Private President
Her heart was pounding in her throat. As she peered through the hole in the floor, she simply couldn’t process that she was looking at something that no one had laid eyes on for more than a century.
Her hands trembled as she lowered herself down through the gap. How had the president kept this a secret all these years?
Dream Job
In 2017, archeologist Louise Smith got the call she’d been waiting for her whole career. She and her team had finally been granted permission to excavate unexplored areas of a building she was desperate to know more about.
Monticello, a former plantation in Albemarle County, near Charlottesville, Virginia, has long been rumored to conceal historical secrets - and it had a very high-profile owner.
Founding Father
Monticello was once home to US president and founding father Thomas Jefferson.
While Jefferson - the third president of the United States - is widely known for playing an instrumental role in the formation of the Government, there were other parts of the man’s life that remained unclear. That is, until Louise and her team got to work on the building.
Family Secrets
As a slave owner, Jefferson’s life story was peppered with controversy. But one chapter in the historical figure’s life had always stood out to Louise as something that needed investigating.
It all began when she came across a secret diary written by Jefferson’s grandson. The text mentions a part of the house that Louise was sure hadn’t been seen since Jefferson himself was alive. But if she was going to explore it, there was a huge obstacle she’d need to overcome first.
The South Wing
As the diary describes the south wing, there is a space that simply couldn’t exist given the layout of the house. To get to the room, she would need to destroy the tourist bathroom that had been built on top of it where it should be.
But the Thomas Jefferson Foundation had never let her do it, citing all the precarious plumbing involved. Or was there something they just didn’t want her to find?
Go Ahead
Finally, Louise was told that due to planned renovations, she would be allowed to conduct her investigation.
Dreaming of what this might mean for her career - and American history buffs everywhere - Louise ran through all the scenarios of what she might uncover, but there was one missing piece of Thomas Jeffereson’s story in particular she was really hoping to find.
Dark History
Jefferson - who was buried on the property - is celebrated as one of the greatest American presidents in history and was commemorated on Mount Rushmore, but there’s certainly a lot of his past that should remain unglorified.
Louise felt there was a lot more to the nature of his relationship with his slaves that the history books overlooked and she was certain that once she’d taken out that bathroom, she would be the first to see it.
Work Begins
On the morning of the excavation, Louise felt like a kid at Christmas. Could there really be a secret chamber in Monticello - the very same building that appears on the back of every nickel in the country?
But Jefferson’s grandson was known to be unreliable. As she and her team hacked at the bathroom floor, she was aware this whole thing could leave her looking like some crackpot treasure hunter. Suddenly, the sound of the pickaxe on the bathroom floor made a very different sound. They had found something.
Going Down
“This has to be it,” thought Louise as she went over the diary excerpt in her mind. Jefferson’s grandson said a room in the south wing belonged to a key figure in Jefferson’s life, something historians have never been able to definitively prove.
This would be the find of the century. And if her theory about what she might find in the room was correct, it would write a new chapter in the history of our founding fathers.
Buried History
The idea that Thomas Jefferson - the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence - was anything other than a shining example of American ideals was troubling to the country. His murky past as a slave owner is already hard to swallow, but Louise was staring down into something that even the staunchest patriot couldn’t deny.
Louise had discovered the chamber of Sally Hemings. But who was she? And what could have happened at Monticello that would force Jefferson to seal up her room?
Sally’s Story
Sally Hemings was the half-sister of Martha Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson’s wife, but much of her life has been shrouded in mystery for more than 200 years.
It wasn’t until historians looked a little closer into the life of the woman who lived on the Jefferson plantation that they started to connect the dots and reveal a long-running presidential scandal.
Different Life
Despite being related to the First Lady, Sally was dealt a very different hand in life. Sally was mixed race and unlike Mrs. Jefferson, born into slavery.
She arrived at the Jefferson plantation at a young age and was tasked with labor within the household. But unfortunately for Sally, emotions ran high on the Jefferson plantation. She would soon become embroiled in the family’s life - and she wouldn’t be able to walk away from it.
The Paris Trip
Historical accounts show that Jefferson - the United States minister to France - once took Sally on a trip to Paris with him, before returning to business as usual on the plantation.
Owning slaves was illegal in France, so while in the country, Sally was given the opportunity to stay in Europe and be protected by French law. But she didn’t take it. As far as Louise was concerned, there could be only one explanation.
Shining A Light
Inside the room, Louise pulled out her flashlight and took it all in. The chamber was about 15 feet by 13 feet. It had a large brick oven in the middle and no windows. But still, the most startling thing about the secret room was its location in the south wing - just like the diary said it would be.
Down the hall, mere steps away, was Jefferson’s own private quarters. Louise was about to discover exactly what had to be so close to Jefferson, but hidden away from everyone else.
Young Mother
Sally went on to have children at the plantation, although she raised them alone without revealing who the father was. As Louise searched the small chamber, she hoped to find clues that would fill in the blanks of Sally’s past, and she was not disappointed.
Jefferson owned more than 500 slaves on his plantation, and of all those slaves, he only ever granted freedom to Sally Hemings and her children. She was his wife’s half-sister, but could there have been another reason for the preferential treatment?
Controversy
A lot of rumours had circulated, but it was political journalist James T. Callender who was the first to outright accuse Jefferson of being romantically involved with one of his slaves and secretly fathering children with her. Callender referred to Sally as Jefferson’s “concubine.”
In an inflammatory article, Callender claimed Jefferson did not list himself as the father of the children in the public record in an attempt to keep his indiscretions hush-hush. Had Louise just entered the small, windowless room where Sally bore Jefferson’s children?
Forgotten Children
Historians strongly believe Thomas Jefferson did indeed father Sally Hemings’s children, and the hidden room only strengthens the argument.
On top of that, Dr. Eugene A. Foster, a university professor of pathology, analyzed the DNA of Hemings descendants. But he never expected he’d have to fight to have his findings taken seriously.
Scientific Proof
Foster knew the importance of these results, so pored over the data thoroughly to make sure there was no hair out of place. Foster concluded that the Y chromosome of a descendant of Hemings was a perfect match for Jefferson’s.
Thomas Jefferson was almost certainly the father. But many experts strongly disagreed with Foster’s findings, suggesting an even more controversial story.
Brother’s Secret Keeper
Some say that the reason Thomas Jefferson’s DNA was found in the analysis is because the real father of Sally Hemings’ children was actually his brother Randolph Jefferson.
But Louise’s discovery of the room sure makes that argument look weaker. “This room is a real connection to the past,” said Fraser Neiman, director of archaeology at Monticello. “We are uncovering, discovering and finding many, many artifacts.”
Legacy
The team reached out to more descendants of Sally Hemings, who were not the least bit surprised by the results.
The power of storytelling had kept the truth in the family for generations. But Sally Hemings’ secret room and the results of the DNA test only confirmed what they already knew about their family’s history. At least now, they could get some closure.