MONTPELIER 



ONTPELIER, in Orange County, Virginia — such a 

 lovely spot! and one filled with memories of those 

 picturesque early days when James Madison, our 

 fourth President, sought rest and relaxation from 

 his strenuous public life. There, with his charm- 

 ing and gifted wife, he dispensed such hospitality 

 as nowadays seems scarce believable. 



Montpellier (for then it was always spelled with two I's) is 

 charmingly situated, overlooking a broad sweep of lawn — with 

 fertile fields stretching away to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the 

 distance. Although most of the famous country seats in Virginia 

 were in Tidewater, some of the Colonists felt the call of the hills — 

 or was it the greater fertility of the soil that lured them on? Be 

 that as it may, John Madison, the first of the name in Virginia, 

 obtained land in 1653 in Gloucester County, near York. River; but 

 his grandson, Ambrose Madison, in 1723, along with Thomas 

 Chew, patented four thousand six hundred and seventy-five acres of 

 land in what was then Spotsylvania, but, in 1732, became Orange 

 County. 



A large part of the Chew-Madison patent was inherited by 

 the son of Ambrose, James, who, by purchase at different times, 

 acquired the whole tract which has come down in history as Mont- 

 pelier. Here, in 1756, on a commanding site, James Madison built 

 for his home a plain rectangular brick edifice of four rooms. This 

 was enlarged at different times and the most important improve- 

 ments were made by his son. President James Madison, in 1809. 

 In this he was aided by his friend, Doctor Thornton, the architect 

 for the Capitol in Washington. Latrobe also lent assistance in 

 adding the wings. 



But when Montpelier, the home of the Madisons, is mentioned 



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