Personally, I agree with Montpelier's decision.  I work at the Octagon, a temporary home of the Madisons after the White House was burned in 1814.  Having been to Montpelier, I think the restoration will better suit the property.  The duPonts took great care of the property, but the interior of the house is drastically different from the Madison interior.  The way the rooms are configured today makes it impossible to tell the story of the Madisons.  There is little hint of the original configuration of the house.  Visitors find it very difficult to imagine the rooms as they were furnished and used by the fashionable Dolley Madison.  The Visitor Center will help to tell the full history of the house, while the house itself will better tell the story of Dolley and the "great little Madison".

Wendy Wiener
Curatorial Assistant
The Octagon
1799 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006-5291
(202) 626-7369
(202) 879-7764 fax
www.theoctagon.org

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