Time again for our Website of the Week, when we showcase interesting
and innovative online destinations. This time, as we celebrate our
Independence Day holiday here on July 4, our Website features the home
of the author of the Declaration of Independence. Our web guide is
VOA's Art Chimes.
Thomas Jefferson was America's third president, a diplomat, gentleman farmer, and architect.
The Virginia home he designed and had built for himself, known as Monticello, is a treasured national landmark.
Jefferson
was also a scientist and inventor, so he would no doubt be fascinated
by a virtual visit to Monticello.org.
Start with the Monticello
Explorer; it's an in-depth, interactive 3-D tour. Perhaps you'll notice
an interesting piece of furniture.
"You click on it, you find
out that it was created by one of Jefferson's slaves named John
Hemmings, says Monticello.org webmaster Chad Wollerton. "And you can
click over to find out a little more about John Hemmings, or you can
click over to learn more about the place where some of the furniture
that John Hemmings made was believed to have been crafted, that is the
joinery at Monticello, during Jefferson's day."
Among the site's
other features is a Classroom section designed for students and
teachers. That's where you'll find information about Thomas Jefferson's
role as author of the Declaration of Independence.
"There we
actually give a bit more about Jefferson's role in the authorship of
the Declaration of Independence, and its adoption, than we have
previously, and are able now to present a bit more about what really
makes Jefferson interesting to people — his political career."
Monticello
was a working plantation, and it's now a window into the world of a
prosperous farm two centuries ago. In a way, Wollerton suggests, an
online visit can be more in-depth than visiting in person.
"You
get a larger view of the plantation and kind of get a sense of how
widespread it was, the kinds of activities that were going on, and how
heavily Jefferson had it built up using his slave labor," said
Wollerton.
Like many wealthy Americans of his time, Thomas
Jefferson was a slave owner, despite the ideas of equality that he
espoused in the Declaration of Independence. One place to learn more
about this and other aspects of life at Monticello is on the Thomas
Jefferson Wiki, which is written by scholars and other experts.
The
world of American founding father Thomas Jefferson online at
Monticello.org, or get the link to this and more than 200 other
Websites of the Week from our
site, voanews.com.
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