Things Named Jefferson: The Plant Edition

Jeffersonia diphylla or Twinleaf is an uncommon spring flower named after the “Titan of Tuckahoe” in 1792 by botonist Benjamin Smith Barton, a contemporary of TJ, and fellow member of the American Philosophical Society.

Monticello Mapped, Pt. I

I’m pretty sure TJ did not have access to this sort of map. But for your viewing pleasure, a couple of satellite photos of Monticello Mountain…

Source:Clickhere

Source:Go here

Jeffersonia: October’s Best

October was a great month here at Jeffersonia. We expreienced the first frost of the year here, the leaves begun dropping and we reached the modest milestone of welcoming our 750th guest! Here is a roll call of October’s best posts (IMHO):

• Pt. I of our series on Jefferson and Architecture. Click here.
• Rachel Levy at Monticello. Go here.
• Esopus Spitzenburg – Apple of the month! Click here.
• Madison is winning Founding Fathers Football. Go here.
• The 113th Anniversary of the UVA Rotunda fire. Click here.
• And last, but hardly least, I give you the cheapest war in American History. Go here for the frugal wartime goodness.

Photos used via Creative Commons License (c) Saquan Stimpson, cliff1066,  foodista, and seier+seier+seier

Maybury on the next Jefferson

Economist Richard Maybury is the author of Evaluating Books: What Would Thomas Jefferson Think About This?, one of many in his “Uncle Eric” series of books which explore the economic, political, social, and historical influences on current events. He currently is offering a free issue of his “U.S. and World Early Warning Report” newsletter  in which he writes about statis vs. anti-stasis and his thoughts about having our first anti-stasis President since Thomas Jefferson. It’s very provocative stuff.

Source and Image: EWR

Mr. Madison’s War- The Cheapest American War in History

Even though it was pretty much a draw, and not the startling victory that was the American Revolution, the War of 1812 does have the distinction of being the cheapest in American History! According to the Bound Dragon blog, the roughly two and a half year skirmish with our former British overloards cost only half  the price tag of the Mexican War, one quarter of the Revolutionary War, and nearly a hundred times less than the Gulf War. Sure, the see-saw, back and forth action allowed neither side to gather enough momentum to pull out the victory, but then President James Madison sure knew how to get the most war for the dollar!

Go here to see the list. 
Follow the links below for more on Mr. Madison’s War:

Gatewayno

Wikipedia

History Central

Image courtesy of cliff1066

TJTube: John Adams Edition

In honor of his recent Emmy wins, I give you TJTube: The John Adams Edition…

TJ and Adams at a drive-through…

113th Anniversary of the Rotunda Fire

The UVAtoday blog noted this past Monday marked the 113th anniversary of fire of the famed Rotunda at UVA. The building was rebuilt by 1898 and the improved version lasted all the way to 1973.

An amusing detail about the fire itself was that a UVA engineering professor saw the Rotunda burning and decided the solution to the problem was…dynamite! The result? Yes, it made the problem much worse, but hey – high marks for ingenuity and chutzpah!

For a great online resource on the history of the Rotunda, visit the Rotunda History page. Click here.

Source: UVAToday
Photo courtesy of Eddi 07

Madison Cracks Top 30

We’ve been playing Founding Fathers Football (ok, I just made that up) all season long by following HighschoolRivals Top 100 teams. As the regular season comes to a close for most teams, Madison claws its way further into the Top 30, with an undefeated 6-0 record. West Monroe climbs to number 30, also undefeated at 7-0. Hamilton, who had the weekend off, climb two spots to 33.

Despite crushing West Mifflin 42-7, TJ of Jefferson Hills, PA drops 3 spots to 54th this week. Independence of Charlotte, NC jumps forward to number 81 and Columbus of Miami is riding TJ’s wake at number 54.

For the Civil War version of Founding Fathers Football, Union is at 34 and Grant of Sacramento splits the south at 74.

Finally, the two Trinitys (at numbers 1 and 75) look like they will stand alone without a third for the season.

Source: HighschoolRivals
Photo courtesy of Saquan Stimpson

“Little Monticello” Restoration Revisited

We chronicled the recently completed renovations over at the Madison’s Montpelier home. Here’s another perspective on it over at the American Presidents Blog. Click here to read about it.

And while your there, be sure to vote for the most consequential presidential election. The 1800 election, won by President Jefferson is currently in 3rd place in the poll.

Source: American Presidents Blog

TJ Apple of the Month: Esopus Spitzenburg

Not Spitzenburgs

Sounding like a prehistoric, miniature horse (that would be Eohippus to the dinosaur-savvy), Esopus Spitzenburg was considered one of TJ’s four favorites. Like the mighty A.P., Esopus Spitzenburg was a dessert fruit. Despite cultivating less than two dozen trees, Monticello’s most famous Pomologist, apparently journalled (read: blogging in pre-Internet times) more about Esopus Spitzenburg than any other kind.

Source: The Twinleaf Journal

Photo courtesy of foodista