Ash Lawn. The “Cabin-Castle”. J. Rawlings Thomson
August 19, 1786. “I shall leave this (N.Y.) for Virginia. I have not relinquished the prospect of being your neighbor.... The house for which I have requested a plan may possibly be erected near Monticello. To fix there and to have yourself in particular, with what friends we may collect around for society, is my chief object, or rather the only one which promises to me ... real and substantial pleasure.” Writings of James Monroe, Stanislaus Murray, Hamilton, Vol. I, p. 158.
Mr. Jefferson’s reply is also pleasant.
“To Colonel Monroe from Jefferson, December 18, 1786. Paris. When I return, which will be early in the Spring, I shall send you ... the plan of your house. I wish to heaven you may continue in the disposition to fix it in Albemarle. Short (Washington’s Minister to Holland) will establish himself there, and perhaps Madison may be tempted to do so. This will be society enough, and it will be the great sweetener of our lives.” Papers of Thos. Jefferson, edited by T. J. Randolph, Vol. II, p. 69.
In August, 1789, Monroe removed to his first Albemarle purchase—an 800-acre farm just west of Charlottesville. A portion of this tract is now included in the site of the University of Virginia, and known as Monroe Hill. This farm proved a disappointment, and in 1793 he bought the Carter tract. This adjoined Monticello on the north and William Short’s estate—then Indian Camp, now Morven—on the south. Monroe named his new home Highland, but by later changes of ownership it became North Blenheim and then Ash Lawn.
BUILDING OF ASH LAWN
Due to Monroe’s prolonged absences—Washington, France, England—the development of the estate was delayed. Jefferson, and Monroe’s uncle, Joseph Jones, Chief Justice of Virginia, had oversight of planning and building. The exact date of the moving in is given in a letter from Monroe.
“November 22, 1799. I was yesterday at Monticello, where Mr. Jefferson informed me he proposed a visit to you ... I told him it would ... immediately appear throughout the nation. He declined the trip ... in the persuasion an interview might be had, by your making me a visit, in my new home, to which I move tomorrow.” Writings, Vol. III, p. 158.