Mounds Made of Ideas and Sweat

At Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson drew on ideas he had gathered throughout his life, blending the ancient villa retreat, modern features from his time in Europe, and Palladian ideas from the Renaissance. The books of sixteenth-century architect Andrea Palladio inspired him, and he designed the mounds as part of his architectural vision. Enslaved men, including Phil Hubbard, dug and moved the earth to create them, filling countless wheelbarrows with dirt from the Sunken Lawn and house foundation and dumping it on the west and east sides of the house to form the mounds.

Forest, Virginia · United States