A historic view of Montpelier taken in the 1980s. It has since been restored. Montpelier was a large tobacco plantation and estate of the prominent Madison family of Virginia planters, including James Madison, fourth President of the United States. The manor house of Montpelier is four miles south of Orange, Virginia, and the estate currently covers some 2,650 acres. It is a declared National Historic Landmark (1960), listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1966), and since 1984 has been owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Photo by Carol Highsmith.