Customer Reviews

Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built

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Everyone who knows the basic history of Monticello knows about Jefferson bringing his young bride to his "little mountain"; the evolution and growth of the house he was continually tearing down and putting up; his mostly happy retirement there, shadowed by his battles with debt; and finally the end of that magnificent life there on July 4, 1826, fifty years to the day after the young republic had declared its independence with the words from his pen....

And we know the magnificently restored estate of today, a beacon for millions of visitors who want to draw closer to that man of countless gifts.....

But there's been a missing chapter in the Monticello story for too long; the years from Jefferson's death to its opening to the public have been passed over in most histories with at best, a few paragraphs.

"Saving Monticello" fills that gap perfectly. Here we learn of the estate's decline after Jefferson's death, only arrested with the intervention of the Levy family, who are given their rightful due as stewards of this magnificent property. What happened to Monticello during the Civil War? What were some of the odd uses proposed for it? For answers to these questions and many more, read this well-crafted book.

I highly recommend Marc Leepson's book 'Saving Monticello' because it gives credit to the Levy family without whose help and stewardship Monticello may have been erased forever.
His detail and insight of story serve to hold the reader's interest of not only Thomas Jefferson, but of the history of the time. Mr. Leepson very patiently educates us about the Levy family and their unwavering loyalty to Monticello. I had often wondered what had happened to Monticello during the years after Jefferson's death until the Memorial Foundation took it over and now is supplied to us a fascinating history, a thread which we must all be tempted to follow and remember as part of our own history. I cannot imagine looking at Monticello in the same way as I did before I read Mr. Leepson's, "Saving Monticello".

I have just finished reading "Saving Monticello" and want to say just how much I enjoyed it. I am a long-time fan of Jefferson and particularly his architectural endeavors (the subject of my master's thesis) so I go out of my way to find new items on the subject. It was great to learn about those "lost years" of Monticello that up until now have barely been touched on and I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in American history. The author has clearly delineated what a tenuous hold we sometimes have on important landmarks and how easily they can be lost to future generations if we are not careful.

On a recent visit to Monticello, I noticed the grave of Rachel Phillips Levy and the plaque that mentions the Levy's ownership of Monticello for almost a century. Intrigued, but knowing nothing of the story, I looked for a book on the subject. Finding Saving Monticello was like discovering an aspect of American History that I didn't know existed!

Impeccably researched and documented, Saving Monticello provides a tremendous service to American History by revealing the previously untold story of one of America's best loved and fascinating famous homes. This book should be required reading for all students of American History.

This is a great book. A saga that is more than the story of how Monitcello was passed on through the years, but rather, a reflection of broader political and social history from the 1830s to the 1920s. Very detailed; interesting facts; some surprises; and as one editorial review has noted "rich with memorable, larger-than-life characters." If any serious Hollywood producer happens to be reading, the book offers a terrific story that could be made into a movie. I can't wait to read Marc Leepson's next book.

To me Monticello is heaven on earth. It is one of Mr. Jefferson's most miraculous accomplishments and I cherish every minute that I am able to spend there. Until Saving Monticello I did not realize what a debt of gratitude we owe to the Levy family for rescuing this treasure. Marc Leepson brings the Levy family to life and he makes one shudder to learn of how terribly close our nation came to losing one of its masterpieces. I learned so much about an important era in Monticello's history.

Most Americans are not aware of the extensive history of Monticello from the time that Thomas Jefferson died in 1826 to what we see today when we visit his historic home in Charlottesville, Virginia. Marc Leepson sets the record straight in his fascinating book, Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House That Jefferson Built.

Thomas Jefferson liked to live lavishly, but in his retirement years, he did not have the income to support his expensive tastes. When he died, he left a debt of over $100,000 for his heirs to settle. He also left a Monticello that could best be described as shabby. He did not have the money for painting, repairs and basic maintenance. His daughter, Martha Randolph, was forced to sell her father's home as she needed the income to settle debts and she could not afford to live there on her own (she made Monticello her home from 1809 onward). Monticello was first purchased by James Turner Barclay, who unsuccessfully tried to operate a silkworm business. Three years later (1834), he sold it to Uriah P. Levy.

Captain Levy was a larger-than-life man who was the first Jewish career officer in the U.S. Navy. During his 50 years of service, he was subjected to 6 courts martial, most of them due to anti-Semitism. He did much to help repair Monticello. But unfortunately, Jefferson's home was confiscated by the Confederate government during the Civil War. Meanwhile, Levy died in 1862 and it took over 17 years of court battles to determine the fate of Monticello. Finally, it was purchased by his nephew, Jefferson Madison Levy, who bought out the other heirs.

Jefferson Levy inherited a Monticello that was almost beyond repair. But this wealthy lawyer immediately started dumping money into the estate. Soon, Monticello under Levy was probably in better shape than when Jefferson owned the house. The rest of the story involves how Monticello was eventually sold to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation in 1923. This is definitely an ugly period in Monticello history, when mean-spirited individuals created fabrications about Levy, the condition of Monticello, and about how Uriah Levy "stole" Monticello from Martha Randolph. Jefferson Levy was also targeted because of his religion. It took until the late 1900s for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to finally acknowledge the Levy family for their 89 years of stewardship (longer even than Jefferson's ownership of Monticello).

There were two things that I think could have improved Saving Monticello. First, part of this book reads like a society page with the many dinners, luncheons, trips and events attended by Jefferson Levy. There is also quite a bit of name-dropping. It gets extremely tedious. "In February, Jefferson Levy and Carl Mayhoff spent a few days at the Willard Hotel in Washington. Then they took off for Palm Beach, Florida. Levy was back in New York on March 28th where he gave a dinner party at the Waldorf Astoria for the theatrical producer Sir Charles Wyndham and the actress Mary Moore." There are pages and pages like this. Also, I would have appreciated some interior photographs of Monticello during Jefferson Levy's tenure. I have seen them in other books, so they are available. But still, Saving Monticello is a great story and a must for any Jefferson-fan.

Saving Monticello by Marc Leepson is a definitive history of the fate of Thomas Jefferson's home from the time of Jefferson's death in 1826 at the age of 83, to 1923, when the home was purchased and turned into a memorial and destination for visitors.

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is perhaps the most elegant and unique home in America. What happened to the marvelous home is a fascinating story that Leepson tells in ground-breaking depth. In his old age, Jefferson found himself about $100,000 in debt (some $1.6 million in today's dollars), mostly due to overspending over a period of many years. Tragically, Jefferson lived long enough to realize that his business mistakes were going to result in the loss of his beloved mansion, and that his daughter and grandchildren would be left destitute. Even while Jefferson still lived, Monticello began to fall into disrepair.

After the old man died, the house sat neglected for a number of years until it purchased by a most unusual man: Commodore Uriah Levy of the United States Navy. A New Yorker and proud descendant of Spanish Jews, Levy lived in the house only part-time, but did much to preserve the home from ruin. He lost possession of the home when Monticello was confiscated by the Confederate government due to Levy's active-duty service in the U.S. Navy.

It was during this time that Monticello entered its darkest period. Levy died during the war, leaving a complicated will. That and the Confederate seizure led to a clouded title and a lawsuit. For some seventeen years, the property was not only neglected, but openly abused. A trustee in Charlottesville, hostile to the Levys because they were Jewish and Yankees, hired a slovenly caretaker who stored grain in the parlor and allowed students from the University of Virginia to wreck the place in drunken parties. By the time Jefferson Levy, a nephew of Uriah, took possession of the house in 1879, Monticello looked like a haunted house.

Leepson's account of Jefferson Levy's restoration of the mansion gets a little tedious at times, but that's a forgivable sin in a book that aims to be the last word on a topic that's received very little attention. The struggle between Levy and those who wished to make Monticello a shrine lasted for decades and involved unsavory levels of anti-Semitism and gender politics. Eventually, Levy fell on hard times and sold the place to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation which continues to own and operate Monticello today.

It's interesting to realize what a close thing it really was to losing Monticello altogether. Although the Levys weren't cuddly or lovable characters, it was they who stood between Monticello and ruin for years in which other Americans could not have cared less what happened to the place. Thanks to Saving Monticello, the saga of the Levy years at Monticello can now be known and fully understood. This book will be of great interest to anyone interested in Monticello or in historic preservation in America.

Saving Monticello was a history-lover's dream. The author made it easy to become intimate with the real-life characters, enabling this wonderful story to unfold without becoming just a recitation of historical facts. It was also obvious that the author went to great pains to accurately depict the sequence of events. Great read!

In 1834 a naval officer named Uriah Levy bought Monticello, the former home of Thomas Jefferson. Levy was part playboy, part crusader and a passionate lover of beauty. He was also Jewish and for this reason he was not popular with the neighbors. Later his nephew Thomas Jefferson Levy owned the place until 1923. The Levy family saved Monticello from ruin, made great efforts to preserve and restore the estate, especially the grave site but instead of being thanked for their efforts they were criticized. Disaster struck when Jefferson Levy invited a woman named Maude Littleton to dinner. She was horrified by the decor and apparently, the Levy's themselves and launched a national campaign to wrest Monticello from them. Levy fought back and when he did sell the estate it was to a private foundation that runs the living history site today.
The Levy's presence was ignored or mentioned briefly and in offensive ways until the 80s but it's only with the publication of this amazing and highly entertaining book that they have really gotten their full due.
If you are fascinated by the life of Jefferson and are curious about what happened after his death or if you love history, architecture or simply want to read a good story get yourself a copy of Saving Monticello.