South Pavilion

Jefferson called this brick structure, the first building on the mountaintop, his "outchamber." Erected in 1770, it contained one room over a kitchen. Jefferson lived here alone until his marriage to Martha Wayles Skelton in January 1772. They shared one room with at least one young child until about 1775 when the main house could be occupied. In the 1790s, while the main house was being renovated, Jefferson's daughters stayed here when they visited with their spouses and families. Jefferson remodeled the space in 1808 and began to refer to it as the South Pavilion. After Jefferson's retirement, the South Pavilion became a study, filled with law books. His grandchildren held evening revels here; in 1819, it was the scene of a "kick-up"-music and dancing until midnight.

Virginia · United States