Staircase At Monticello

There are no grand staircases in Thomas Jefferson’s home. He thought they were a waste of space that should be devoted to the public rooms. Visitors to Monticello can participate in a guided tour that requires you to climb up and down the original stairs, which are very steep and very narrow. Imagine being a woman in a corset and a long skirt. Imagine being a slave carting laundry, water or the remains of chamber pots. The enslaved people who kept the house running used those precarious stairs all day and all night. Jefferson did not consult them when he designed Monticello.