Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc. owns and operates Monticello, a World Heritage Site that was Thomas Jefferson's plantation home near Charlottesville, Virginia. The dual mission of the Foundation is preservation and education. Its overarching is vision is to engage a national and global audience in a dialogue with Jefferson’s ideas.

Jefferson, third U.S. president, philosopher, scientist, historian, and author of the Declaration of the Independence, helped establish the foundations of self-government and individual freedom we know today. Jefferson’s words—the Declaration and his more than 19,000 letters—and his architecture—including Monticello and the University of Virginia— provide a lens for scholars and visitors today to view the beginnings of early America. Through virtual, off-site and on-site engagement, the Foundation seeks to excite the world about Jefferson’s relevance today and ignite a passion for history.