Nestled in a calm, private cul-de-sac lined with old trees off Gordon Avenue rests a different kind of home, one with a unique and intriguing history and a genuine sense of place.
It's a real home in a real neighborhood. That is what Martha Jefferson House has been since it was built in Charlottesville in 1921. And that is what Martha Jefferson House continues to be for all its retired residents today.
"Martha Jefferson House is an affordable and accessible place in the middle of Charlottesville with the idea that it serves gentile people that have themselves been of service to the community at sometime or another," President and CEO Tom Bernier said. "That was and still is Hunter Perry, our founder's, vision."
What originally started as a donation by Perry to Martha Jefferson Hospital to aid retirees has since transformed into a home devoted to providing the finest retired-living experience of its kind.
One thing that makes Martha Jefferson House stand out is that it is not a nursing home. It is a home. Residents of Martha Jefferson House choose the paramount in catered independent living: first-rate accommodations, a gracious and nurturing staff and pleasant amenities. Many choose to preserve their independence while benefiting from personal service and support as need be.
As one resident gently opens the elegant front door, the first thing visitors notice is the bright wallpapers, the open lighting, the sturdy fireplace and the array of eccentric oriental rugs. Even a tame black cat, T.J., a pet to all residents, comes and goes as he pleases. At first glance, visitors know they have not stepped foot into a normal retirement home.
"This place is small, manageable. Everyone knows everyone's name and we all act as owners of this place," Bernier said. "There is a culture here that has been developed over the years that has preserved Perry's vision to do anything so that it doesn't look like a facility - more welcoming and homey."
Enter Lucia Cushman, an 80-year-old who is proud of her young age and who is one of Martha Jefferson's most treasured, well-known and most often seen out-and-about residents.
She is a true Wahoo at heart, even though she never attended school at the University. Atop her television set sits a sign that states "Cavalier Spoken Here," with two stuffed Lil' Hoo Cavaliers on either side.
To the left of her television stands Cushman's wall of students, as she calls it, plastered with pictures of friends she has made over the years and still keeps in touch with.
One such former University student, Justin Geiger, met Cushman one afternoon at the Biltmore Grill, where he was a waiter. She proceeded to ask him if he would come and work for her by reading to her an hour a week. He accepted, unable to turn down her charming smile and then later declined any offer of monetary payment.
To the right of Cushman's television set lie old copies of The Cavalier Daily and copies of articles from the paper.
Each day as Cushman makes her daily walk to the Rotunda and back, she stops at the Charlottesville Public Library to pick up The Cavalier Daily. Even though Cushman is legally blind, she still reads the University newspaper everyday, with some help from her trusted VTEK Voyager enlarging teleprompter-like screen.
At first, her fellow residents scoffed at her for indulging in the surrounding collegiate life. However, after some persuasion, Cushman now is the bearer of numerous copies of the paper each day that she proudly distributes for all to enjoy.
Those prior skeptics used to complain about the noise students make and all the traffic they produce. Cushman, however, sees student life as an integral part of the Martha Jefferson House community.
"I used to tell them, listen, if you didn't have the University and the students, the money would not be here," Cushman said. "Don't knock the University and its students."
One of Cushman's companions at the Martha Jefferson House, Gladys Winston, admires her best friend's devotion to the house and its residents.
"She is a remarkable woman by just being, and we are really privileged to have her here," Winston said. "Everything she does to go out of her way to improve life for others at the house makes her even more remarkable."
Although, Cushman never went to college, she feels part of the University at her home at Martha Jefferson House.
And what is Cushman's favorite part of the University? The honor system.
"I was always so proud of it," Cushman said of the student-governed code and the benefits it has provided her. "I would go to the post office after hours, the doors were always open, leave my package and my money and a note saying to leave the change in my mailbox. The change was never once not left for me."
Since September 1988, when Cushman was told she had lost her central vision and could not read or drive her car, she has resided at Martha Jefferson House.
"It's like a family here, a small group, more like homes," Cushman said. "It's not too big, not too personal, and yet you still have all the privacy you could ever want."
Like Cushman, Martha Jefferson House residents are well aware of the distinct privileges they live with at their home.
This house allows residents to enjoy life as they wish, in a warm home with just the right amount of care and attention. Yet if further care is required, occupants also have priority admission into the infirmary and assisted living accommodations, both available on site.
At full capacity, the house accommodates 60 residents: 28 nursing, four assisted living and 28 independent, who can come as young as long they want. However, one bed is always left uninhabited in the infirmary in case a permanent occupant falls ill.
"Martha Jefferson House has a reputation for excellence and the highest quality care of any place around, and that is true," Bernier said. "Pretty much anyone will tell you that."
Residence costs anywhere between $2,325 and $4,000 per month depending on the square footage of the living space. Most surprisingly, Martha Jefferson House has no entrance fee, a charge frequently required by competing homes reaching into the hundreds of thousands of dollars according to Bernier.
"It really has a waiting list, and we are always full," Bernier said. "People want to come here but end up going somewhere else. But they would certainly come back if they had the chance."
Cushman's glad she was given the chance and does not plan on leaving anytime soon.
"The only way I am going out of here is when I die," she said.
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