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Mary Morton Parsons Grant: A Match for Impact
Help us raise our goal of $100,000 to be matched one-to-one through a generous challenge grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation.
Your gift can go twice as far
Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest has been awarded a $100,000 challenge grant with a one-to-one matching requirement from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation of Richmond. The grant was awarded to support archaeological fieldwork and schematic design development leading to the full reconstruction of a duplex cabin and yard space inhabited by enslaved African Americans at the Quarter Site (c.1790-1812) during Jefferson’s ownership of the Poplar Forest plantation. Between now and May 31, 2026, we will work to leverage the Foundation’s generosity and raise $100,000 to move us closer to this goal. The generous investment from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation will allow us to enrich our knowledge of the plantation’s history, and support our commitment to better tell the stories of all who lived and worked at Poplar Forest.
The Quarter Site project builds on our efforts to tell a more complete story of life on the plantation and add to our interpretation of Poplar Forest’s enslaved community. This critical funding from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation will enable us to build on archaeological excavations conducted at the Quarter Site in the early 1990s and begin the planning effort for the eventual reconstruction of a duplex cabin, one of three structures at this site. We are grateful for the generous support offered by the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation to kick-start this long-awaited and important project. Future funding for the project will support a historically accurate reconstruction of the cabin and yard following parameters outlined in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards.
Currently, the structure is represented by framing timbers erected in the 1990s that do not adequately convey the building and yard’s historic use and division of space. Once completed, the Quarter Site cabin will be the first Jefferson-era structure inhabited solely by enslaved individuals to be fully reconstructed at this National Historic Landmark. The presence of a physical space will enable Poplar Forest to better tell the story of the enslaved community and their interactions with Jefferson and his family, and build on recent collaborative efforts to share this knowledge through exhibits installed at the Quarter Site in 2022.
About the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation
The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation began in 1988 with Richmond native Mary Morton Parsons and her friend Clinton Webb. Mrs. Parsons began the Foundation with the belief that by working together, we can improve the personal and professional lives of all Richmond residents. Using funds from her father’s Home Beneficial Life Insurance holdings, Mrs. Parsons established the Foundation to support a variety of philanthropic purposes, from the arts to historic preservation to fundamental community needs. Mrs. Parsons demonstrated that when we all work together, we can make our community a better place to live and work, and that by doing so, we preserve the related traditions and history of our Commonwealth.
“The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation is pleased to support Poplar Forest’s efforts to add to their interpretation of the Quarter Site, and to build on their work to share the full history of Jefferson’s retreat and plantation with current and future generations,” said Amy P. Nisenson, Executive Director of the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation. “We hope the challenge grant will encourage support from a wide range of donors and wish Poplar Forest much success.”
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