James Madison's Montpelier We The People Spring 2017 Montpelier_WTP_Spring2017_FINAL-1-web | Page 17

SPRING 2017
outbuildings of very high caliber, and generally of
18th-century origin. In fact, all the chimneys on the
main House have this same high-style treatment.
This told us that these two previously-existing
18th-century buildings set the parameters for the
South Yard when Madison expanded it in 1809.
Just as the 18th-century main House served as
the guide for the changes he made there, these
two structures set the baseline for the final
appearance of the four additional South Yard
Matthew Reeves, Montpelier’s
Director of Archaeology, has a
specialty in sites of the African
Diaspora, including plantation
and freedman period sites, and
Civil War sites.
buildings—the two smokehouses and two double
quarters. They needed to look nice enough to sit
beside the existing structures, while Madison
obviously economized in ways that rendered them
comparable in function to common outbuildings.
Reconstructing the South Yard would not be
possible without the collaborative efforts of both
the archaeology and architectural history teams.
Context is truly everything, and by working together
we are bringing the South Yard back to life.
Jennifer Glass, Montpelier’s
Director of Architecture and Historic
Preservation, returned to Montpelier
after working as a historian
specializing in 18th and early 19th-
century Chesapeake architecture.
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