Except for Jefferson himself, no one received more credit for the ornate character of the retreat house than Jefferson's enslaved craftsman John Hemings. Hemings apprenticed as a joiner under James Dinsmore, an Irish immigrant, and Jefferson praised the skills of both men. Hemings first traveled to Poplar Forest to work on the retreat house in 1816 and last did so in 1825. In 1819 he worked there for several months while his wife, Priscilla, remained at Monticello. He reconstructed the skylight after a hailstorm destroyed it, constructed shutters, and hung doors. Because Hemings was literate, Jefferson could send instructions directly to him and receive updates, and their first known correspondence began in 1819. As Hemings worked on interior doors late that year, he also wrote of missing his wife and wanting to return from Poplar Forest to Monticello. That same year, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law discouraging slave literacy by prohibiting schools for teaching enslaved people reading or writing, and it is not known who taught Hemings those skills.