A Founding Father who wrote the Declaration of Independence. A secret room in Jefferson’s famous home. A young slave who had 6 children in this room. Let’s dive into the secrets…

Like the fact he owned a 14-year-old girl and kept her in a dark window-less room for 40 years.

He even called it a “hideous blot” on America. “All men are created equal,” he wrote. Weird, then, that he owned 607 slaves. But the controversy does not end there. It has been rumored that there was one slave in particular to whom Jefferson had taken a liking, a scandal throughout his entire life. That is why this secret room was an especially alluring discovery.

The story of the poor woman enslaved by Jefferson, who also had a long-term relationship with him, was covered up under these new tiles and bathroom stalls. It was a scandal that his descendants denied for many years after. Now, many experts agree that he was likely the dad of her six kids… Now, all traces of her existence at Jefferson’s famous home, which is even featured on the nickel, were obliterated. How did he get away with it?

Randolph mentions a room unknown to most, placing it in the home’s south wing. Archaeologists were initially skeptical, but this was a random thing for him to lie about, and the addition of the restroom inspired the archeologists to investigate further. What lay beneath?

A widow starting over with someone new may not sound scandalous, but Callender’s claim was that Jefferson’s new affair was with one of his slaves. Callender said she was Jefferson’s “concubine” who had come to the plantation as a child and kept “in a room of her own” at his Monticello estate.

The most interesting element of the room was its location. The house was large and the room could have been placed anywhere, but it was right down the hall from Jefferson’s bedroom. So, who was she?

The slave whose affair sparked centuries of gossip was Sally Hemings. Starting her affair as a teenager, Sally Hemings was the half-sister of Jefferson’s wife Martha. Sally Hemings was half white, half black, and like most African Americans at the time, her life was not easy. She was born into slavery and was brought to Monticello as a young girl where she was forced into household labor.

In Heming’s secret bedroom, historians discovered evidence that confirmed an old rumor. When Sally Hemings was 14 years old, she joined Thomas Jefferson on a trip to France. Her life would never be the same.

Given the legal circumstances, Hemings could have stayed in France. However, she made the choice to stay a slave owned by Jefferson and return to the US. It is possible that she did not feel she had a real choice, or that something sparked between her and Jefferson, and returning to the States was her real desire.

Hemings and Jefferson both lived at Monticello for years, where Hemings had five more children whom Jefferson was most likely the father of. It is also believed that it was in the mystery room that the births took place.

Jefferson also allowed her children to live free, and his family granted Sally Hemings an unofficial freedom after Jefferson’s death. They also received a stipend to help them start new lives after leaving Monticello. Hemings was certainly close to Jefferson’s heart.

Additionally, her extended family remained enslaved on the estate, further complicating any decision to leave. The era’s pervasive racial prejudices and the precariousness of life as a freed Black woman presented daunting uncertainties, potentially making her life at Monticello seem like a safer option.

Having not come of age in Jefferson’s lifetime, Eston Hemings was granted freedom after Thomas Jefferson’s death. With his fair skin tone, being three-quarters white ancestry, Eston could pass as a white man and integrate into society. His life as a free man was a successful one, and he was married with three children. He even becomes known for his resemblance to his famous, deceased father.

There were rumors that Eston was Thomas Jefferson’s son. One journalist made it his goal to uncover the truth, and he wanted to hear words straight from Eston’s mouth about the subject. An unknown man comes to Oklahoma looking like a former president. This was the hottest story in town.

While this news was of great interest to the world, the family was not surprised. The idea that they were descendants of Thomas Jefferson was passed down through the generations with stories of their family history. DNA evidence gave them confirmation, but there was never any actual doubt. However, there were some skeptics still waiting for more evidence.

“Well, my mother, whose name I bear, belonged to Mr. Jefferson, and she never married.” Eston moved with his wife and children to Wisconsin, where they lived on a property they would come to own. Not known to him at the time, Eston was the key to solving the mystery of Jefferson and Heming’s relationship.

After extensively reviewing the documents, the foundation put forth its theory. They claimed that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings hardly knew each other at all and that he did not father her children. In a twist worthy of Jerry Springer, the foundation claims that it was Randolph Jefferson, brother of Thomas Jefferson, who fathered the children of Sally Hemings.

While their theory is plausible, they do not have much evidence to suggest that Randolph was the father, and the other side of the story just looks a whole lot stronger. When you look at the rumors and add the discovery of the bedroom and the letters from John Adams, it is hard to discount it for an entirely different explanation that lacks the same supporting evidence.

Madison Hemings was another of Sally Hemings’ sons. Unlike his siblings, he identified as black and did not try to live in a white society. He moved with his mom to Charlottesville, Virginia after Jefferson died, where he worked as a farmer and carpenter. With a wife and children, he moved to Ohio, a free state, following the death of his mother.

The director of archeology at Monticello, Fraser Neiman, reflected on the discovery. “This room is a real connection to the past. We are uncovering and discovering and we’re finding many, many artifacts.” While the focus has always been on the scandalous nature of their affair, the artifacts they found give a glimpse into the lives of Hemings and Jefferson, the real people behind the legends.

Ultimately, there is no way of knowing the true nature of their relationship and we can only speculate. The story is a good reminder that people, including great historical figures like Jefferson, are flawed, and we can respect them and their achievements while acknowledging that there are things they said and did that we do not agree with.

Despite his great success in life, Jefferson accrued a lot of debt in his later years. His slaves were among his most valuable assets, and he sold them to pay the debt on the plantation. Whatever Jefferson’s ideals may have been, in the end, his slaves were property to him.

Here we have another slave story, most likely worse than this. Marie Delphine McCarty was born in 1787. She came from a well-to-do white family living in New Orleans. Delphine’s grandparents had originated from Ireland, and then moved to then-Spanish-controlled Louisiana. The family owned many plantations and had a number of slaves. When a fire broke out, it exposed the woman for who she truly was.