Photos by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

In designing Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson incorporated British, French and American architectural styles, said Travis McDonald, director of architectural restoration for Poplar Forest. The Bedford County plantation, which is undergoing renovations, will celebrate its 200th anniversary next month.

Artifacts found at the plantation help to give researchers an idea of Jefferson's life at Poplar Forest. Renovations to restore the plantation to its 18th century form are ongoing.

FOREST -- In 1809, Thomas Jefferson retired from public service. Always a private man, the third president soon visited a new retreat far away from Washington and his permanent residence at Monticello.

He wanted time to do what he loved -- read, write and think. All he needed was an undisturbed space in which to do it.

Thus came to be Poplar Forest in Bedford County, Jefferson's historic hideaway.

At least, that's the way Travis McDonald, director of architectural restoration for Poplar Forest, recounted the story 200 years later.

McDonald and others at Poplar Forest will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the home with the public when it reopens April 1.

As a 20-year renovation process on the home wraps up, McDonald and other restorers say their work has really only just begun.

Although the east wing is nearly rebuilt and the lime mortar in the walls has long dried, McDonald said the public will be viewing Poplar Forest on opening day much like Jefferson did when he first entered three years after construction began in 1806: as a work in progress.

The Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest purchased the home in 1984 with the intention of restoring Jefferson's original architectural vision.

The home had been remodeled several times since it was sold by Jefferson's grandson Francis Eppes in 1828.

The nonprofit bought the 650-acre plantation Poplar rests upon bit by bit over the years, McDonald said. The corporation has relied primarily on private funding to buy the land and complete an estimated $6 million in architectural renovations.

The exterior structure of the octagonal-shaped home is complete, McDonald said, and archeologist and architects have painstakingly worked to restore the building to its 18th century form. But when visitors return to the home, they should keep in mind that they will continue to see restorations under way.

The dining room -- in the shape of a perfect cube -- serves as the home's central point. Light floods into the room from a skylight above, and a series of octagonal-shaped rooms surround it on all sides. McDonald said they intend to keep the house sparsely furnished so that visitors can focus on its architectural history.

Pulling ideas from French and English styles of architecture he had seen abroad, Jefferson designed the house in a manner McDonald described as "personal." The parlor, with its floor-length windows and double doors leading to a portico, resembles the light, airy style of many French homes during Jefferson's era. It was here Jefferson spent time thinking, reading and writing letters -- which, as a meticulous record keeper, he always copied and stored away for safekeeping.

"When Jefferson built the house, he was really ahead of everybody in terms of design -- really cutting edge. It's like the Taubman Museum [in Roanoke] today," McDonald said.

Jefferson's style as an architect indicates his wide range of influences: the Palladian architecture books he studied at the College of William and Mary; the Paris houses he saw while serving as an ambassador abroad; and the roofing techniques he used when designing two colonnades at the White House.

"He was blending all the things he liked -- British, French and American. This is a very small slice of architectural history because it's so playful. It wouldn't be so playful if it were a public house like Monticello," McDonald said.

In the future, restorers intend to tackle the outside of his home, providing it with the ornamental landscape present during Jefferson's time. Like Jefferson, they intend to "mimic architecture with natural elements," creating a border of vegetation in the back yard's 5 acres and a double row of paper mulberry trees planted on either wing of the house, said Jack Gary, director of archaeology and landscapes for Poplar Forest. They also hope to restore Jefferson's stable and plant nursery, he said.

Meanwhile, McDonald said, workers will be present at the plantation even during visiting hours much as they were when Jefferson first lived there. And the restoration process, he said, will be as precise and painstaking as ever, even if it takes a little longer than restorers had first anticipated.

"I think Jefferson decided when he designed the house that he would rather have something perfect than quick," McDonald said.