Montpelier
James Madison, the
fourth president of the United States, grew up on a 2,700-acre plantation near
Orange, Va., called Montpelier. He also lived here later with his wife, Dolley.
The wealthy and famous duPont family purchased Montpelier in 1900 and turned it into a 55-room luxury mansion. Daughter Marion duPont Scott lived here for much of her life and wanted to leave Montpelier to the nation. So after her death in 1983, heirs transferred their interests to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In one of the most ambitious residential restoration projects of modern times, the house underwent a top-to-bottom restoration in 2003 that cost $24 million, most of it funded by the estate of philanthropist Paul Mellon.
“This was the most careful scholarly restoration of an American property of the last 50 years—and it will be for the next 50 years,” historian Calder Loth told Preservation magazine.
