Virginia

Wine Cellar, Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia (38.010351, -78.452419)

Wine Cellar Felling Dates: Winter 1769/70, Winter 1768/9

Site Master 1624-1769 (white oak) MTOVx1 (t = 8.23 CHVAx1; 7.73 VA2011; 7.55 PIEDMO).

Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, was begun in the 1760s, with building work continuing up through the early 1800s. This dendrochronological report is part of a larger multi-part study aimed at dating the individual components of the main structure, focusing on the early phases of construction. It is hoped that the study’s completion will lead to a fuller understanding of this important building.

This part of the project has targeted the wine cellar, which is understood to be the earliest section of the main building. Dendrochronological analysis has shown that amongst the timbers used to construct the building were two with complete sapwood, which provided felling dates of the winter of 1768/9 and the winter of 1769/70.

Worthington, M J and Seiter, J I 2021 “The Tree-Ring Dating of the Wine Cellar at Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia ”, unpublished Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory archive report 2021/31

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