Jefferson’s record of public service is extraordinary: he was author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, governor of Virginia, minister to France, first secretary of state, second vice president, and third president of the United States. In his retirement, he founded the University of Virginia.

He is best known for writing the Declaration of Independence, a document so enduring that it continues to be invoked around the world by people striving for liberty, equality, and the right to self-government.

But what was Jefferson like as a person? Many aspects of his personality point to his need for privacy. Unlike many of the Founding Fathers, Jefferson was not a great public orator, but was shy, the “silent member” of the Continental Congress. The personal criticisms that go along with public life pained him, and he frequently articulated the same desire “to detach myself from public life, which I never loved, to retire to the bosom of my family my friends, my farm and books, which I have always loved.”

As early as age thirty-six, during his tenure as governor of Virginia, Jefferson began to think about retiring from public life. Retirement did not come until 1809, however, when Jefferson was 65 years old. He described his feelings, “Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power.”

In his time out of the public spotlight, Jefferson pursued an astonishing array of interests, from math and the natural sciences to classical history and Native American culture. He loved new technologies and often improved on items already in existence, such as the copying machine known as the polygraph.

He read in six languages besides English, including Greek and Latin, and amassed one of early America’s greatest libraries, keeping nearly 700 volumes at Poplar Forest alone. He was a talented architect and avid gardener. He considered himself a farmer by profession and was continually searching for more progressive ways to work his plantations. He often wished for more private time to pursue those interests.

Jefferson also enjoyed private time with his grandchildren there. He never remarried after the death of his wife. Their surviving family—daughters, Martha and Maria, and their twelve children—became his refuge and comfort.

When Jefferson visited Poplar Forest in 1801, a rainstorm left him cooped up in the overseer’s house—with numerous dogs and children. Jefferson spent his time—in what was undoubtedly a cramped and noisy setting—computing how long it would take to pay the national debt. It was then that he began to realize the advantages of building a more tranquil place for himself. Five years later, construction began on the house and grounds at Poplar Forest .

Poplar Forest was an important part of Jefferson’s life: a private retreat, situated far from the public scrutiny and demands on his time. It was his most personal architectural creation and landscape, a place where he came to find rest and leisure, rekindle his creativity, and to enjoy private family time.

Poplar Forest is the place to experience the contemplative, provocative, and personal Thomas Jefferson.