The Montpelier Community

The Montpelier plantation during James Madison's life probably consisted of a handful of white English Americans, including the Madison family, overseers, and around 100 skilled and unskilled enslaved African Americans. After Emancipation, Montpelier was also home to African-American freedmen, including George Gilmore, who was born a slave at Montpelier and later made his home there with his wife and five children. Read about the people who lived and worked at Montpelier.