From 1784 to 1789, Thomas Jefferson
was the American ambassador to
France. He visited Marly and Versailles.
He went to England in 1786 and toured
the landscape gardens. While he was
critical of the formality and ostenta-
tion at some gardens, he was im-
pressed with the manipulation of sight
lines and the prospects of pastoral
scenery.16 He hoped to adapt the natu-
ralistic English garden style to the ter-
rain and climate of Virginia. Beginning
around 1771, Jefferson built Monticello
as his private retreat, where he could
pursue his studies of natural history
and architecture. He developed a ver-
nacular style by using local materials
within a classical idiom. Jefferson laid
out the grounds around a central lawn.
Partially sunken corridors connected
service buildings to the main house and
kept slave activities out of sight.