Virtual Tour of James Monroe’s Highland

This is a virtual tour of Highland, once believed to be the plantation home of James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States. Archaeological work beginning in 2014, however, identified the standing house as a structure that was originally built in 1818 to serve as a presidential guesthouse. It is recorded that two enslaved men—Peter Malorry and George Williams—constructed the guesthouse. Enslaved men, women, and children worked the plantation fields that Monroe owned, and enslaved household workers did the domestic chores. The former president sold the property in 1828 and a later owner renamed the property Ash Lawn. The College of William and Mary, who currently owns the estate, resumed calling the plantation Highland. It is open as a museum for public visitors and called James Monroe's Highland.