Jefferson Monroe Levy - Monticello

Monticello

Jefferson Levy's uncle Uriah P. Levy, the first Jewish commodore (highest rank at the time) of the US Navy, had bought Monticello and some related property in 1834. He had spent much money to restore and preserve the house and grounds, which he used as a summer retreat. During the American Civil War, the Confederacy took control of the property. After the war, the lawyers of Levy's estate regained it for his heirs. In 1879, after buying out the other heirs of his uncle Uriah P. Levy for $10,050, Jefferson Levy took control of Monticello (formerly the plantation of Thomas Jefferson).

When Jefferson Levy took over, the grounds had been reduced to 218 acres. During his tenure, he bought 500 acres to add to the complex. The house and grounds were in severe disrepair due to the overseer Joel Wheeler's lack of care, and lengthy lawsuits among the heirs after his uncle's death. Levy spent hundreds of thousands of dollars repairing, restoring and preserving Monticello, work led by Thomas Rhodes, his on-site superintendent. Levy regularly spent four months a year at the estate and became active in Charlottesville. In 1880 he paid for the restoration of the Town Hall, originally built as a theater, and named it the Levy Opera House. He allowed visitors to see the house Monticello, sometimes getting as many as 60 per day.

Beginning about 1909, Maud Littleton, the wife of New York Congressman John Littleton, started a campaign to have the U.S. Congress buy the mansion and property, and turn it into a government-run monument to Thomas Jefferson. Part of her campaign was heated. Dismayed by newspaper articles that belittled Jefferson Levy's ownership (Levy was also a Congressman from New York at the time), the Albemarle Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in November 1912 unanimously adopted the following resolution:

... has noticed with regret various newspaper articles and letters from private persons as to the Government ownership of “Monticello” and reflections upon the Honourable Jefferson M. Levy, the owner of this historic place, and desiring to put on record the Chapter’s views as to such ownership and appreciation of Mr. Levy’s uniform courtesy and consideration to the Chapter, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED: That this Chapter is not in sympathy with the methods adopted by which private property of historic interest is proposed to be taken by the strong arm of Government against the will of the individual;

That it bears cheerful testimony to the care with which Monticello is preserved by Mr. Levy and to the zeal which he evinces in the protection of this sacred shrine. It desires to express its belief that no other individual could show more solicitude for the place or more lavishly expend time and money in its preservation. It gladly bears witness to the hospitality which characterizes Mr. Levy and especially the readiness with which he has always met every wish of the Chapter in regard to the place and to say that the way in which the place is opened to the public is worthy of commendation and could not be made more free consistent with the proper care of the property.

In 1915, after the Southerner Woodrow Wilson was elected to the presidency, the likelihood of Congressional approval seemed high, but authorization was not achieved. In the post-World War I economic depression, Levy's fortune declined. In 1923 he agreed to a down payment and mortgage for the sale of Monticello to the newly organized Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which raised funds for the purchase and to operate it as a house museum.