Daily Tours at Montpelier

Mansion Restoration Tour

The Montpelier experience begins at the Visitor Center with a 15-minute presentation in the Alan and Louise Potter Theater. Offered continuously throughout the day, the presentation provides an introduction to James Madison's contributions to America's founding, an overview of the historic Montpelier plantation, and an orientation to your visit.

The mansion is being restored to the way it looked when James and Dolley Madison returned from Washington in 1817 following Madison's two terms as President. Madison added onto the home his father built to create an attractive mansion that reflected his sense of architecture and design. Structural restoration, carried out in 2003-2008, is being followed by a re-interpretation of the home's interiors.

In addition to the theater presentation and guided tour there is much to see, learn, and explore at Montpelier.

Self-Guided Landscape Tour

Stop by the Visitor Center counter to pick up your Acoustiguide™ audioguide—an audio tour system that enables you to design your own adventure on the Montpelier grounds. You may explore the audioguide stops in any order you choose. There are three or four messages for each designated stop throughout the landscape, including the Landmark Forest. Each message provides an informative passage related to the theme of the stop.

Some of the landscape highlights include:

The Temple

Madison built the temple about 1810. This neoclassical temple sits over a 24-foot-deep ice house. The ice house, stocked in winter from a nearby pond, provided ice for drinks and ice cream as well as cold storage for a variety of foods. Madison intended the decorative temple constructed over the ice house for a contemplative study.

South Yard

The south yard was home to six enslaved families living in three duplexes, each with a central chimney. One or more members of these families worked in the Madison household as cooks, waiters, and maids. A kitchen, smokehouses, and other domestic outbuildings were also located in this yard.

Annie duPont Formal Garden

The Annie duPont formal garden is a beautiful brick-walled, two-acre parcel of sweeping lawns, perennial beds, herb gardens, and specimen trees. This same terraced space was also used as a garden by the Madisons, but their garden would have included fruits and vegetables as well as ornamental plantings. The garden today reflects the renovations made by Annie duPont and her daughter Marion duPont Scoot in the early 1900s.

James Madison Landmark Forest

Just beyond the mansion back lawn stands the 200-acre James Madison Landmark Forest. This majestic old-growth forest consists largely of native plant species that have grown undisturbed without any significant human intervention. Many of the trees have reached their maximum lifespan. A series of trails, including one original Madison wagon road, offer a variety of 10- to 45-minute walks.

Mount Pleasant Site

Now an archaeological site, Mount Pleasant was the original homestead built for James Madison's grandparents in the 1720s. It was the future president's boyhood home until about 1763 when the family moved to the new brick house (the existing mansion) about 500 yards away.

Madison Family Cemetery

Near the Mount Pleasant site is the Madison Family Cemetery. The first burial here was probably James Madison's grandfather, Ambrose, who died in 1732. Obelisks mark the final resting places of James and Dolley Madison.

Slave Cemetery

A few hundred yards from the Madison Family Cemetery lies the Slave Cemetery, where graves are marked by depressions in the ground and an occasional grave stone.

Hands-on Restoration Tent

Located on the back lawn, this tent allows children and adults alike to learn about period chores and crafts, and try them out first-hand. Museum educators instruct visitors in various forms of 18th century craftsmanship. (Open daily April-October.)

Madison Exhibits and Film at the Education Center

The Education Center features three exhibits, two of which display furniture from the Montpelier collection, including a recreation of a period room setting. The third exhibit explores James Madison's achievements as architect of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. The 15-minute film, "Discovering Madison," is shown regularly throughout the day.

Treasures of Montpelier in the Grills Gallery

The Joe and Marge Grills Gallery, located in the Visitors Center, will be used for both permanent and changing exhibits. The gallery features artifacts from personal aspects of Madison's life at Montpelier, as well as those with public meaning in the development of the new nation. Other objects displayed have associations with Dolley Madison and members of Montpelier's enslaved community. With few exceptions, the objects displayed in the Treasures of Montpelier exhibit are true originals.

William duPont Gallery

The Visitor Center's William duPont Gallery tells the story of the duPont tenure at Montpelier with exhibits and photographs. The duPonts purchased Montpelier in 1901, and transformed it into a hunt country estate. It was William's daughter, Marion, who wanted Montpelier restored to its Madison-era appearance and, in 1983, her heirs transferred ownership to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. One of the exhibits here is a re-installation of Marion's famous "Red Room" with its many race horse photographs, silver trophies, and an art deco fireplace.

Gilmore Cabin: A Freedman's Farm

The Gilmore Cabin is located on the west side of Route 20. You can drive to the cabin, or park at the lot next to Montpelier Road and walk an interpretive trail through old Civil War encampment sites to reach the cabin. Former Montpelier slave, George Gilmore, built this cabin for his family in the early 1870s. The cabin and 16-acre farm offer a glimpse of what life was like for African-Americans in the years following emancipation.