The garden at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia, grows with more than 70 species of heirloom vegetables, plus herbs and fruit. It's not been a continuous garden, but a painstaking recreation of the experiment Jefferson was obsessed with, along with things like moose, macaroni and cheese, and wine.
The third U.S. president’s interest in fruits, vegetables, and spices was obsessive and indulged on a grand scale. From the perspective of ingredients, Hatch calls Jefferson early-America’s foremost culinary connoisseur.
“His devotion to obtaining rare varieties and experimenting with cultivation techniques bordered on religious,” says Hatch. “He dedicated more writing to the subject, about 700 pages, than any other.”
As an evangelical byproduct, Jefferson founded what was arguably the nation’s first seed bank.
“He would hear about a ‘new’ vegetable and have to have it,” says Hatch. If growing experiments proved fruitful, seeds, taste descriptions, and instructions were mailed to “everyone he knew”—including George Washington, James Monroe, and James Madison. The efforts helped introduce then-obscure ingredients such as tomatoes, eggplant, and okra into mainstream usage.
Recreating the garden at Monticello wasn't easy, but Jefferson left his detailed plans behind, which aided the accuracy of the project. Read about bringing Jefferson's garden back to life at Atlas Obscura.