Monticello Discovery Shows Hands That Built Jefferson's Home

Beneath the manicured lawns of Monticello, archaeologists just discovered something that had been hiding for more than 250 years: a brick kiln used to build Thomas Jefferson's original home. The find is bringing new attention to the people who actually built one of America's most famous landmarks.

The discovery happened by accident last month when researchers were testing a spot for a new visitor shuttle stop. They found layers of brick rubble, then carefully arranged brick segments running parallel to each other, separated by channels filled with overfired fragments.

The segments turned out to be the remains of "fire channels" where workers once piled wood and unfired bricks, then lit massive fires that burned for days. The intense heat transformed soft clay into the hard bricks that formed Monticello's walls in the early 1770s.

Crystal O'Connor and Fraser Neiman, who lead Monticello's archaeology team, announced the find on March 30. They dated the kiln using specially molded neoclassical bricks found at the site, which Jefferson only used during the construction of his first home.

The kiln was likely operated by George Dudley, an indentured servant, William Bishop, a free worker, or some of the more than 600 people Jefferson enslaved during his lifetime. Researchers believe Jefferson eventually moved his brick-making operations downhill to be closer to water and wood.

The Ripple Effect

This discovery is part of a much larger effort to tell the complete story of Monticello. Archaeologists are currently investigating the homes of enslaved individuals, studying a "privy tunnel" Jefferson designed, and conducting a plantation-wide survey to locate every archaeological site on the property.

In 2017, researchers excavated and restored a room that Sally Hemings may have used. Historians believe the enslaved woman gave birth to six of Jefferson's children, a relationship that was hidden from official histories for generations.

O'Connor says the work reminds us that "there's stories that are still out there waiting to be told." Each discovery adds depth to our understanding of who actually built America's founding monuments.

Monticello now welcomes roughly 500,000 visitors each year to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Students from the University of Virginia continue working alongside professional archaeologists, treating the property as an "archaeological sandbox" where new finds emerge regularly.

The brick kiln discovery proves that even at one of the most studied historical sites in America, the most important stories are still being unearthed.