Rain alters Monticello center’s grand opening

The dour, drizzly weather of late has prompted Monticello to change its plans for today’s grand opening of the new Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center and Smith Education Center.

There will no activities on Monticello’s West Lawn. Instead, events are shifting to the visitor center to escape the elements.
The “Celebration of Jefferson’s Legacies” program, scheduled for 11 a.m., will be held in the visitor center’s courtyard, which offers covered spaces. The program will also be shown via closed-circuit TV in the center’s theater, museum shop and other rooms.

The center will officially open to the public at 12:30 p.m. The new film “Thomas Jefferson’s World,” four new exhibitions in the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Gallery and the hands-on Griffin Discovery Room will all open free of charge.
Thomas Jefferson himself, as portrayed by Bill Barker of Williamsburg, and Miss Virginia, Tara Wheeler, will be on hand to meet and greet.
Paid tickets will still be required for guided tours of the house and grounds. Tours will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Forecasters predicted that today’s high would barely crack 50, with a good chance of showers all day.