Grant helps Poplar Forest re-create wing of home

By Justin Faulconer

Published: March 13, 2008

Poplar Forest is set to receive a grant it plans to use for rebuilding a “wing of offices” section.
Tourism Cares — a nonprofit group that gives to the tourism industry — has selected the Bedford County retreat home of Thomas Jefferson to receive $10,000.
It will help with the purchase of glass and hardware to add doors and windows to the wing’s service rooms that Thomas Jefferson designed. They date back to 1814.
The wing includes a storage room, smokehouse, kitchen, laundry and cook’s room.
Poplar Forest President Lynn Beebee said in a news release that the grant supports the final steps needed to re-create the wing.
“The completion of the wing in 2009 will mark a major restoration milestone,” Beebee said.
When the retreat opens April 1, visitors can watch craftsmen install the wing’s flat decking. Once completed, it will mark the first time in more than 160 years that people can see the retreat’s exterior exactly as Jefferson designed it.
— Justin Faulconer