What You Can Do
- Visit James Madison's Montpelier
- Learn more about this National Trust Historic Site.
11 Most Endangered
Montpelier
Year Listed: 1991, 1992
Location: Orange , Virginia
Current Status: Saved
Threat: Development, Poor Public Policy
Today, as during Madison's lifetime, the neoclassical house has 26 rooms. Experts credit Thomas Jefferson with the design for the front doorway.
Credit: Regis Lefebure
Significance
Montpelier, home of James Madison, is a 2,700-acre estate in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. In 1984, the National Trust for Historic Preservation acquired the property and opened it to the public in 1987. While much has been done to preserve the Madison property, significant resources were needed to conduct further research and rehabilitation. Though some emergency repairs had been made for structural systems, the mansion needed to be stabilized and its enormous copper roof replaced. Some 135 adjacent buildings on the property needed maintenance or rehabilitation as well, the rich variety of vegetation and animal life in its pastures and forests needed protection, and authentic Madison furniture and memorabilia, which has been widely dispersed over the years, needs to be located and acquired.
Updates
In 1994, a million-dollar project stabilized the exterior of the main house and replaced its enormous copper roof. An anonymous gift of $500,000 made it possible to convert the estate's pony barn into an education center, which opened in May 1996. In the summer of 1998, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Honorary Chair of Save America's Treasures, a public-private partnership between the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, helped launch the "Discovering Madison" exhibit to an audience of 3,000. Sale of a commemorative silver coin designed by Tiffany and Company, authorized by Congress to mark the 150th anniversary of Dolly Madison's death raised approximately $2.7 million for the property in 1999. Today, Montpelier has been substantially restored to the Madison period, and the Montpelier Foundation opened a Center for Constitutional Studies at the site in 2003.
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