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Thomas Jefferson and the Slave Mansion

" (Wiencek 1) The mansion was built with secret tunnels lying underneath it. These tunnels were used by slaves when they performed duties such as carrying food to their masters, bringing new tableware, taking clothing to be cleaned. These tunnels allow slaves to roam around the mansion doing their essential jobs without being seen. This created an illusion to the guests in Jefferson's mansion. He often performed a party trick, in which he would set an empty bottle and within mere seconds a new bottle would appear. (Wiencek 1) This was done with his elaborate design of a dumbwaiter and underneath it would be a slave ready to insert a new bottle for the master. (Wiencek 1) According to Wineck there were also platters of food that would appear out of shelves and plates would disappear when put there. (Wiencek) Wineck also said that "Guests could not see nor hear any of the activity, nor the links between the visible world and the invisible that magically produced Jefferson's abundance." (Wiencek) With the use of tunnels, dumbwaiters, and hidden mechanisms inside the house, it created an illusion of magic. Jefferson had the intention of hiding his slaves from sight while creating and designing Monticello. He knew that he was ashamed of owning slaves and his position as a slave master. .
             In the mornings Jefferson would walk along Monticello immersed in his own thoughts. While he walked along Monticello everyday he would look bellow and see his plantation becoming larger and larger with his slaves doing all the work. While he saw his plantation working he would "look down from his terrace onto a community of slaves he knew very well-an extended family and network of related families that had been in his ownership for two, three or four generations." (Wiencek) A former slave stated that Jeff Randolph observed, "Mr. Js Mechanics and his entire household of servantsconsisted of one family connection and their wives.


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