Having left the public spotlight in 1809, Thomas Jefferson moved back to his home, Monticello. In his private, final years, Jefferson delighted himself with many hobbies including agriculture, correspondence, riding and natural history. But the bulk of
Jefferson's time was spent on his dream of
public education in the Commonwealth.
This dream starts in 1803, when Albemarle County was given permission to set up a secondary school called Albemarle Academy. Building plans were never begun, and this permit was not utilized until 1816 when Peter Carr, Thomas Jefferson's nephew and the head of the board of the nonexistent Academy,
proposed to the General Assembly that Albemarle Academy
actually become an institute of higher learning.
The proposal was granted, and Jefferson named the new -- but still private and nonexistent -- school Central College (because the location of the college was to be no more than three miles from the exact center of the state -- the state included West Virginia at the time). A Board of Visitors was created for the new college in 1817, and on it were such distinguished gentlemen as Jefferson himself, former president James Madison (the namesake of Mad Bowl), current president James Monroe (the namesake of Monroe Hall) and General John H. Cocke
(the namesake of Cocke Hall).
In 1817, the Board of Visitors of Central College inspected land in Charlottesville and purchased a plot of 43.75 acres on a farm previously owned by James Monroe for $1,518.75. Finally, on October 6, 1817, the Board of Visitors including three Presidents of the United States came together to lay the cornerstone of
Central College where Pavilion VII now stands.
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