 |
PATRIOT DOG |
||||
 Morning mist covers the mountains around Monticello. © David Muenker |
"Oops. I forgot a little detail," Boxie replied, hanging her head low. "You do have to do something special. There's a treasure hunt for facts about Thomas Jefferson. If you find the facts that answer nine questions, you'll get a personal invitation to the birthday party."
"Cool! Where do I get the questions?"
"At Monticello. They'll give you questions at three different places - at the plantation home, the University of Virginia and Monticello's Mulberry Row."
"Whoopee, I love treasure hunts! Monticello, here I come!"
A few days later, Sonya dashed up a mountainside to Monticello, the plantation home of Thomas Jefferson in the state of Virginia.
 Sonya arrives at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's plantation home in Virgina. © Ravay Snow 2006 |
A guide standing on the front steps invited Sonya to join the tour. "Pay close attention as we walk through the house," she advised with a smile. "At the end of the tour, I'll give you three of the nine birthday invitation questions." Sonya pricked up her ears.
In the two-story entrance hall, her eyes grew wide. It was filled with unusual things, including a model of an Egyptian pyramid, moose antlers and Native American warrior shields.
"Mr. Jefferson called this room Indian Hall. When Jefferson was president of the United States of America, he sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on an expedition to explore the West. See the map of the Missouri River? It's drawn on a buffalo hide. All of the Indian items you see came from that trip."
"Is one of the birthday invitation questions about this hall?" Sonya asked. "Is it? Is it?" The guide just smiled.
The group toured through the dining room, tea room and guest rooms. In the parlor, portraits of men who inspired Jefferson hung on the walls. Sonya recognized George Washington.
Lots of natural light came through the tall windows and skylights. When Jefferson lived here, fireplaces provided heat and candles lit the rooms at night.
The next area was Jefferson's private rooms. "Jefferson said, 'I cannot live without books,'" the guide told them as they entered his library. "He could read in seven languages."
Shelves packed with books lined the walls from floor to ceiling. "He had 6,700 books."
 Thomas Jefferson © David Muenker |
"Jefferson had many interests. Do you know what some of them were?" the guide asked the group.
"He loved architecture and designed buildings, like Monticello," a boy replied.
"Gardening!" another boy shouted.
"Writing. He wrote the Declaration of Independence," a girl added.
"We can see how he explored some of these interests right here in these rooms." The guide led the group into a small greenhouse off the library. "Here he experimented with growing plants not from this area. "
"And here, in his study, he read, wrote letters and did scientific experiments."
"What's that thing on his desk?" Sonya asked.
"It's a polygraph - a copy machine. See the two pens? Jefferson wrote with one pen and the polygraph moved the other pen over a second piece of paper. That way he had a copy of everything he wrote."
"Can it copy my hand like our copy machines do?" a boy asked.
"Or my paw?" Sonya woofed.
"If you did an outline of your hand or paw, it could probably make a copy of that. And this machine doesn't get hot."
Sonya and the boy jumped up and down. "Can we do that now?"
"I wish we could, but the copy machine is more than 300 years old. We might accidentally break it. Can you guess how many letters Jefferson wrote?"
Everyone answered at once. "10!" "100!" "500!" "1,000!"
"He wrote at least 20,000 letters. We know that because he kept copies of them."
"Is that one of the birthday invitation questions?" Sonya asked.
"You'll find out as soon as we step out the door and I hand you the first set of questions," the guide replied with a sweet smile. "Follow me."
To be continued…
Start gathering your facts now! Hint: Click on the underlined words for more information
To see the first three questions, go to the click here.
In the next issue, Sonya tours the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, which Jefferson designed and founded.
Note: This story is fiction based on fact.
Go to Sonya's Picks for links to websites about Jefferson and Monticello.
Test your understanding of words used in this story with the Word Match game.
Story | Sign Up for Newsletter | Puzzles & Games | Contests & Activities Letters to Sonya | Sonya's Picks | More Stories | What are WHS? | Sonya's Team For Parents | Site Map | Home |
Photographs ©2005-2008 David Muenker. Text ©2005-2008 Rose Muenker. Illustrations ©2005-2008 Ravay Snow Any use without express written permission is illegal and punishable by law. All rights reserved. Site designed and developed by Josh Bergman. |
