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"I have often thought that if heaven had given me choice of my position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the production of the garden. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth..."
-Thomas Jefferson to Charles Willson Peale, 1811
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Archaeology at Poplar Forest - The Landscape
Through the years, archaeologists have been searching for evidence of the landscape at Poplar Forest during Jefferson’s time. At the center of the plantation stood the octagonal house with its ornamental landscape. The house and immediate grounds were part of the curtilage, a 61-acre enclosed landscape that was the largest section of the domestic part of the plantation. The curtilage served as a transition from the ornamental landscape nearest the house to the agricultural fields, and contained orchards, vegetable gardens, slave quarters, and farm-related buildings. Outside the curtilage were fields of the main cash crops, tobacco and wheat.
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