Poplar Forest (Additional Documentation)

Poplar Forest is a brick, one-story, octagonal house on a high basement in Bedford County, near Lynchburg, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson designed it as a rural retreat from the social pressures of Monticello, and construction ran from 1806 to 1819. He visited several times a year, often staying about a month. Inside, four elongated octagonal rooms surround a square central hall that was once lit from above. Tuscan porticoes mark the entrance and rear fronts, and two octagonal privies are hidden by artificial mounds in the grounds. A kitchen and smokehouse still stand, though the office wing has left no trace above ground. A fire in 1845 gutted the house. Repairs followed at once, but the original decoration was not restored, and the skylight and balustrade were omitted. The nomination ranks it among Jefferson's most important designs while acknowledging that the fire and rebuilding reduced its standing.