furniture to his new home.
Although James Madison left Montpelier traveled often to attend the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and in his political career, he always considered Montpelier his home. In 1794, James married the widow Dolley Payne Todd. When he and Dolly returned to Montpelier, his father's mansion was expanded to provide a separate household for the couple. The two families, senior and junior, apparently lived amicably side by side until the deaths of James' parents.
It wasn't until his father's death in 1801 that James Jr. inherited the estate and he and Dolly did not live full time at the estate until 1817. The house was expanded once more after 1808 by the Madisons with one-story wings at each end. This was to accommodate his new standing as a US President and the guests they would be entertaining.
One of the last surviving Founding Fathers, James Madison died at the age of 85 at Montpelier in June 1836. Falling on hard economic times after James' death, Dolly gave up the Montpelier estate and spent her last years in Washington DC. Dolly passed away in 1849.
After the Madisons, the estate was owned by a number of families who renovated and updated the mansion. The last private owner, Marion duPont Scott, made arrangements in her will to bequeath Montpelier to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Trust took ownership after Ms. Scott's death in 1984. It was her intention that the mansion be restored to the architecture of the Madison home. After extensive investigation it was determined that the "Madison house" was largely intact within the duPont mansion and the restoration was undertaken. The restoration was dedicated as "officially complete" on Constitution Day, September 17, 2008.
There is much more history about James and Dolly Madison and about the house itself. Please visit the website at (
visit link) or better yet, visit the estate and see for yourself.