Recreating Jefferson's Famous Fireplace

Few aspects involved in creating this wine exhibit have impacted me more than the research devoted to Thomas Jefferson and his appreciation of wine. In October of 2008 when visiting Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia I learned (and saw firsthand) more about Jefferson in two days than all the book research that I had done for months prior. The curators at Monticello were a wealth of information. In addition to touring throughout the various rooms of Monticello, I was taken into the wine cellar. This was very special to me, to actually be walking in Thomas Jefferson's cellar, standing exactly where slaves stood as they placed selected wine bottles in the carriage boxes of his famous fireplace wine dumbwaiter to be sent upstairs to a waiting Jefferson and his dinner guests. The cellar was located directly below the dining room. The dumbwaiter system that Jefferson devised allowed for wines to be served without the intrusion of waitstaff.

For 'The Culture of Wine' exhibit we are recreating a portion of Jefferson's dining room and wine cellar areas. The focal point of the dining room will be a recreation of his fireplace showing the ingenious dumbwaiters hidden in the sides of the mantle. Shown in the photo above is George Bush Presidential Library 'Exhibit Specialist' Jason Hancock and 'Museum Tech' Debbie Page, both worked on building the replica. As shown here the fireplace is about 80% finished. Still to be added are the Wedgewood Jasperware plaques, the marble trim and finishing moulding. The photo below shows a detail of the hidden dumbwaiters located in each side.

Completion of the Exhibit-Space Floor Plans

Museum Curator Susie Cox gave me a deadline...I must have the completed floorplans turned in by December 10th... I needed that deadline. The core walls of the exhibit area are being produced by a German company and are called mila-wall® panels. My design and plans needed to take into consideration both dimensional and structural aspects of these special museum walls. Working with Jason Hancock, the exhibit specialist at the George Bush Presidential Library & Museum, we will be utilizing some of the mila-wall® panels with additional custom walls that we will fabricate in the Library's shop. Needless to say, I was happy to get this design element wrapped up. A lot of thought went into the details of this. My pencil drawings are now being transfered into CAD drawings that will become the master plans.