Monday, October 25, 2010

Friends:

As I write this, we are seated on the deck of a Wyndham/RCI timeshare, high atop Massanutten Mountain near the Blue Ridge range in Virginia. Fall colors here have yet to reach their peak, and the relative warmth allows me to dress in a thin polo shirt and slacks. The views from this complex are breathtaking, the atmosphere relaxing. The deer here are so tame they will scarcely give us a glance as they casually stroll within ten feet of our chairs. You can almost see the deer ticks leaping playfully on their backs.

To the northwest lie the famed Civil War battlefields of Cedar Creek and New Market, in the scenic Shenandoah Valley. To the southwest are situated Monticello and Ash Lawn, the homes of the great patriots Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, third and fifth presidents of the United States.

This is definitely a corner of America that deserves to be explored. For that reason, yesterday we drove east to Montpelier, the estate of James Madison, "Father of the Constitution" and fourth president of the United States, a man so revered that Vermont named its state capital in honor of his home. The great house is going "back to the future," so to speak. Having been greatly modified, expanded, and modernized by the famed du Pont family, and used for the genteel hobby of breeding and training horses, Montpelier has over the past two decades been acquired and preserved, and almost completely reconstructed to its early nineteenth century grandeur. Its restored beauty has been made possible with the expense of $24 million (whose wouldn't), but it still is not quite complete. Little in the way of furniture, accessories, and carpeting grace the mansion, especially original possessions, as these items continue to be acquired and researched. It is a work in progress.

I recall fourteen months ago standing in the study at Chartwell, the Kent, England estate of Winston Churchill, and thinking how the Free World was saved by his pen and genius in that very room. Now gazing at the library of James Madison, where that great mind researched treatises on government, and studiously prepared to overwhelm his fellow Founding Fathers at the 1787 Constitutional Convention with his notions of what the brand new United States needed to ensure its greatness, I had the very same feeling. As Madison's study is still sparsely furnished, it took a bit more imagination this time. Nevertheless, I think every American needs to spend time here and ponder over the great questions that faced him, and us as well. It makes one think.

At the same time, one is reminded of the many servants that labored for Madison, and for many like him, and allowed him the time and wealth to think his thoughts and attend his conferences, and envision this great republic. More than just the famous helped to establish America.

All this was made possible by my brother John and his wife Jan, as well as by my sister Kate, who all used their generosity, their time share credits, and their incredible organizational skills to make our first extensive vacation possible, and offer a helping hand in my recovery. When one is surrounded by breathtaking beauty and history, one can't help but be restored, just like Montpelier.