Stop 3: 7th and Market Streets (best viewed from the north side of Market St. at 7th St.)Fourteen-year-old enslaved servant Robert Hemmings lived and worked in a home on this site while attending to Thomas Jefferson in the summer of 1776.Jefferson and Hemmings stayed in rented rooms in the home of Jacob and Maria Graff from May 23 until September 3, 1776. Here Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence while Hemmings would have helped Jefferson dress, provided tea or a light meal, and coordinated Jefferson's barber's visits. It's likely that Hemmings slept in the garret, a habitable attic or storage space at the top of the house. Thomas Jefferson and Robert Hemmings in Philadelphia The Declaration House Through Time Although the Declaration House is currently closed, explore the exterior public art exhibition "The Descendants of Monticello" curated by Monument Lab in partnership with artist Sonya Clark. The exhibit features the eyes of Robert Hemmings' collateral descendants and others who are related to people enslaved at Jefferson's Monticello. FIND: The "eyes" of Hemming's descendants in the windows (through December 1, 2024). |
Last updated: October 21, 2024