(James Barbour’s magnificent home had an octagonal chamber designed by his pal Thomas Jefferson that was a wonder in its day. The home burned in 1884 and was never re-built. The Zonin Family stabilized the ruins when they bought the estate and began making wine. It is a wonderful place. Photo courtesy localectual in Charlottesville, VA, home of Jefferson’s neo-paladian palace of Monticello).
It was a day of triumphant beauty- I don’t know precisely what it was that made the magic so compelling: after days of dreary clouds and steady rain, the sky was fresh washed. The temperature was crisp and seasonal; the leaves are down, and the vistas thus enhanced, yet the fields and pastures were a verdant green against the delicate blue of the sky and the hint of high cirrus clouds.
The terrain on the way down to Barboursville is rolling and pleasant, and many of the houses, well back from the road, have the name of the estate on fancy signposts- not the pedestrian numbers of most houses.
I had been meaning to make the trip to Barboursville to stock up on some fine wine, of which one can never have enough. It had been years since I had been there, and the tasting is highly recommended. In fact, it was much better than I remembered, with a new tasting room, seventeen different variety of whites and reds and dessert wines on the sampling menu and a great and friendly staff.
Tommy Jefferson would have approved, and I found myself getting sucked into something quite profound. The architect of the Declaration of Independence designed the house that is now a picaresque ruin on the property for his pal, Jimmy Barbour, who was the 19th Governor of the Commonwealth. The Zonin family that now owns the estate has been in the wine-making business for eight generations, and it shows. The Barboursville Winery is a grand place.
I am going to have to break the day into two stories, of which this modest effort will just be the first installment. It made me realize what a rich tradition we have in this state. I get hung up on the Civil War history, but a stroll around the ruins of Jimmy Barbour’s home is striking. The place burned on Christmas Day in 1884, and the end of the plantation economy must have caused the owners to throw up their hands and walk away.
Here is what the place looked like in the 1930s, courtesy of the Library of Congress:
It made me think it is worth a book on the Houses Of Virginia- The Northern Neck and Lee’s boyhood home, the Washington Birth House, the Custis estate at Arlington, George Mason’s Gunston Hall, down by the farm Monticello, Montpelier, and the fabulous ruin at Barboursville. My God, it is stunning history, warts and all.
And later, the delicious irony of standing in the bedchamber of the Father of the Constitution when it is under such concerted attack today…well, frankly, it was a freaking mind-blowing day.
More on Jimmy Madison’s little place called “Montpelier” tomorrow.
Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
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