Jefferson owned several plantations, but designed and built elaborate houses for himself only at Monticello and Poplar Forest. In 1806, he began construction on perhaps the first octagonal house in America – the centerpiece of his intricate villa design.

The restoration of Jefferson’s villa is being done in phases for two reasons: In-depth research precedes all hands-on work, and funding from mostly private sources is secured before the start of a major project.

The first objective in restoring Poplar Forest is to investigate Thomas Jefferson’s retreat to understand it how it looked and functioned.  That has been and continues to be accomplished through documentary research and detective work both in the soil and the buildings— including excavating in the ground and analyzing the evidence present in the surviving original structures. When sufficient knowledge is found, it becomes possible to physically restore the features of the retreat so that the public can gain insight from experiencing it the way it was originally constructed and used.