CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Monticello's visitors center at the foot of the mountain will be shutting down early next month in preparation for moving to a new facility on Monticello's grounds.

The current center, on state Route 20 just south of Interstate 64, consists of a museum shop, theater space and an exhibition of Jeffersonian items. The exhibition has been open to the public since 1986.

Wayne Mogielnicki, a spokesman for Monticello, said the exhibition, which contains some 400 objects, will be dismantled. "We have to clean it all and pack it. You have to be very careful with 200-year-old stuff.'' The exhibition will close June 8.

The new Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center and Smith Education Center is currently under construction. The 42,000-square-foot complex will offer classrooms, dining, and retail features in one location on the Monticello grounds. Visitors also will buy tickets at the center.

It is scheduled to open in November with a new exhibition of Jeffersonian and Monticello objects.

Curator Elizabeth Chew said "the new exhibitions will have objects that have been in the collection for decades, newly acquired items, recently excavated archaeological materials and some innovative interactive features. These new installations will offer unique perspectives on Jefferson, his times, his ideas, and his home."

The Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau's tourist information office in the Monticello Visitors Center building will remain open.

The visitors center building, which dates to the mid-1970s, is owned by the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Monticello has leased the building since 1984.
Contact Carlos Santos at (434) 295-9542 or csantos@timesdispatch.com.